rite about. Man is the highest
object in creation and, for that very reason, develops far more slowly
than all other creatures."

Irma was about to suggest that, at that rate, a prince would develop
still more slowly, but she merely nodded and smiled assent.

She was not in a mood to enter into the queen's way of thinking. She
could see nothing in her but nursery thoughts, with which, at present,
she had no sympathy. Though they were vastly more important, what would
it matter to me, thought she to herself. Here, just as in Gunther's
house, there is a life separate from the world and contented with
itself. Here is a mother and her child. Of what use am I? Merely to
talk and take part in everything. All others are complete and possess a
world of their own; and am I always only to take a part--there, the
alms bestowed by friendship; here, those accorded me by royal grace? Am
I complete in myself, or am I not?

And while Irma's mind was filled with these thoughts, the queen, in her
agitated, soulful manner, went on to say:

"The miracle of life fills me with awe. Have you never thought of the
world of meaning suggested by the idea of a child drawing its first
breath and opening its eyes for the first time? Air and light are
earth's first and last messengers; the first breath and the last; the
first glance and the last. How wonderful!"

Irma now felt what it was to serve. Had she been free, and on an equal
footing with the one who addressed her, she would have said: "My dear
friend, I am not in the mood, just now, to enter into what you are
saying. Within your soul, there is the calm of early morn; in mine,
hot, burning noonday. I implore you, leave me to myself."

Irma was filled with a deep longing for boundless solitude, but she
dared not show it. She would gladly have closed her eyes, but
obsequious glances were required of her. She listened and answered, but
her soul was far away. For the first time in her life, she felt
indignant that there was a fellow-being who enjoyed rights of which she
was deprived. She felt angry at the queen. She was, several times, on
the point of mentioning her visit to Gunther's house, but felt that
life there had nothing in common with the constant gloom of the queen's
apartment. It seemed to her, moreover, that it were wrong, even in
thought, to bring hither the citizen-wife whose footsteps had never
entered the palace; and then she thought of her father and his strong
sense of inde