Charlotte opened the door, took the letter, and ordered lights to be brought in. She then tore the cover from Schiller's letter; in it she found a little note on which the few words had been hastily written: "Dear Charlotte!--I have written down the thoughts which our conversation of to-day awakened in my bosom; and send them to you, for they belong to you. May we never share the fate of the poor youth in the temple of Sais! To seek the truth is to kill love, and yet love is the most beautiful truth; and true it is also that I love you, Charlotte! Believe this, and let us leave the great Isis veiled! /Frederick Schiller/." After reading this, Charlotte unfolded the large sheet which was also contained in the cover. It was a poem, and bore the title, "The Veiled Picture at Sais." Charlotte read it again and again, and her soul grew sadder and sadder. "He does not love me," she repeated, softly. "If he loved me he would not have written, but would have come to weep at my feet! That would have been a living poem! Oh, Schiller, I am the unhappy youth; I have seen the truth! My happiness is forever gone, and, like him, I will go to the grave in despair. I exclaim, with your youth, 'Woe to him who commits a crime in order to find the truth! It can never give him joy!'" When Schiller returned on the following morning, Charlotte gave him a warm welcome, extended both hands, and regarded him with a tender smile, repeating the words from his letter, "Let us leave the great Isis veiled." Schiller uttered a cry of joy, fell on his knees at Charlotte's feet, kissed her hands, and swore that he loved her and her only, and that he would remain true to her in spite of all abysses and chasms! But the vows of mankind are swept away like the leaves of the forest; what to-day was green and blooming, to-morrow fades and dies!