-' He hesitated at the name, and Gotthold
glanced aside. 'Well,' the Prince continued, 'what has come of it?
Taxes, army, cannon--why, it's like a box of lead soldiers! And the
people sick at the folly of it, and fired with the injustice! And war,
too--I hear of war--war in this teapot! What a complication of absurdity
and disgrace! And when the inevitable end arrives--the revolution--who
will be to blame in the sight of God, who will be gibbeted in public
opinion? I! Prince Puppet!'

'I thought you had despised public opinion,' said Gotthold.

'I did,' said Otto sombrely, 'but now I do not. I am growing old. And
then, Gotthold, there is Seraphina. She is loathed in this country that
I brought her to and suffered her to spoil. Yes, I gave it her as a
plaything, and she has broken it: a fine Prince, an admirable Princess!
Even her life--I ask you, Gotthold, is her life safe?'

'It is safe enough to-day,' replied the librarian: 'but since you ask me
seriously, I would not answer for to-morrow. She is ill-advised.'

'And by whom? By this Gondremark, to whom you counsel me to leave my
country,' cried the Prince. 'Rare advice! The course that I have been
following all these years, to come at last to this. O, ill-advised! if
that were all! See now, there is no sense in beating about the bush
between two men: you know what scandal says of her?'

Gotthold, with pursed lips, silently nodded.

'Well, come, you are not very cheering as to my conduct as the Prince;
have I even done my duty as a husband?' Otto asked.

'Nay, nay,' said Gotthold, earnestly and eagerly, 'this is another
chapter. I am an old celibate, an old monk. I cannot advise you in your
marriage.'

'Nor do I require advice,' said Otto, rising. 'All of this must cease.'
And he began to walk to and fro with his hands behind his back.

'Well, Otto, may God guide you!' said Gotthold, after a considerable
silence. 'I cannot.'

'From what does all this spring?' said the Prince, stopping in his walk.
'What am I to call it? Diffidence? The fear of ridicule? Inverted
vanity? What matter names, if it has brought me to this? I could never
bear to be bustling about nothing; I was ashamed of this toy kingdom from
the first; I could not tolerate that people should fancy I believed in a
thing so patently absurd! I would do nothing that cannot be done
smiling. I have a sense of humour, forsooth! I must know better than my
Maker. And it was