I shall, therefore, limit myself to my expressions of very sincere wishes for the welfare and prosperity of Belgium." After that, it was clear that there was no more to be said.

Henceforward there is audible in the King's letters a curiously elegiac note.

"My dearest Victoria, your DELIGHTFUL little letter has just arrived and went like AN ARROW TO MY HEART.

Yes, my beloved Victoria! I DO LOVE YOU TENDERLY...

I love you FOR YOURSELF, and I love in you the dear child whose welfare I tenderly watched." He had gone through much; yet, if life had its disappointments, it had its satisfactions too.