and opened fire.

'Are you not,' he asked, 'what they call a socialist?'

'Why, no,' returned Otto, 'not precisely what they call so. Why do you
ask?'

'I will tell you why,' said the young man. 'I saw from the first that
you were a red progressional, and nothing but the fear of old Killian
kept you back. And there, sir, you were right: old men are always
cowards. But nowadays, you see, there are so many groups: you can never
tell how far the likeliest kind of man may be prepared to go; and I was
never sure you were one of the strong thinkers, till you hinted about
women and free love.'

'Indeed,' cried Otto, 'I never said a word of such a thing.'

'Not you!' cried Fritz. 'Never a word to compromise! You was sowing
seed: ground-bait, our president calls it. But it's hard to deceive me,
for I know all the agitators and their ways, and all the doctrines; and
between you and me,' lowering his voice, 'I am myself affiliated. O yes,
I am a secret society man, and here is my medal.' And drawing out a
green ribbon that he wore about his neck, he held up, for Otto's
inspection, a pewter medal bearing the imprint of a Phoenix and the
legend _Libertas_. 'And so now you see you may trust me,' added Fritz,
'I am none of your alehouse talkers; I am a convinced revolutionary.'
And he looked meltingly upon Otto.

'I see,' replied the Prince; 'that is very gratifying. Well, sir, the
great thing for the good of one's country is, first of all, to be a good
man. All springs from there. For my part, although you are right in
thinking that I have to do with politics, I am unfit by intellect and
temper for a leading role. I was intended, I fear, for a subaltern. Yet
we have all something to command, Mr. Fritz, if it be only our own
temper; and a man about to marry must look closely to himself. The
husband's, like the prince's, is a very artificial standing; and it is
hard to be kind in either. Do you follow that?'

'O yes, I follow that,' replied the young man, sadly chop-fallen over the
nature of the information he had elicited; and then brightening up: 'Is
it,' he ventured, 'is it for an arsenal that you have bought the farm?'

'We'll see about that,' the Prince answered, laughing. 'You must not be
too zealous. And in the meantime, if I were you, I would say nothing on
the subject.'

'O, trust me, sir, for that,' cried Fritz, as he pocketed a crown. 'And
you've let nothing out; for I suspected--I might say I k