I noticed some of the company prepare their mouths and draw themselves up at the prospect of some agreeable forfeit.  “Let us play at counting,” said Charlotte.  “Now, pay attention:  I shall go round the circle from right to left; and each person is to count, one after the other, the number that comes to him, and must count fast; whoever stops or mistakes is to have a box on the ear, and so on, till we have counted a thousand.”  It was delightful to see the fun.  She went round the circle with upraised arm.  “One,” said the first; “two,” the second; “three,” the third; and so on, till Charlotte went faster and faster.  One made a mistake, instantly a box on the ear; and, amid the laughter that ensued, came another box; and so on, faster and faster.  I myself came in for two.  I fancied they were harder than the rest, and felt quite delighted.  A general laughter and confusion put an end to the game long before we had counted as far as a thousand.  The party broke up into little separate knots:  the storm had ceased, and I followed Charlotte into the ballroom.  On the way she said, “The game banished their fears of the storm.”  I could make no reply.  “I myself,” she continued, “was as much frightened as any of them; but by affecting courage, to keep up the spirits of the others, I forgot my apprehensions.”  We went to the window.  It was still thundering at a distance:  a soft rain was pouring down over the country, and filled the air around us with delicious odours.  Charlotte leaned forward on her arm; her eyes wandered over the scene; she raised them to the sky, and then turned them upon me; they were moistened with tears; she placed her hand on mine and said, “Klopstock!” at once I remembered the magnificent ode which was in her thoughts:  I felt oppressed with the weight of my sensations, and sank under them.  It was more than I could bear.  I bent over her hand, kissed it in a stream of delicious tears, and again looked up to her eyes.  Divine Klopstock! why didst thou not see thy apotheosis in those eyes?  And thy name so often profaned, would that I never heard it repeated!

June 19.

I no longer remember where I stopped in my narrative:  I only know it was two in the morning when I went to bed; and if you had been with me, that I might have talked instead of writing to you, I should, in all probability, have kept you up till daylight.

I think I have not yet related what happened as we rode home from the ball, nor have I time to tell you now.  It was a most magnificent sunrise:  the whole country was refreshed, and the rain fell drop by drop from the trees in the forest.  Our companions were asleep.  Charlotte asked me if I did not wish to sleep also, and begged of me not to make any ceremony on her account.  Looking steadfastly at her, I answered, “As long as I see those eyes open, there is no fear of my falling asleep.”  We both continued awake till we reached her door.  The maid opened it softly, and assured her, in answer to her inquiries, that her father and the children were well, and still sleeping.  I left her asking permission to visit her in the course of the day.  She consented, and I went, and, since that time, sun, moon, and stars may pursue their course:  I know not whether it is day or night; the whole world is nothing to me.