"I cannot talk at all," said the boy, whose tears were fast flowing for the pastor, though it was some time since he had shed any for himself. He lay quietly listening to the pastor's consolations, till his mother appeared to say that Master Peter had come to see him. She was evidently wishing to tell something more, if Master Peter had not followed at her heels. The pastor hastened to disengage himself from Christian, that he might rise and make a profound obeisance. Christian, who had never seen his friend offer so low a reverence, especially to a carpenter in his workman's dress, laughed aloud. Mrs. Snoek, much alarmed at this ill-timed mirth, uttered at once what she had been wanting to say;--that Master Peter was a very different Peter from what they had imagined,--no other than the Keiser of all the Russias. While Christian looked wistfully in Peter's face to learn if this was true, the Emperor lifted him gently from his couch, and held him in his arms as he had done on the first day of their acquaintance, assuring him that, as he would not allow his fellow-workmen to treat him differently now that they knew who he was, he should be very sorry if Christian grew afraid of him. As he spoke, he looked with a smile towards the opposite side of the room, where Luc had backed into a corner, and Roselyn was peeping from behind her mother's ample skirt. "Luc looks afraid of you," said Christian; "and I might be afraid, if I were Luc. But, sir, I am just going where a great Keiser is no more than a pastor; and I dare say not so much. If I see you there very soon, you will not be a Keiser, and I shall be no more afraid of you than when you were only Master Peter." "Very soon, Christian? I hope we shall not meet there very soon." "O, yes: ask the pastor," said the boy, eagerly. "He will tell you that I am going very, very soon." This the pastor unhesitatingly confirmed; but added that the Keiser had, he trusted, a long work to achieve before he was called into the presence of the King of Kings. "O, yes," said Christian, "how busy you are all going to be; and you, Master Peter, the busiest of all. You are learning to build fleets and cities;--at least, I heard them say so about the Keiser;--and you are getting wise men to teach you all that they know; while I am going to a place where there is no device nor knowledge."