y I love you. Now, I have some instructions to give you
this morning. Presently I shall be leaving, and there will be something
besides crowns."
"You are thinking of leaving?"
"Yes. When I go I shall not come back. Under my pillow there is an
envelope. You will find it and keep it."
Gretchen, young and healthy, touched not this melancholy undercurrent.
She accepted the words at their surface value. She knew nothing about
death except by hearsay.
"You will promise to take it?"
"Yes, Fraeu."
"Thanks, little gosling. I have an errand for you this morning. It will
take you to the palace."
"To the palace?" echoed Gretchen.
"Yes. Does that frighten you?"
"No, Fraeu; it only surprises me. What shall I do?"
"You will seek her highness and give her this note."
"The princess?" Gretchen sadly viewed her wooden shoes and roughened
hands.
"Never mind your hands and feet; your face will open any gate or door
for you."
"I have never been to the palace. Will they not laugh and turn me out?"
"If they try that, demand to see his excellency, Count von Herbeck, and
say that you came from forty Krumerweg."
Gretchen shuddered with a mixture of apprehension and delight. To meet
and speak to all these great ones!
"And if I can not get in?"
"You will have no trouble. Be sure, though, to give the note to no one
but her highness. There will be no answer. All I ask is that when you
return you will tell me if you were successful. You may go."
Gretchen put the note away and went down-stairs. She decked her
beautiful head with a little white cap, which she wore only on Sundays
and at the opera, and braided and beribboned her hair. It never occurred
to her that there was anything unusual in the incident. It was only when
she came out into the Koenig Strasse that the puzzle of it came to her
forcibly. Who was this old woman who thought nothing of writing a letter
to her serene highness? And who were her nocturnal visitors? Gretchen
had no patience with puzzles, so she let h
Notka biograficzna
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