"_July 18th_.

"The crown prince's nurse is a peasant woman from the Highlands. At the
king's desire, I paid her a visit. I was standing by the prince's
cradle, when the king approached.

"Softly he whispered to me: 'It is indeed true; there is an angel
standing by my child's cradle.'

"My hand was on the rail, and his hand rested on mine.

"The king left the room, and just imagine what happened afterward.

"The nurse, a fresh and hardy-looking peasant woman, with shrewd blue
eyes--a perfect rustic beauty, indeed, to whom I had been kind in order
to cheer up, and prevent her from growing homesick--now turned upon me
and told me harshly, and to my face: 'You're an adulteress; you've been
exchanging love-glances with the king!'

"Emma, I now feel the force of what you have often said to me: 'You
idolize the people; but they are just as sinful and corrupt as the
great world, and without education to curb and restrain them.'

"But what is the peasant woman to me, after all? Certain persons exist,
only in so far as they serve our purposes.

"No, she is a good and sensible woman, and has asked me to forgive her
boldness. I shall remain her friend. I shall, indeed."

"_June 25th_.

"The king evinces the greatest kindness toward me. It is only yesterday
that he remarked to me, while passing:

"'Should you ever have a secret, confide it to me.'

"He knows full well that I could hardly go to my brother, as a sister
should, and that my father is so far away.

"Colonel Bronnen, of the queen's regiment, is very attentive to me.
He is usually quite reserved. Ah, how I envy those who possess such
self-control. I have none. The demonstrative are always flattering
themselves that their irrepressibility is simple honesty, whereas it is
nothing but weakness.

"Bronnen tells me that you write to him at times. Can it be possible
that a single thought of yours enters this palace, without being mine?

"I am delighted to know that we return to the summer palace in a
fortnight from now. Cities ought to vanish during the summer. We ought
to be able to transport our houses into the woods, among the mountains,
or in the valleys, and in the winter they might be brought together
again.

"Last evening, while we were sitting on the verandah, we were greatly
amused by a joke of my brother Bruno's. He gave us a description of
what might happen if the feet of all the four-post b