death, this ghost with the face of an angel and the body of a bayadere!
"I know not how it happened—perhaps it was the influence of the arm-chair in which I sat; but all at once it seemed to me as if I were the old general who the day before had been narrating the battle of Jena, and must continue my story, so I said—
"'After the battle of Jena, within a few weeks, all the Prussian fortresses surrendered almost without a blow. First of these was Magdeburg,[1] the strongest of all, and it had three hundred cannons. Was not that disgraceful?'
"Mademoiselle Laurence let me proceed no further. All melancholy had fled from her beautiful face. She laughed like a child and said, 'Yes; that was disgraceful, and more than disgraceful. If I were a fortress, and had three hundred cannon, I would never surrender.'
"But as Mademoiselle Laurence was no fortress, and had no three hundred cannons"———
Here Maximilian suddenly paused, and after a short pause asked softly—
"Maria, are you asleep?"
"Yes, I sleep," replied Maria.
•••••••
"I would say," added Maximilian, "that I sat by the fire in a red light, and it seemed to me as
- ↑ Magdeburg means the virgin fortress.—Translator.
