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A PICTURE-BOOK WITHOUT PICTURES 1111
shone doubly vivid upon the rich velvet that covered the throne of France.
' Now, who do you think this poor woman was ? Listen, I will tell you a story.
1 It happened in the Revolution of July, on the evening of the most brilliantly victorious day, when every house was a fortress, every window a breastwork. The people stormed the Tuileries. Even women and children were to be found among the combatants. They penetrated into the apartments and halls of the palace. A poor half-grown boy in a ragged blouse fought among the older insurgents. Mortally wounded with several bayonet thrusts, he sank down. This happened in the throne-room. They laid the bleeding youth upon the throne of France, wrapped the velvet round his wounds, and his blood streamed forth upon the imperial purple. There was a picture ! the splendid hall, the righting groups ! A torn flag lay upon the ground, the tricolour was waving above the bayonets, and on the throne lay the poor lad with the pale glorified countenance, his eyes turned towards the sky, his limbs writhing in the death agony, his breast bare, and his poor tattered clothing half-hidden by the rich velvet embroidered with silver lilies. At the boy's cradle a prophecy had been spoken : " He will die on the throne of France ! " The mother's heart had fondly imagined a second Napoleon.
1 My beams have kissed the wreath of immortelles on his grave, and this night they kissed the forehead of the old grandame, while in a dream the picture floated before her which thou mayest draw—the poor boy on the throne of France.'
Sixth Evening
' I've been in Upsala,' said the Moon : ' I looked down upon the great plain covered with coarse grass, and upon the barren fields. I mirrored my face in the Fyris river, while the steamboat scared the fish into the rushes. Beneath me floated the clouds, thro wing long shadows on the so-called graves of Odin, Thor, and Frey. In the scanty turf that covers the grave-mounds, names have been cut. There is no monument here, no memorial on which the traveller can |
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