"Be assured, I will remember it," cried Julie, with glowing cheeks, and a proud, joyous smile. "I will make my conditions; and only when the king fulfils them will I be his, and--" "And, why do you pause, and why is your face crimsoned with blushes all at once? Ah! you hear an equipage rolling up the avenue, and your tender heart says the king, your future husband, is approaching. Yes, my beautiful sister," continued her brother, as he stepped to the window and looked out; "yes, it is the king. Now prepare yourself, my wise and discreet Julie; prepare to give your royal lover a worthy reception. For, of course, you will receive him? And I may tell--I may tell his majesty that you welcome his visit joyfully?" "No, oh no," murmured the maid of honor, with trembling lips. "I am not prepared; I am not composed; I cannot receive the king now!" "No childishness," said her brother, severely. "You will have sufficient time to compose yourself. The king must first pay his respects to the widowed queen, and the visit of condolence will last at least a quarter of an hour. I must now leave you; but remember that the fortunes of your family, and of the whole country, are in your hands, and act accordingly!" He left the room hastily, without awaiting a reply, and went down to the grand audience-chamber, where the courtiers and cavaliers were assembled. The king had already retired with the widowed queen to her library. On entering the chamber, he immediately walked up to his intimate acquaintance, Bischofswerder, the newly-created colonel, who had accompanied the king to Schönhausen. "It will succeed," said he, in a low voice, "our great ends will be attained; we will conquer our enemies, and secure dominion for ourselves and the invisible fathers. My sister loves the king, but she has been virtuously reared, and would rather renounce the king and her love, than sacrifice her moral principles." "She is, therefore, the more worthy of the high mission to which she has been called by the will of the Invisible," said Bischofswerder, emphatically. "She shall rescue our loved master and king from the arms of sin, and lead him back to the path of virtue with the hand of love, sanctified and consecrated by these noble ends." "But she demands another consecration. The consecration of a lawful marriage. If this can be procured, my sister will always be our obedient and devoted friend, and, through her instrumentality, we--that is, the Invisible--will establish our rule." "Her desire is certainly a bold one," said Bischofswerder. "But we must endeavor to fulfil it. We will speak with our wise friend Wöllner on this subject; and will also lay the noble young lady's request at the feet of the sublime grand-kophta, and master of the invisible lodge." "Is he here, the great grand-kophta?" asked Charles von Voss, eagerly. "Then what the circle-director announced yesterday in the assembly was really true, and the grand-kophta is in our midst."