Page:The Writings of Prosper Merimee-Volume 3.djvu/60

38 working for the welfare of my people, and in preserving the faith of my forefathers."

Now, when the reader recollects the death of Gustavus III, and the doom of Ankarstroem, his assassin, they wiU find more than a mere coincidence between that event and the circimi- stances of this extraordinary prophecy.

The young man beheaded before the States Assembly should be called Ankarstroem. The crowned corpse should be Gustavus III. The child, his son and successor, Gustavus Adolphus IV.

Finally, the old man was the Duke of Sudermania, uncle of Gustavus IV, regent of the Crown, and, in the end, King, after the deposition of his nephew.