Your eyes will strengthen and your voice
will encourage me. Alas! I stand greatly in need of your presence, for
my soul is well-nigh crushed. I have no longer sufficient strength to
withstand my misfortunes and humiliations--they oppress my life day and
night, leaving me no rest. At times, when I sat at the dinner-table
between the two emperors, and gazed at the sombre features of Napoleon,
in contrast with the good-natured face of Alexander, and listened to
their jests, I felt as though I ought to interrupt them by an expression
of anger, and say to them, 'It is a shame for you to laugh when
misfortune is in your company, and seated by your side.' But I
suppressed my feelings. Oh, Louisa, I was all alone in my agony. Now you
are here, I am no longer alone!" He threw his arms around the queen's
neck, and pressed her against his heart, as though afraid she might also
be wrested from him. "Oh, beloved Louisa," he whispered, "you are my
consolation and my hope; do not desert me--do not give me up--now that
the whole world seems to desert me!"
The queen encircled his neck in her arms and kissed him. "I shall always
stay with you," she said, smiling in her tears; "so long as my heart
throbs it belongs to you, my king, my beloved husband!" They remained
locked in an embrace. Their thoughts were prayers, and their prayers
love.
A carriage rapidly driving up to the door, and rattling the windows,
roused them.
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