elette and some slices of
home-cured ham were waiting him; these were followed by a ragout and a
cheese; and it was not until his guest had entirely satisfied his hunger,
and the whole party drew about the fire over the wine jug, that Killian
Gottesheim's elaborate courtesy permitted him to address a question to
the Prince.

'You have perhaps ridden far, sir?' he inquired.

'I have, as you say, ridden far,' replied Otto; 'and, as you have seen, I
was prepared to do justice to your daughters cookery.'

'Possibly, sir, from the direction of Brandenau?' continued Killian.

'Precisely: and I should have slept to-night, had I not wandered, in
Mittwalden,' answered the Prince, weaving in a patch of truth, according
to the habit of all liars.

'Business leads you to Mittwalden?' was the next question.

'Mere curiosity,' said Otto. 'I have never yet visited the principality
of Grunewald.'

'A pleasant state, sir,' piped the old man, nodding, 'a very pleasant
state, and a fine race, both pines and people. We reckon ourselves part
Grunewalders here, lying so near the borders; and the river there is all
good Grunewald water, every drop of it. Yes, sir, a fine state. A man
of Grunewald now will swing me an axe over his head that many a man of
Gerolstein could hardly lift; and the pines, why, deary me, there must be
more pines in that little state, sir, than people in this whole big
world. 'Tis twenty years now since I crossed the marshes, for we grow
home-keepers in old age; but I mind it as if it was yesterday. Up and
down, the road keeps right on from here to Mittwalden; and nothing all
the way but the good green pine-trees, big and little, and water-power!
water-power at every step, sir. We once sold a bit of forest, up there
beside the high-road; and the sight of minted money that we got for it
has set me ciphering ever since what all the pines in Grunewald would
amount to.'

'I suppose you see nothing of the Prince?' inquired Otto.

'No,' said the young man, speaking for the first time, 'nor want to.'

'Why so? is he so much disliked?' asked Otto.

'Not what you might call disliked,' replied the old gentleman, 'but
despised, sir.'

'Indeed,' said the Prince, somewhat faintly.

'Yes, sir, despised,' nodded Killian, filling a long pipe, 'and, to my
way of thinking, justly despised. Here is a man with great
opportunities, and what does he do with them? He hunts, and he dresses
very prettily--which is a th