Napoleon and the Queen of Prussia

by L. Mühlbach

  CHAPTER LVII.

  LOUISA'S DEATH.

  The happy and long-yearned-for day, the 25th of June, had dawned atlast. The queen's wish was to be fulfilled; she was to set out for herold Mecklenburg home, for her paternal roof at Neustrelitz. The kingintended to follow her thither in a few days, for he was detained inBerlin by state affairs; they were then to go with her family to theducal country-seat of Hohenzieritz, and thence to return to Berlin.

  How had the queen longed for this day! how joyously had she awaited themoment when she was to see her old home again! Even her separation fromher beloved children, from her husband, did not shade her beautifulcountenance. She was to miss her children but for a short time, and herhusband was to join her at the earliest moment; she could thereforeyield to the joy with which the prospect of seeing her father and hisfamily, and of returning to her old home, filled her heart.

  Home! The carriage rolled from the palace-gate of Charlottenburg, andthe green fields as she passed had never seemed so beautiful. But hereyes were often turned to the sky, and she gazed on the white cloudsfloating over it as swans on an azure lake. "Precede me, clouds! informmy father and my brothers that I am coming!" she exclaimed, smiling."Oh, why does not my soul unfold its wings, and carry me home throughthe air? The horses are too slow!"

  And yet the horses were running along the turnpike, swiftly passingtowns and villages, fields and meadows. The queen, in her impatience,counted the relays. "We are already at Gransee; the next town will be onMecklenburg soil. The frontier of my father's state is between Granseeand Fuerstenberg. Forward! home! home!"

  "Queen, here we are on the frontier! Here is Mecklenburg!" exclaimedMadame von Berg.

  "Mecklenburg!" said the queen, smiling. "Hail my native country!" Andshe kissed her hands to the landscape spread out before her in all itssummer beauty. "I greet and kiss thee, my Mecklenburg! I return with afaithful heart!"

  Why did the queen start up so suddenly, and press her hands so anxiouslyagainst her heart? "Oh, Caroline," she whispered, "the death-worm, thedeath-worm! Could it not be still at this moment? Could it not let meenjoy the bliss of this hour? Oh, how it tortures my heart!"

  "O queen, why such gloomy thoughts now? Look at the sky, how bright itis!--how mild and pleasant the air--the air of Mecklenburg!"

  "The air of my native country is fanning my face, but the death-worm isat work in my heart. The gates of my home above will soon be thrown openfor me! But hush! Why put this drop of wormwood into the cup of joy? Iwill not drink it, I will not listen to my palpitating heart! Let us seewhether I am stronger than my pain. I will laugh and be happy!"

  And the queen, leaning forward with smiling countenance, said: "I greetthee, my Mecklenburg, with thy waving wheat-fields and fragrant meadows,thy transparent lakes and forest oaks, and, above all, thy ruddy sonsand daughters! Look, Caroline, what sunny waves are passing over thoseripening fields, bringing to the farmer the fruits of his labor. Look atthat pretty scene yonder! At the door of the lonely cottage, in themiddle of the rye-field, sits a peasant's wife; her babe is resting onher breast, and three flaxen-haired children are playing at her feet.She does not see us; she sees nothing but her children, and sings tothem. Stop, that I may hear the song of the good young mother!" Thecarriage halted. The wind swept across the plain, and played with thewhite veil of the queen, who listened with bated breath to the lullabyof the peasant's wife:

  "Oh, schlop, mihn lewes, luettes Kind, Oh, schlop un droehm recht schoen! Denn alle Engel bi di suend Un Gott, de het di sehn. Leev Gott het alle Minschen gihrn, De Kinner doch am leevsten, Druem wenn wi man wi Kinner wirn, Denn har uns Gott am leevsten! Oh, schlop, mihn lewes, luettes Kind, Oh, schlop, und droehm recht schoen!"[55]

  [Footnote 55: Oh sleep! my darling baby, sleep! And dream without a tear, For loving angels round thee keep Their watch, and God is near! O baby mine, Sweet dreams be thine!

  If we as little children were The Lord would love us best; Of such he said, with tender care, Is heaven's eternal rest! O baby mine, Sweet dreams be thine!

  ]

  The queen laughed with delight. "That is a Mecklenburg _patois_ song,"she exclaimed, "and yet how sweetly it sounds; how gentle and winning,as though it were the language of the heart! My native country hasgreeted me now with its most tender notes, with the song that the mothersings to her children! Forward! I am also a child of Mecklenburg, andlong for my father's kiss and the embrace of my dear old grandmother!"

  "There are the spires of a town in Mecklenburg! the spires ofFuerstenberg!"

  The carriage rolled through the gloomy old gate, and halted in front ofthe palace.

  "My father! My beloved father!"

