who are
always at hand with their advice on any question of business, when
foreign vessels put in here and are at a loss to know what to do. And
when they have given advice and rendered service to some Dutch or
Portuguese vessel, they are likely in the end to become accredited
representatives of such foreign states, and so we have just as many
consuls in Kessin as we have ambassadors and envoys in Berlin. Then
whenever there is a holiday, and we have many holidays here, all the
flags are hoisted, and, if we happen to have a bright sunny morning,
on such days you can see all Europe flying flags from our roofs, and
the star-spangled banner and the Chinese dragon besides."

"You are in a scoffing mood, Geert, and yet you may be right. But I
for my part, insignificant though I be, must confess, that I consider
all this charming and that our Havelland cities are nothing in
comparison. When the Emperor's birthday is celebrated in our region
the only flags hoisted are just the black and white, with perhaps a
bit of red here and there, but that is not to be compared with the
world of flags you speak of. Generally speaking, I find over and over
again, as I have already said, that everything here has a certain
foreign air about it, and I have not yet seen or heard a thing that
has not more or less amazed me. Yesterday evening, for example, there
was that remarkable ship out in the hall, and behind it the shark and
the crocodile. And here your own room. Everything so oriental and, I
cannot help repeating, everything as in the palace of an Indian
prince."

"Well and good! I congratulate you, Princess."

"And then upstairs the social room with its long curtains, which sweep
over the floor."

"Now what, pray, do you know about that room?"

"Nothing beyond what I just told you. For about an hour while I lay
awake in the night it seemed to me as though I heard shoes gliding
over the floor, and as though there were dancing, and something almost
like music, too. But all very quiet. I told Johanna about it this
morning, merely in order to excuse myself for sleeping so long
afterwards. She told me that it came from the long curtains up in the
social room. I think we shall put a stop to that by cutting off a
piece of the curtains or at least closing the windows. The weather
will soon turn stormy enough, anyhow. The middle of November is the
time, you know."

Innstetten was a trifle embarrassed and sat with a puzzled look on his
fac