¶ The meeting took place July 6, 1807. Napoleon sent his coach, drawn by six white horses, to bring the Queen to the miller's house, where the interview was staged in an upper room. Louise had on her finest court robe, white crepe embroidered with silver, and wore her famous crown of pearls; her loveliness and her woman's wit were to be used in behalf of prostrate Prussia. ¶ Napoleon rode up in great style, surrounded by his brilliant staff--Berthier, Murat and the others. Louise awaited him at the head of the rickety stairs. As he went up in the semi-darkness, he stumbled and fell. The Queen apologized that she was forced to meet the Emperor in so mean a place; but he immediately replied that to see so lovely a woman was well worth a few minor obstacles. ¶ Louise now began pleading with Napoleon for leniency toward Prussia. What an interview that was! How eloquently she set forth her people's sufferings in the great French wars; she pictured the sorrows of Prussia so vividly that at last Napoleon became mightily interested. Finally he said: ¶ "Ah, your Majesty asks very much indeed, but I am dreaming!" By this he meant, "I do not hear a word you say; I am looking at your beautiful eyes." ¶ The clever Louise saw that she was progressing with her arguments, and undoubtedly had the Emperor under the spell of her fatal beauty; to oblige a grand lady in distress, he would be willing to concede much indeed, in his famous rôle of lady-killer and protector of feminine loveliness. But at that precise moment, who should enter the room but Fr: Wilhelm himself, the Queen's blundering husband! ¶ Always in the way--mentally clumsy--he spoiled everything! The interview ended abruptly. ¶ Louise, heartbroken, retired in utter despair. She had believed that the justice of her cause, her eloquence, her loyalty to her people would go far to soften Napoleon's wrath, but in all this she was cruelly disappointed. Next day the French tyrant announced his terms: Indemnity of 154,000,000 marks; one-third cash; one-third payable in lands; the final third "on time," in the interim he would garrison in five fortified towns 30,000 French troops and 10,000 French cavalry, whose support was at the expense of Prussia, till the debt was paid. ¶ This great Queen, after life's fever, sleeps enshrined in her snowy marble tomb at Charlottenburg. One day you will stand with uncovered head beside her royal grave, and recall her noble life. She deserves well of her country! * * * * * ¶ But mark this well: out of Prussia's humiliations came her ultimate strength; the vanquished, as is often the story of human life, was strengthened more than the victors. Prussia, chastened by her severe lessons, henceforth proceeded to build herself up slowly till at last she was ready, many, many years later, to strike for German Unity that final blow at the palace of the French kings at Versailles.