A TALL, martial figure stood before her; a man who, though one could see at the first glance that his youth was long past, was quite as evidently still in possession of his full manly vigor. He wore a simple coat of dark-green cloth, buttoned to the throat, without ruffles either at the bosom or the wrists. A black military stock matched the stern simplicity of his whole appearance. In the black-silk sling which hung from his right shoulder, there rested a mutilated arm. His complexion was so dark that the ravages which the small-pox had made upon his skin were hardly apparent. His hair, thick and black, was plentifully mixed with white threads. A broad scar, evidently of long standing, extended across the high, arched forehead, over the aquiline nose, to the left eye, which was covered with a black patch. The extreme thinness of the face gave a certain sharpness to its forms. There was a great deal of depth and character, but at the same time an indescribable melancholy in these features, upon which the storms of life had left indeli

ble traces.

"Madame has commanded," he said, in French, with a low bow.

The countess answered him in German: "I am glad, my dear sir," she said, in the sweetest tones of her voice, "to see you in my house, and all the more so, as I welcome in you a countryman. I regret exceedingly," she continued, perceiving that he regarded her with bewilderment, "that I can see you but for a moment to-day. The tutor of my children is for me a person of so much importance, that I would gladly remain at home, if it were only a matter of sacrificing a pleasure; but my duty calls me. I am obliged to go to court."

As she spoke, she noticed, not without embarrassment, that the stranger stared at her wildly; indeed, it even appeared to her as if his look were fixed upon her with terror. She paused, in the expectation of a reply from him. But she merely saw him open his lips twice, yet no sound reached her ear, while every vestige of color left his cheeks; it seemed as if the gray face of a corpse were gazing upon her.

Suddenly he advanced a step; his tall form tottered. He seized the back of a chair, and supported himself by it.

"Excuse me, madame," he said, with shaking voice, "I am ill. It is the language of my home-it must be the surprise of hearing my own language again after so many years, which unmans me so— did not know—”

-I

"Be seated, sir," she said, with compassionate kindness, "how your surprise touches me!"

He sank down upon the chair which she pushed toward him, and covered his face with his hand.

"So you were not aware that you would find a

German in me? Oh, I can well understand your being surprised and startled. Our native land always remains dear to us!-And is it so long since- Do you feel faint? Pray drink some water."

Full of heart-felt sympathy, she came close to him, and offered him a glass of water. He looked at her again, ghastly pale, with bloodless lips. There was insanity in that look.

Involuntarily she

Terrified, she stepped back. raised her hand to grasp the small bell which stood upon the table.

It was probably this movement which gave the unhappy man sufficient force to recover himself. He rose, and, though his face was still deathly pale, he said, hurriedly: "Grant me forgiveness, madame, for this unfortunate introduction. I ought never to have left my cell. It was your language, yes, it must have been your language, which called up, with fearful power from the dark night of my past, one of the most heart-rending memories of my unhappy life, and nearly robbed me of my senses. I am ashamed of my weakness."

"By no means, my dear Mr. Mannsfeld. Why should you be ashamed of being ill, of being unfortunate? Would that you might find, in my house, the rest you need!—that it might become the haven of your tempest-tossed life!"

He stood before her erect, firm, pale, with downcast look, hardly hearing what she said, listening only to the tone of her voice.

"Now," she continued, "you need rest above all things. To-morrow I will present my children to you.

For to-night I can provide you only with the most necessary comforts, as your arrival was a surprise to me too. To-morrow I will make better arrangements."

She rang the bell, and, as Ingeborg entered, recommended the stranger to her special care. "The gentleman is unwell," she said; "be sure that he has some good tea, and that his room is not too warm. -Good-night, my dear sir! I shall see you again in the morning. I trust you will sleep well; you are among friends, and God is everywhere, you know."

When she was alone, she said to herself: "What a strange scene! I am inexpressibly sorry for the poor man! And yet he does not look as if he would like to be an object of pity. It is a horrible idea, but I cannot help thinking that the wretched man must have been out of his mind at some time. His look was fearful! And still his eye is beautiful, it is full of soul. When he became more composed, that eye looked at me as from another world."

But the countess had no time for giving way to her thoughts. The sedan-chairs were waiting, it was late. The divisions at court, over which etiquette and the manners of society cast but a thin veil, soon laid claim to all her interest and all her sympathy for the grievously-injured royal couple.

During the past winter the parties had taken the occasion of these assemblies to exhibit their mutual feeling in its full force. The wives of the senators, Counts Scheffer and Höpner, had been refused the entry into the inner court of the palace, for their carriages, as they drove to a gala-festival. Not without

reason, this measure had been attributed to the influence of the queen, who saw in the claim to this right, until then reserved for the royal house alone, an invasion of the privileges of the latter. The injured pride of the two ladies had its echo the next morning in the stormy transactions of the senate. The colonel of the guard was cited, declared the matter to have been a mistake, and, on the demand of the offended magnates, caused the sergeant, who had acted by royal order, to be arrested.

But this at length put an end to the endurance of the weak king. Still smarting, as it were, under the bitter humiliations to which he and his wife had only recently been forced to submit, he now showed the senate and estates that, at least in his own house, he intended still to be master. The sergeant had to be released, and the gates of the inner court remained closed.

But the queen could only half enjoy this rare victory. The court assemblies did not seem to sucIceed that whole winter. The ladies of the Hats among the senators, and all who were under their influence, withdrew on the most trivial grounds, and the manner of the ladies of the Caps showed that they felt their own honor attainted in that of their enemies.

To-night it was, at the first opening assembly of the present winter, that an attempt, initiated by mediating courtiers and various conciliatory measures, was to be made to clear the atmosphere. But Agatha, as soon as she entered the room, felt the heaviness of the air and the coming storm, Women of the higher classes possess an unfortunate art of showing,