Bronnen again placed the letter upon
the table. He did not venture to say a word.

"Be seated; I see that you are agitated."

"Certainly, Your Majesty; but, in spite of everything, these lines only
confirm my presentiment."

"Your presentiment?"

"Yes, Your Majesty; a presentiment that Countess Irma is not dead."

"Not dead? and why?"

"I know not what to say, but the proofs that were found in the lake and
on the shore serve rather to confirm than refute my theory. They are
too complete--"

"You loved our friend, I believe it," said the king; "but you did not
fully understand her. Countess Irma was incapable of deceit; and have I
not told you that boatmen saw the body of a woman floating in the
lake?"

"Who knows what they may have seen? Nothing has been found as yet."

"On what do you base your presentiments?"

"It is fully consistent with my exalted opinion of that great woman, to
conceive of her having withdrawn to some convent, in order to leave
Your Majesty free. Yea, free and true."

"Free and true," said the king, repeating the words to himself. "You
utter words which seem irreconcilable, and yet they must be reconciled.
Bronnen, you mean to show me a new life-path, and to remove the corpse
that obstructs the way, so that, relieved of my burden, I may pass on.
But I have strength to listen to the whole truth, and to decline all
soothing deceit."

"Your Majesty, I have addressed you in all frankness, and with an utter
disregard of all other considerations."

The king nodded gently, and Bronnen added:

"Be that as it may, these lines are the utterance of a great soul, and
the realization of these thoughts is an end worth dying for. Now, Your
Majesty, the weight must be lifted from your soul. Your friend's death
or disappearance has not imposed a burden upon you; it has liberated
you. For the sake of our country and the realization of the highest
laws, she has departed."

"Free and true," said the king again, in a low voice. "I would like,
this very day, to change the legend on my coat of arms and replace it
with those words. But I will prove--and to you alone do I confess it--I
will prove that they dwell within me! Yes, my friend, I read those
lines many a time during the night. When they first appealed to me
yesterday, I did not understand them; but now I do. Let us, as long as
we live, quietly celebrate the memory of this day. You uttered an
expression yesterday that startled, nay, offended m