Hebrew Elijahs, then; so that the wild ravens have to bring us
food? Truth is, there was nothing miraculous, as Wilhelmina found
by and by. It was a tame raven,--not the soul of old George I.,
which lives at Isleworth on good pensions; but the pet raven of a
certain Margravine, which lost its way among the intricate roofs
here. But the incident was touching. "Well," exclaimed Wilhelmina,
"in the Roman Histories I am now reading, it is often said those
creatures betoken good luck." All Berlin, such the appetite for
gossip, and such the famine of it in Berlin at present, talked of
this minute event: and the French Colony--old Protestant Colony,
practical considerate people--were so struck by it, they brought
baskets of comfortable things to us, and left them daily, as if by
accident, on some neutral ground, where the maid could pick them
up, sentries refusing to see unless compelled. Which fine
procedure has attached Wilhelmina to the French nation ever since,
as a dexterous useful people, and has given her a disposition to
help them where she could.

The omen of the raven did not at once bring good luck: however, it
did chance to be the turning-point, solstice of this long
Greenland winter; after which, amid storms and alarms, daylight
came steadily nearer. Storms and alarms: for there came rumors of
quarrels out at Potsdam, quarrels on the old score between the
Royal Spouses there; and frightful messages, through one
Eversmann, an insolent royal lackey, about wedding Weissenfels,
about imprisonment for life and other hard things; through all
which Wilhelmina studied to keep her poor head steady, and
answer with dignity yet discreetly. On the other hand, her Sisters
are permitted to visit her, and perceptible assuagements come.
At length, on the 11th of May, there came solemn Deputation,