t. So here he was, and the Flying
Dutchman was not ghostly at all, nor did it fly. It was, from the
royal box, only too plainly a ship which had length and height, without
thickness. And instead of flying, after dreary aeons of singing, it was
moved off on creaky rollers by men whose shadows were thrown grotesquely
on the sea backing.

The orchestra, assisted by a bass solo and intermittent thunder in the
wings, was making a deafening din. One of the shadows on the sea backing
took out its handkerchief and wiped its nose.

Prince Ferdinand William Otto looked across at the other royal box, and
caught his Cousin Hedwig's eye. She also had seen the handkerchief;
she took out her own scrap of linen, and mimicked the shadow. Then, Her
Royal Highness the Archduchess Annunciata being occupied with the storm,
she winked across at Prince Ferdinand William Otto.

In the opposite box were his two cousins, the Princesses Hedwig and
Hilda, attended by Hedwig's lady in waiting. When a princess of the
Court becomes seventeen, she drops governesses and takes to ladies in
waiting. Hedwig was eighteen. The Crown Prince liked Hedwig better than
Hilda. Although she had been introduced formally to the Court at the
Christmas-Eve ball, and had been duly presented by her grandfather,
the King, with the usual string of pearls and her own carriage with the
spokes of the wheels gilded halfway, only the King and Prince Ferdinand
William Otto had all-gold wheels,--she still ran off now and then to
have tea with the Crown Prince and Miss Braithwaite in the schoolroom at
the Palace; and she could eat a great deal of bread-and-butter.

Prince Ferdinand William Otto winked back at the Princess Hedwig. And
just then--"Listen, Otto," said the Archduchess, leaning forward. "The
'Spinning Song'--is it not exquisite?"

"They are only pretending to spin," remarked Prince Ferdinand William
Otto.

Nevertheless he listened obediently. He rather liked it. They had not
fooled him at all. They were not really spinning,--any one could see
that, but they were sticking very closely to their business of each
outsinging the other, and collectively of drowning out the orchestra.

The spinning chorus was followed by long and tiresome solos. The Crown
Prince yawned again, although it was but the middle of the afternoon.
Catching Hedwig's eye, he ran his fingers up through his thick yellow
hair and grinned. Hedwig blushed. She had confided to him once, while
they