physician, had made me afraid to utter a word on the subject. I am
talking in riddles, I know. I will explain all to you at some future
day, if you remind me of it. In a few weeks, all will be decided. My
lips are not sealed, for the queen has confided nothing to me. I have
simply reasoned from appearances. But enough of this. I shall no longer
torment you with riddles.

"My best friend, after all, is Doctor Gunther. He is great by nature,
and still more so by education. He is always up to his own high
standard. I have never yet seen him confused or uncertain. The
old-fashioned phrase, a 'wise man,' is, indeed, applicable to him. He
is not fond of so-called 'spirituality' or 'intellectuality,' for he is
truly wise. He has great command of language. His hands are beautiful,
almost priestly, as if formed for blessing. He never loses his
equanimity and, what is best of all, never indulges in superlatives.
When I once mentioned this to him, he agreed with me, and added: 'I
should like to deprive the world of its superlatives for the next fifty
years; that would oblige men to think and feel more clearly and
distinctly than they now do.'

"Do you not, dear Emma, perfectly agree with this? Let us found an
_anti-superlative_ society. I admire the man, but will never be able
successfully to imitate him. Through him, I have learned to believe
that there have been great and wise men on earth. While yet a surgeon
in the army, he was my father's friend. Afterward, he filled a
professorship in Switzerland, and, for the last eighteen years, has
been physician to the king. You would be delighted with him. To know
him, is to enrich one's life. If I were to write down all his sayings,
half the charm were lost, for you would lose the spell of his presence.
He has a most convincing air and a sonorous voice, and I have heard
that he used to sing very well. He is a perfect man, and loves me as if
I were his niece. I shall have much more to tell you about him. Above
all things, I am glad that he has a fine vein of humor. This furnishes
the salt and prevents him from being included among the class of
sugar-water beings.

"Colonel Bronnen is his best, perhaps his only intimate, friend, and
the doctor recently told me that the colonel's manner and appearance
greatly resemble that of my father while a young man."

_June 15th_,

"Ah, how hateful, how horrible is the thought of man's bir