"
The physician cast an inquiring glance on the chancellor. Hardenberg
nodded smilingly. "You are right. Frederica," he said. "I was
minister of state all day long yesterday."
"No, no," she exclaimed, "not all the day. At the commencement of
Marshal Augereau's supper you were merry, and succeeded in
forgetting your onerous business; and had not the secretary of Count
St. Marsan made his appearance and brought the dispatches, you would
have finished your pheasant's wing with good appetite and in the
best of spirits."
The minister's face assumed an air of astonishment, and almost of
terror. "Ah," he said, "it seems you were present at that supper?"
"Certainly I was, for my soul is accompanying you all the time, and
my soul is the eye of my body. I see all you do, and know all your
thoughts."
"Well, then," said Hardenberg, smiling, "tell me what you saw last
night. Look backward, Frederica, and tell me where I was, and what I
did."
"Then you doubt my words?" she asked, reproachfully. "You want to
see whether I am able to tell you the truth? You know that it makes
my eyes ache to look backward, and that my spirit soars with easier
flight into the future than the past!"
"Do so nevertheless, Frederica," said Hardenberg, imperiously. "I
wish you to do so!" He laid his hand upon her arm, and the contact
made her start as an electric shock.
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