the health of the Princess Ludovicka Hollandine
of the Palatinate!"

The Electress had listened to her son with tears in her eyes, and the two
Princesses also had been deeply moved by the vehement and painful recital
of their brother's love. Now, upon his invitation, spoken with so much
ardor and enthusiasm, the Electress rose from her seat and took her glass
in her hand; the Princesses followed her example.

"To the health of the Princess Ludovicka Hollandine of the Palatinate!"
said the Electress, with full, distinct voice, and the young ladies
repeated it after her.

"Here is to her health!" cried Frederick William, with animated features
and beaming eyes. "May she be great, happy, and blessed forever!"

At one draught he emptied the chalice, then, in the fervor of the moment,
forgetting all discretion, he threw the glass backward over his shoulder
into the hall, so that it fell, with a crash, shivered to atoms, upon the
floor.

The Elector rose, his face flushed with passion, and violently rolled his
chair back from the table. "Dinner is over," he said. "May this meal be
blessed to all!"

The court officials bowed low and withdrew. Herr von Leuchtmar also made a
motion as if to go, but George William's call detained him. "Come here,"
he said imperiously; "I have still a couple of words to speak with you.
Just tell me, Baron Leuchtmar von Kalkhun, is it you who have taught the
Electoral Prince such singular manners, or are those the fine fashions
which he has been used to at the Orange court? Is it the custom there to
make scandal at table, and to throw glasses behind them?"

"Your Electoral Highness," replied Leuchtmar hesitatingly, "I do not
know--"

"Permit me, most gracious father," interposed the Electoral Prince, while
he most respectfully drew near to his father--"permit me to answer you on
that point myself. No, it is not the fashion to behave so strangely at the
Netherland court, and God forbid that my former tutor, Baron von
Leuchtmar, should have taught me such ill manners. It was only my heart,
which for the moment was stronger than any form or fashion, and I pray you
to forgive it, for henceforth it shall be right good and quiet, and not
even cause it to be remarked that it still beats."

The Elector only answered by a silent nod of the head, and then turned
again to the baron.

"Leuchtmar," he said, "I have now a few words to address to you, and, had
you not appeared here to-day, I should h