"Dear Ilse, as Mr. Rollmaus in proposing your health will express himself shortly and laconically, I take the occasion to mention beforehand that as old friends of your parents, we wish you joy from the bottom of our hearts. And as we have lived together as good neighbors, sympathizing both in misfortune and when there was an agreeable addition to the family, and as we have often rendered each other mutual assistance in household matters, it is very sad for us to think that you are going to leave our country. Yet we rejoice that you are going to a city where intellect and higher aims are appreciated. I will not be voluminous, therefore I beg of you both to remember us with true friendship." She put her handkerchief to her eyes and Mr. Rollmaus expressed the family feeling generally, in four words: "Health to the couple." At departing Mrs. Rollmaus wept a little and begged the Proprietor to permit them to be at the marriage, though no other guests were to be present. There was to be still another distraction. The Sovereign wished to stop on the way to his hunting castle and take breakfast in the old house. "It is well. Ilse, that you are with us," said her father. "But one does not know at all what such a person is accustomed to," rejoined Ilse, between pleasure and anxiety. "His own cook will come over from the Forester's house; he will help. Only see to it that he finds something in the kitchen." It was a day of busy preparation, and the children, the housekeeper and the workwomen sat among heaps of branches and autumn flowers, twining wreaths and garlands. "Spare nothing," said Ilse to the old gardener; "he is the beloved father of our country. We, his children, bring him our flowers as a tribute." Hans, with the help of the Professor, arranged immense emblems and monograms of dahlias. The evening before the hunt the purveyor and cook, with their attendants, arrived. The purveyor begged leave to set the table in the garden. "The Sovereign will be accompanied by the necessary servants; the rest of the waiting may be done by the waiting-maids of the house. Country customs please his Highness."