  "My daughter! My beloved Louisa! Welcome!--a thousand times welcome!"They embraced each other and wept with joy. He is no duke, she is noqueen; he is a father, and she is his child!

  From the arms of her father she sank into those of her brother--herdarling George. "Oh, thanks, dear father and brother, thanks for thissurprise! Now I shall have two hours of happiness more than I hoped for,for I thought I would meet you only at Neustrelitz."

  "Come now, my daughter, come; the horses are ready, and your oldgrandmother is longing for you."

  "Grandmamma, I am coming!" exclaimed the queen, and entered the carriageas merrily as a light-hearted child. Her father and brother were at herside, and the ladies of the queen took seats in the duke's coach.

  "Forward, home!" Her hands clasping those of her father and her brother,the queen rode across the meadows and waving fields. Was the death-wormstill at her heart? Which will triumph, that or the queen? She didtriumph for a season--for holy love conquers all, even death.

  The face of the queen beamed with happiness. Smiles played upon herlips; greetings flashed from her eyes to the people standing at theroadside, and loudly cheering her. She reached her destination! There isNeustrelitz, there is the palace! At the gate stood the old grandmotherwho had charge of Louisa in her childhood, the old landgravine, noweighty years of age. She stretched out her arms toward the queen; shecalled with tender words for her foster-child, her Louisa! And Louisarushed into the arms of her grandmother. They remained locked in a longembrace, weeping. The duke himself wiped tears from his eyes. Happinessalso has tears, and sometimes sadness.

  "Grandmother," whispered the queen, "I have wept a great deal in griefand anguish. Now I am weeping in delight, and my tears are praisingGod!" The queen was at home with her father, and under the roof of herancestors. The storms of adversity had spent their fury. Gladness beamedfrom her face as she welcomed the friends and acquaintances of formertimes.

  A brilliant party was given at court on the second day. A ball tookplace in the evening. Numerous guests were assembled in the festivehalls; all were waiting for the arrival of the queen. Suddenly thefolding doors opened; she entered the ball-room leaning on her father'sarm, and greeted the assembled guests. How beautiful she was! Her wholebearing had an indescribable mildness and majesty. She had adornedherself, for the first time since her adversity, as it became a queen.Her noble figure was wrapped in a white satin dress, and her bare armsand neck were magnificently adorned.

  "Oh, queen, how charming you are to-day!" exclaimed one of her earlyfriends, transported with admiration. "And how splendid these pearlsare!"

  "Yes!" said the queen, "they are. I value them very highly, and retainedthem when I was obliged to part with my other jewelry. Pearls are moresuitable to me, for they denote tears, and I have shed many." And as thequeen uttered these words, she started and pressed her hand against herheart. Was the death-worm there again? Was it penetrating her heart? Wasit, after all, stronger than the queen? No! Louisa triumphed over it!Joy was in her face; merry words dropped from her lips, and she glidedin the mazes of the dance.

  And this day was followed by another of still greater happiness. Theking came to see again his longed-for consort and take her back to hersecond hom
e, his house, and heart. She was again united with her mostfaithful friend. She gazed with delight at his fine, manly countenance;she was proud of his regal form, and his constant and earnest lovetransported her with gratitude. As she looked toward the king, who wasleaving the room with the duke, in order to look at the old palacechurch,--"Oh, George," she said to the hereditary prince, who hadremained with his sister in the duke's sitting-room, "now I amaltogether happy! I would like to repeat it to all of you!" And, as ifthese words were not sufficient, as if she ought to write them down--thequeen hastened to her father's desk. She took a scrap of paper and apen, and wrote in a hasty hand: "My dear father! I am very happy to-dayas your daughter, and as the wife of the best of husbands. Louisa."[56]"So," she exclaimed, "I have written it down. My father will not find itto-day, for we shall immediately set out for Hohenzieritz; but when hereturns the day after to-morrow, and steps to his desk, he will findthis greeting from his Louisa, and it will gladden him, and--"

  [Footnote 56: These were the last words the queen ever wrote. The kingpreserved the scrap as a sacred relic, and carried it constantly in hismemorandum-book.]

  "Why do you start so suddenly, my sister? Your lips are quivering, andyou look so pale! What ails you, dear sister?"

  "It is nothing, brother--it is nothing! An insignificant passing pain inmy heart; it was sudden, but it is nothing, it is over now. And if youlove me, George, you will forget it. You will not mention it to any one,and, least of all, to my husband. They are already returning, our dearones! Let us meet them!"

  They went from Neustrelitz to Hohenzieritz, the charming country-seat ofthe duke on the shore of Lake Tollen. The carriages halted in front ofthe palace-gate; Louisa, leaning on the king's arm, entered; suddenly ashudder shook her frame; a mortal pallor covered her cheeks, and sheclung convulsively to her husband.

