"And you wear the uniform of the life-guard--you are a lieutenant!" cried Pollnitz with tragical pathos, and extending his arms toward heaven. "But how?--what did you say?--that until to-day you had seen no woman who approached your ideal?" "I said that." "And to-day--?" "Well, it seems to me, we have both seen an angel to-day!--an angel, whom you have wronged, in giving her the common name of fairy." "Aha! the Princess Amelia," said Pollnitz. "You will love this young maiden, my friend." "Then, indeed, shall I be most unhappy! She is a royal princess, and my love must ever be unrequited." "Who told you that? who told you that this little Amelia was only a princess? I tell you she is a young girl with a heart of fire. Try to awake her--she only sleeps! A happy event has already greeted you. The princess has fixed your enraptured gaze upon her lovely form, by throwing or rather shooting roses at you. Perhaps the god of Love has hidden his arrow in a rose. You thought Amelia had only pelted your cheek with roses, but the arrow has entered your soul. Try your luck, young man; gain the love of the king's favorite sister, and you will be all-powerful." The young officer looked at him with confused and misty eyes. "You do not dare to suggest," murmured he, "that--" "I dare to say," cried Pollnitz, interrupting him, "that you are in favor with the brother; why may you not also gain the sister's good graces? I say further, that I will assist you, and I will ever be at your side, as a loving friend and a sagacious counsellor." "Do you know, baron, that your wild words open a future to my view before which my brain and heart are reeling? How shall I dare to love a princess, and seek her love in return?" "As to the first point, I think you have already dared. As to the second, I think your rare beauty and wondrous accomplishments might justify such pretensions." "You know I never can become the husband of a princess." "You are right," said Pollnitz, laughing aloud; "you are as innocent as a girl of sixteen! you have this moment fallen headlong in love, and begin at once to think of the possibility of marriage, as if love had no other refuge than marriage, and yet I think I have read that the god of Love and the god of Hymen are rarely seen together, though brothers; in point of fact, they despise and flee from each other. But after all, young man, if your love is virtuous and requires the priest's blessing, I think that is possible. Only a few years since the widowed margravine, the aunt of the king, married the Count Hoditz. What the king's aunt accomplished, might be possible to the king's sister."