it was indeed-but if ever the language of the heart's devotion shone forth, intelligible without words, it must have done so in that last parting from the object of his best affections, in that of my beloved son. From that hour to the one of her death the unhappy Queen was never known by any of her attendants to utter Conrad's name: and she avoided, whether from prudence or a deeper feeling, all allusion to the circumstances of his appointment, or of his final interview with herself. I feel sure that she acted from the wisest and best of motives on this subject, and feared to increase the dangers, by any notice of hers, that she knew were hanging over the head of my unfortunate son, from the King's imbecile jealousy.

Conrad, indeed, little knew the purport of the secret letters of which he was the bearer. They conveyed a private request from the King of Sto the Emperor of Russia, that he would grant him a favour, as an old officer in his service; as a cousin ; and as a faithful ally of his empire.

This was, that he would, without delay, take Count Brunnersdorf into his service, and make an opportunity of giving him a distant and disagreeable government.

Soon after his arrival, Conrad had an audience of the Emperor; at which his Imperial Majesty told him, the King of S had requested he might be honourably employed in Russia. Conrad, who had not much inclination for the Russian service, but who knew that this sort of transfer was not at the time uncommon from one government to another, between allies, found himself in some sort compelled to consent. He, therefore, immediately wrote to acquaint me with the intelligence; but, owing to an accident which befell the mail containing his letter, it was a very long time before I actually became acquainted with the name of his place of residence, although rumour told me of his exchange into the Russian service.

In a few weeks from the time of his first

arrival at Petersburg, he departed for his distant and dismal post.

One slender consolation presented itself to his mind, and, probably, prevented his refusal of the place in question; it was-that by absenting himself from Western Europe, and by accepting this charge, he was contributing to screen the reputation of Thekla, which had been so unwarrantably assailed by her unworthy husband and his guilty paramour.

CHAPTER VIII.

There was a woman, beautiful as morning,
Sitting beneath the rocks, upon the sand
Of the waste sea-fair as one flower adorning
An icy wilderness each delicate hand
Lay crossed upon her bosom, and the band
Of her dark hair had fall'n; and so, she sate,
Looking upon the waves; on the bare strand,
Upon the sea-mark a small boat did wait,
Fair as herself, like love by hope left desolate.
It seemed that this fair shape had look'd upon
That unimaginable fight, and now

That her sweet eyes were weary of the sun,
As brightly it illustrated her woe;

For in the tears which silently to flow,

Paused not, its lustre hung; she, watching, aye

The foam-wreaths which the faint tide wove below
Upon the spangled sands, groaned heavily,
And after every groan look'd up over the sea.

SHELLEY.

WHILE these things, however, are passing in the Court of S, I must not omit to continue the chronicle of our little capital at X--. Fedora had now completely succeeded to all the importance, and even more than the éclat of the

position which her sister had formerly enjoyed. If from a rather less prepossessing demeanour she was not quite so popular with all classes as Thekla had been, she was, from her superior beauty and more dignified and royal carriage, more generally admired and spoken of. Prints of her were in all the shop-windows, and her head formed the frontispiece of the Almanach de Gotha of the year. Marches, waltzes, airs, and odes were dedicated to her: and there was not a Princess in all Germany so universally celebrated as the Princess Fedora of X--.

One individual at that Court, however, found a difference of toleration in the conduct of the royal sisters that caused no little disagreement and obstruction to her own peculiar position there. This was the Countess Von Söhran. From the time of Fedora's emancipation she showed the most marked coldness of manner to this lady, now growing old and infirm, and no longer the object of attraction she had long been to her royal admirer. Whether from this cause,