  "What ails you, Louisa? Why do you look so ill, and tremble soviolently? What is the matter?"

  "I am quite well, my beloved friend, but I am cold, and the air hereseems close and oppressive to me; and it is as silent and lonely as ifdeath were dwelling here. Come, let us go into the garden. Come!" Shehastened into the life and sunshine of the garden. The color came to hercheeks again, and her eyes assumed their serenity. She walked with herhusband through the long, delightful avenues, and accompanied him to thelake. It lay before them, beautiful Lake Tollen, shining like silver,and fringed with gigantic oaks.

  "Oh, my dear Mecklenburg, my dear native country, how beautiful thouart!" exclaimed the queen, and an echo replied from the opposite shore,"Beautiful thou art!"

  "The echo is right," said the king. "And, as I am gazing at you, youseem to me again the young princess whom I saw seventeen years ago forthe first time. Your return to your native country has made you oncemore a girl."

  "But the girl of seventeen years ago was not so happy as is the matronand mother of to-day," said the queen. "At that time I did not have you,my husband, nor my beloved children! I am younger in my heart to-daythan then, for love imparts and preserves youthfulness."

  "God preserve you this youth, my Louisa, to the delight of myself andour children! But come, it is cool here by the lake, and you look paleagain." They returned to the palace, and the queen spent in the midst ofher family a day of unalloyed pleasure. The last day!

  When the next morning's sun shone into the queen's bedroom, Louisaattempted to raise herself; her head fell back heavily, and she pressedher hands convulsively against her bosom, exclaiming: "Oh, my heart!"Poor queen! The death-worm was conquering!

  "It is nothing!" she whispered to her husband, when the struggle wasover. "Nothing but a cold!" she repeated, when the doctors, who had beencalled from Neustrelitz, came to her bedside.

  It was a cold, but the queen was unable to leave her bed to accompanythe king to Berlin, when, a few days afterward, pressing state affairscalled him back to the capital. She was obliged to remain a few days atHohenzieritz, in order to rest and recover her strength. But the fewdays became weeks. She was still ill, and suffered as she had neversuffered. Often, in the night, when her friend Caroline von Berg wassitting at her bedside, she beckoned to her and whispered in her ear:"The conquering death-worm! Did I not tell you, Caroline, that it wasattacking my heart? Oh, I would the king, my beloved husband, were withme!"

  Couriers went to Charlottenburg to the king, and they came every day toHohenzieritz and inquired in his name for Louisa's health. He himselfwas unable to come; he was also ill with fever, confining him to hisbed.

  "And I am not with him!" lamented the queen. "I cannot nurse him, andsmile away his cares! I am myself an object of anxiety to him! Oh, shallI not soon be well again? Tell me, dear Doctor Heim, you whom the kinghas sent, shall I not soon be well, that I may nurse my husband?"

  "Yes, your majesty, if it please God, you will soon be well. But now letme deliver to you a letter from the king, which his majesty hasintrusted to me."

  Louisa's eyes beamed with joy; she opened the letter and read it. Thewords of tender love and ardent longing which the king addressed to herbrought tears to her eyes. "What a letter!" she exclaimed. "How happy isshe who receives such!" She kissed the paper and then laid it on herheart. "It shall remain there, and will cure me better than all yourmedicine, doctor. If the spasms would only leave me, I should be well!When they seize me, I cannot help thinking that my end is drawing nigh."

  Doctor Heim made no reply; he turned and prescribed cooling beveragesand anodynes. No one but God was able to help her. Her spasms becamefrequent and violent, and she of ten cried--"Air! air! I am dying!" Sheyearned more and more for her husband and children.

  "Doctor! must I die, then? Shall I be taken from the king and from mychildren?" The doctor made no reply.

  "My God, I am young to die!" groaned the queen. "Life has still tofulfil many promises to me; I have shed many tears and suffered much!Oh, there are these dreadful spasms again! Doctor, help me! Ah, nothingbut death can help me!"

  It was in the night of the 18th of July that the queen uttered thesecomplaints to her physicians. It was a stormy night, and the gigantictrees in the garden of Hohenzieritz rustled weirdly and dark. Thesilence of the palace was broken only by low groans.

  It was dawning when a carriage rolled into the palace-yard. The dukehastened out. A pale man alighted and rushed toward him. "How is she?How is Louisa?"

  The duke was unable to make a reply. He took the king's arm andconducted him into the palace. The two sons of the king, who had arrivedwith their father, followed them in silence and with bowed heads. Theduke conducted the king into his room, where he found the oldlandgravine and the three physicians of the queen.

  Frederick William saluted the princess only with a silent nod; he thenturned his quivering face toward the physicians. "How is the queen?" heasked. "What hopes have you?"

