Theophilus narrated this sad history of his sufferings with many sighs and groans. He painted a very gloomy picture of his life, and Schiller was deeply moved. He laid his hand on the poor youth's pale brow and looked upwards, an expression of deep devotion and solemn earnestness depicted in his countenance. "Thou hast listened to the wails of two mortals to-day, thou Spirit of the Universe. The one spoke to Thee in the anger of a man, the other in the despairing cry of a youth. Impart, to both of them, of Thy peace, and of Thy strength! Give to the man the resignation which teaches him that his mission on earth is not to be happy, but to struggle; teach the youth that the darkest night is but the harbinger of coming day, and that he must not despair while in darkness and gloom, but ever look forward hopefully to the coming light." "Thou hast had Hope--in thy belief thy prize-- Thy life was centred in it," murmured Theophilus, smiling sadly. Schiller started and looked inquiringly at the youth, who, in so strange a coincidence of thought, had given expression to his despair in lines taken from the same poem from which the poet had repeated a verse in his hour of trial. "Are the lines you have just uttered your own?" asked Schiller. "No," replied the youth, softly, "from whence should such inspiration come to me. The lines are from Schiller's poem, 'To Resignation,' from the pen of the poet who is the favorite of the gods and muses, the poet who is adored by all Germany." "Do you know this Frederick Schiller, of whom you speak with such admiration?" "No, I have never seen him, nor do I desire to see him! I love and adore him as a sublime spirit, as a disembodied genius. I would, perhaps, envy him if he should appear before me in human form." "Envy him, and why?" "Because he is the chosen, the happy one! I do not wish to see the poet in bodily form; I do not wish to know that he eats and drinks like other men!" "And suffers like other men, too," said Schiller, softly. "No, that is impossible!" cried Theophilus, with vivacity. "His soul is filled with Heaven and the smiles of the Divinity; he cannot suffer, he cannot be unhappy!"