What luck! How smoothly the world was beginning to run!
Being of a discerning mind, she idled about the Platz till after nine,
for it had been told to her that the great sleep rather late in the
morning. What should she say to her serene highness? What kind of a
curtsy should she make? These and a hundred other questions flitted
through her head. At least she would wear no humble, servile air. For
Gretchen was a bit of a socialist. Did not Herr Goldberg, whom the
police detested, did he not say that all men were equal? And surely this
sweeping statement included women! She attended secret meetings in the
damp cellar of the Black Eagle, and, while she laughed at some of the
articles in the propaganda, she received seriously enough that which
proclaimed her the equal of any one. So long as she obeyed nature's laws
and Heaven's, was she not indeed the equal of queens and princesses,
who, it was said, did not always obey these laws?
With a confidence born of right and innocence, she proceeded toward the
east or side gates of the palace. The sentry smiled at her.
"I have a letter for her serene highness," she said.
"Leave it."
"I am under orders to give it to her highness herself."
"Good day, then!" laughed the soldier. "You can not enter the gardens
without a permit.
Pages:
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129