out to meet Mr. Rassendyll. I was to seek him this time at
Wintenberg, for I had been recognized the year before at Dresden;
and Wintenberg, being a smaller place and less in the way of chance
visitors, was deemed safer. I remember well how she was when she called
me into her own room, a few hours after she had left the king. She stood
by the table; the box was on it, and I knew well that the red rose and
the message were within. But there was more to-day. Without preface she
broke into the subject of my errand.

"I must write to him," she said. "I can't bear it, I must write. My dear
friend Fritz, you will carry it safely for me, won't you? And he must
write to me. And you'll bring that safely, won't you? Ah, Fritz, I know
I'm wrong, but I'm starved, starved, starved! And it's for the last
time. For I know now that if I send anything, I must send more. So after
this time I won't send at all. But I must say good-by to him; I must
have his good-by to carry me through my life. This once, then, Fritz, do
it for me."

The tears rolled down her cheeks, which to-day were flushed out of their
paleness to a stormy red; her eyes defied me even while they pleaded. I
bent my head and kissed her hand.

"With God's help I'll carry it safely and bring his safely, my queen,"
said I.

"And tell me how he looks. Look at him closely, Fritz. See if he is well
and seems strong. Oh, and make him merry and happy! Bring that smile to
his lips, Fritz, and the merry twinkle to his eyes. When you speak of
me, see if he--if he looks as if he still loved me." But then she broke
off, crying, "But don't tell him I said that. He'd be grieved if I
doubted his love. I don't doubt it; I don't, indeed; but still tell me
how he looks when you speak of me, won't you, Fritz? See, here's the
letter."

Taking it from her bosom, she kissed it before she gave it to me. Then
she added a thousand cautions, how I was to carry her letter, how I was
to go and how return, and how I was to run no danger, because my wife
Helga loved me as well as she would have loved her husband had Heaven
been kinder. "At least, almost as I should, Fritz," she said, now
between smiles and tears. She would not believe that any woman could
love as she loved.

I left the queen and went to prepare for my journey. I used to take only
one servant with me, and I had chosen a different man each year. None
of them had known that I met Mr. Rassendyll, but supposed that I was
engaged on