Prussia's misfortunes had prostrated Stein. Sick at
heart, and utterly broken down, at the commencement of 1807, after the
violent scene with King Frederick William, he left Koenigsberg, and
travelled slowly toward Nassau. There he met his family, and ever since
lived in retirement. Never in his grief had he uttered a complaint, or
manifested any loss of temper, but his face had become paler, his gait
slower, and indicative of increasing weakness and exhaustion. He yielded
at last to the tears of his wife, and the repeated remonstrances of his
physician, to submit to medical treatment.
But medicine did not restore him; his strength decreased, and the fever
wrecking his body grew more violent. The disease had recently, however,
assumed a definite character; the news of the disaster of Friedland, and
of the humiliating treaty of Tilsit, had violently shaken his
constitution, and the physician was now able to discern the true
character of the malady and give it a name. It was the tertian fever
which alternately reddened and paled the baron's cheeks, at times
paralyzing his clear, powerful mind, or moving his lips to utter
unmeaning words, the signs of his delirium.
Baron von Stein had just undergone another attack of his dangerous
disease. All night long his devoted wife had watched at his bedside, and
listened despondingly to his groans, his fantastic expressions, his
laughter and lamentations.
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