"I kept Ernest from his confidence, by assuring him he had encouraged you. Under these impressions, one day, in a great fury, he made a will in my favour; but I believe grief, for your supposed neglect of him, preyed upon his mind, he fell into a swift decay.
"I told him you knew of his illness, but never inquired for him; once or twice Ernest petitioned for you, but he disregarded him.
"A week before his death he one day called me to his bed—'Tell the ungrateful Ferdinand (said he) that on my death-bed I forgive him: I revoke a curse that has preyed upon my spirits; may Heaven forgive his unnatural behaviour, as I do.'
"The next day he sent for his lawyer; I was alarmed; the lawyer was from home, the clerk came; he would make a new will, he did so: I pretended to rejoice at it. He left your children his estate in Bavaria, and you a thousand crowns a year, with the small farm on the skirts of the Forest; also an annuity to Ernest of two hundred crowns.