  They made no reply, standing before him with gloomy faces and downcasteyes. The king's face turned livid, and, pressing his hand upon hisforehead, covered with perspiration, he said, sternly and imperiously,"Reply to me, I want to know the truth! How is the queen? What hopeshave you?"

  "No hopes whatever, your majesty," said Dr. Heim, solemnly. "It is anorganic disease of the heart, and in such cases our skill is powerless.The queen has but a few hours to live!"

  The king staggered back to the wall. He neither spoke nor wept, so greatwas his sorrow. The venerable old landgravine went to him and laid herhand gently on his shoulder. "Hope still, my son," she said, solemnly,"Louisa still lives, and so long as she lives there is hope. God in Hismercy may yet preserve her to us!"

  The king shook his head despairingly. "Ah," he cried in a husky, sombrevoice, "if she were not mine, she would live. But as she is my wife, shewill surely die! But I will see her, I must see her! So long as shelives she belongs to me!"

  "I will go and inform the queen that the king has arrived," said Heim,and hastened into the sick-room.

  A few minutes elapsed, and Louisa's voice exclaimed: "My Frederick! mybeloved husband, come to me!"
<
br />   The king rushed to her room, the door of which had just been opened byDr. Heim. The queen lay on her couch, pale and beautiful as a brokenlily.

  "My husband! my beloved friend!" she exclaimed, raising herself andendeavoring to stretch out her arms toward the king, who stood at herbedside, but alas, she was unable to do so. "Oh," whispered Louisa,sadly, "I am a queen, but cannot move my arms!"

  The king bent over, and, pressing her against his breast, kissed herbeloved face. Louisa smiled, laid her head on his shoulder and looked athim long and tenderly. "You are here! You are mine again! But how arethe children? Have you come alone?"

  "No," said the king, "our two oldest sons accompany me."

  "My sons! Where are they?" exclaimed the queen. "Let me see them, oh,pray let me see my sons!"

  Heim hastened out and returned with the Princes Frederick and William.With eyes filled with tears, they stepped on tiptoe to the bedside ofthe queen.

  "My children!" exclaimed Louisa, in a loud, powerful voice, and sheraised herself up. Her maternal love gave her strength to extend herarms.

  "Oh, my children, my beloved children!" She pressed them to her bosom,kissing them with the passionate tenderness of a mother.

  The two young princes, entirely overcome by grief, sank on their kneesat the bedside of their mother. She laid her hands on their heads, as ifto bless them, and lifted her eyes to the king, who, pale and silent,was gazing at her in unutterable despair.

  "Now I am happy," breathed the queen. "You are with me, and my belovedsons!"

  The king's sorrow was overpowering him, and he quickly turned and leftthe room. Heim approached the princes and begged them in a low voice towithdraw, because the queen was unable to bear so much excitement. Theyrose from their knees and kissed their mother's hands. Louisa was sofaint that she could greet her children only with a smile, and wasunable to bear their presence longer. But her eyes followed themsteadfastly until they had withdrawn.

  She lay long silent and motionless, and then whispered to her sister,the Princess of Solms: "The king acted as though he wished to take leaveof me. Tell him not to do so, else I shall die immediately. But where ishe? Where is my husband? Oh, why is he not with me?"

  Frederick William stood in a corner of the anteroom, his head leaningagainst the wall, his hands pressed against his breast, in order tosuppress the sobs which escaped from it in spite of him. His eyes weretearless; his quivering lips were murmuring: "My wife is dying! She isdying!"

  "Louisa wishes to see you," whispered the Princess of Solms, approachinghim. "But, pray be gentle; do not manifest your grief; Louisa says thatelse she would die immediately."

  "No," said the king, sternly, "she shall not die. I will endeavor to becalm!" And, restraining his grief, he stepped to the queen's bedside. "Ijust had a conference with the physicians," he said, almost smilingly."They make me hope for the best. Indeed, I never believed that you werein danger; I was only deeply moved because I saw you suffering sointensely."

  The queen looked him full in the face, and made no reply. The king satdown on her bed and took her right hand. Louisa pressed his hand gently,and fixed her eyes with a thoughtful and grave expression on hiscountenance. Suddenly a dark shadow passed over her face. "It is coming!It is coming!" she cried in a tone of heart-rending anguish, and startedup in excruciating pain.

  The king went to the door and called the physicians, who hastened intothe room, followed by the duke, the princes, and the whole family.Madame von Berg raised the groaning sufferer. The physicians werestanding in the middle of the room. "We cannot help her. It is the lastconvulsion!"

  "Air! air!" cried the queen.

  Frederick William bent over her with tearless eyes. The agony she wassuffering paralyzed his heart.

  "Lord, end my sufferings!" cried the queen, with a last effort, and herhead sank back into the arms of Madame von Berg. Another sigh--a long,tremulous sigh. The clock struck nine. A solemn silence reigned in thepalace. The queen was dead!

  THE END.