my prayers and agony, will not consent."

"He is right," said Pollnitz, earnestly, as he stretched himself out
comfortably on the sofa; "he is a fool who thinks of yielding up his
manly freedom to any woman."

"You say that, baron? you, who gave up king and court, and went to
Nurnberg, in order that you might marry!"

"Aha! how adroitly you have played the knife out of my hands, and
have yourself become the questioner! Well. it is but just that you
also should have your curiosity satisfied. Demand of me now and I
will answer frankly."

"You are not married, baron?"

"Not in the least; and I have sworn that the goddess Fortuna alone
shall be my beloved. I will have no mortal wife."

"The report, then, is untrue that you have again changed your
religion, and become Protestant?"

"No, this time rumor has spoken the truth. The Nurnberger patrician
would accept no hand offered by a Catholic; so I took off the glove
of my Catholicism and drew on my Protestant one. My God! to a man of
the world, his outside faith is nothing more than an article of the
toilet. Do you not know that it is bon ton for princes when they
visit strange courts to wear the orders and uniforms of their
entertainers? So it is my rule of etiquette to adopt the religion
which the circumstances in which I find myself seem to make suitable