Page:The Keepsake for 1838.djvu/35

Rh on the damp walls, from which the decaying tapestry hung in tatters, "but they say I shall be king of England, and you shall have a beautiful palace then."

Sophie smiled, and kissed the forehead, whose golden curls were the colour of her own.

Time passed on, and yet no search was made for the young Prince, who accompanied his mother to the chapel. It was a gloomy ruin—the roof admitted the daylight in many places, and the arches were broken and defaced, while the tombs below yawned as if about to give up their dead. The young Prince shuddered as he knelt on the cold pavement where his mother had knelt for so many years. The service ended—the Electress approached the altar, and again kneeling, she took from the aged priest the sacred bread and wine, but ere she drank from the holy cup, she called upon the Saviour who had given it to his followers, to bear witness to her innocence. A ray of light from the roof fell around her while she spoke; her large blue eyes were raised to the heaven she invoked, and it ﬂung around her pale and spiritual countenance a glory like that of an angel. At this moment, a sound of hurried footsteps disturbed the stillness of those old walls, and the chapel was ﬁlled with strangers.

"I knew that I should ﬁnd him here," said a tall stately looking man, the young Prince’s governor. "I am sorry, madam," added he, "that this painful duty should devolve upon me, but his Serene Highness must not remain here."

"I did not hope that he might," replied Sophie, "it is happiness enough only to have seen him; something at my heart tells me we shall never meet again. George, my beloved child, farewell. Inform your father that to-day, for the ﬁrst time, I prayed for him."

"Madam," exclaimed the Baron, "my mission is not one all of bitterness. With some concession, I am commissioned