“Tears!” said Ulrica lovingly, as she drew her sister to the sofa and pressed her down upon the soft pillows; “you weep, and yet a splendid future is this day secured to you!”

Amelia sobbed yet more loudly and pressed her tear-stained face more closely to the bosom of her sister.  Ulrica looked down with a mixture of curiosity and triumph; she could not understand these tears; but she had a secret satisfaction in seeing the person she most envied weeping so bitterly.

“How is this? are you not happy to be a queen?”

Amelia raised her face hastily and sobbed out:  “No!  I am not pleased to be an apostate, to perjure myself!  I am not content to deny my faith in order to buy a miserable earthly crown!  I have sworn to be true to my God and my faith, and now I am commanded to lay it aside like a perishable robe, and take another in exchange.”

“Ah, is it that?” said Ulrica, with a tone of contempt she could scarcely control; “you fear this bold step by which your poor innocent soul may be compromised.”

“I will remain true to the belief in which I have been educated, and to which I have dedicated myself at the altar!” cried Amelia, bursting again into tears.

“It is easy to see that but a short time only has elapsed since you took these vows upon you.  You have all the fanaticism of a new convert.  How would our blessed father rejoice if he could see you now!”

“He would not force me to deny my religion; he would not, for the sake of outward splendor, endanger my soul’s salvation.  Oh! it is harsh and cruel of my brother to treat me as a piece of merchandise; he asks not whether my heart or principles can conscientiously take part in his ambitious plans.”

Ulrica cast a long and piercing glance upon her sister.  She would gladly have searched to the bottom of her soul; she wished to know if this fierce opposition to the marriage was the result of love to the faith of her fathers.

“And you are not ambitious? you are not excited by the thought of being a queen, of marrying a man who will fill a place in the world’s history?”

The young girl raised her eyes in amazement, and her tears ceased to flow.

“What has a woman to do with the world’s history?” she said; “think you I care to be named as the wife of a king of Sweden?  It is a sad, unhappy fate to be a princess.  We are sold to him who makes the largest offer and the most favorable conditions.  Well, let it be so; it is the fate of all princesses; it is for this we are educated, and must bow humbly to the yoke; but liberty of conscience should be at least allowed us, freedom of thought, the poor consolation of worshipping God in the manner we prefer, and of seeking help and protection in the arms of that religion we believe in and love.”

“One can be faithful to God even when unfaithful to their first faith,” said Ulrica, who began already to make excuses to herself for the change of religion she contemplated.