, and her husband,
Albrecht, was long regarded the Croesus among German princes.

After the divorce, His Royal Highness forced the ex-wife to marry the
hostler, and the bloom of forbidden love having worn off in the
meantime, Marianne seldom passed a day without being soundly beaten by
the plebeian. Maybe she liked it. Some women do.

Today her offspring with Master Fisticuffs are sturdy farmers in
Silesia, but two of the three sons she had with the royal Prince, as
well as the sons the royal Prince had with his second wife, Rosalie von
Rauch, are degenerates. Rosalie's sons are known as Counts Hohenau and
the wife of the elder, Fritz, is giving my astute and pious cousin, the
Kaiserin, considerable heart-ache.

Curious, isn't it? The children of the "adulteress" are successful men
and women, aids in the progress of the world; those of the blood royal,
in double or single doses, a menace to public morality. This much for
your royal inbred custom.

But back to Dresden. The order to drive slowly was soon rescinded, for I
was burning to see a riot at close range. "_Plein carriere_," I
commanded, and my fast _Carrossiers_ went at a tremendous rate for two
miles. The moment I saw, in the distance, knots of people standing round
or moving in the direction of the palace, I cried: "_Schritt_," and we
proceeded as leisurely as if following a funeral.

As we turned around a corner, a detachment of gendarmes, sent to watch
for me, hove into sight. Their commanding officer signalled frantically
to the coachman to stop, but George had his instructions and proceeded.

The officer spurred his horse and rode up to me, questioning me with his
eyes.

"My orders," I explained.

"Then I must escort Your Imperial Highness."

"Don't."

"Strict orders from my superior officer, Your Imperial Highness," and
the gendarmes formed a _cordon_ around my carriage.

I was furious. "Send for your commander."

The captain of the gendarmes could not be found at once and joined my
cavalcade only when we were opposite a living wall of excited people,
nearly all of them workmen.

"What is Your Imperial Highness's pleasure?" asked the captain, bending
down from his horse.

"Send your men away instantly."

"But the responsibility?"

"Rests with me and with me only. Send them away. Every one of them."

The mob was watching us. I read suspicion in the eyes of those nearest.
The captain gave the sign and the troopers turned their horses' he