and would read aloud to the queen, or join Walpurga in some of the
lovely mountain songs.

The king's eyes would sparkle with delight when he happened to join
them at such times, and find Irma with his wife.

"You look troubled," said the queen, when the king, who had just left
the ministerial council, joined her and Irma in the park.

"And so I am."

"May I ask why?"

Irma was about to withdraw, but the king said:

"Stay, Countess; the matter is one which has been brought to an issue
by the case of your friend Emma." Turning to the queen, he added: "Has
our countess told you of the terrible fate of her friend?"

"She has; and when I think of it, I feel as if I were standing on the
edge of a precipice."

Strangely enough, the king had, thus far, neither spoken to Irma about
the matter, nor alluded to her letter. Irma had had so much to engage
her mind since her return, that Emma's troubles had almost escaped her
memory.

"Our friend," began the king, "has informed me of the affair, and I
appreciate her delicacy in refraining from pressing the subject. In
matters of state, we have no right to allow personal feelings to affect
us. Nevertheless, one of our greatest pleasures is to find that our
friends cherish our honor as their own."

Irma looked down. He added:

"Although a prince owes thanks to his friends, for informing him of
what is going on, no influence, not even the best, should affect his
decision."

Irma did not dare to raise her eyes.

"The matter stands thus," continued the king. "We have provisionally
suspended the right to receive new nuns, and now the ministers desire
me, at the next meeting of the estates, to consent to the introduction
of a law by which the convent of Frauenwoerth is to be definitively
placed upon the extinct list. They hope by this and additional
measures, to be enabled to make a stand against the constantly
increasing strength of the opposition."

The king looked at Irma while he said this, and she inquired:

"And has Your Majesty approved the draft of the law?"

"Not yet. I have no special feeling in favor of keeping up the
convents, but I don't find it so easy a matter to lay the axe to a tree
which is the growth of centuries. It is the special duty of royalty to
establish and foster institutions that are to endure longer than a
generation or even a century, and a convent--What do you think of it,
Mathilde?"

"I think that a woman who has lost all, should not be