ine--my poor good Frau Feldmarschall! Now,
here, Richie,'--my father opened a side-door out of an elegant little
room into a spacious dark place, 'here is her cabinet-theatre, where we
act German and French comediettas in Spring and Autumn. I have
superintended it during the two or more years of my stay at the Court.
Humph! 'tis over.'

He abruptly closed the door. His dress belonged to the part of a Spanish
nobleman, personated by him in a Play called The Hidalgo Enraged, he
said, pointing a thumb over his shoulder at the melancholy door, behind
which gay scenes had sparkled.

'Papa!' said I sadly, for consolation.

'You're change for a sovereign to the amount of four hundred and
forty-nine thousand shillings every time you speak!' cried he, kissing my
forehead.

He sparkled in good earnest on hearing that I had made acquaintance with
the little Princess Ottilia. What I thought of her, how she looked at me,
what I said to her, what words she answered, how the acquaintance began,
who were observers of it,--I had to repair my omission to mention her by
furnishing a precise description of the circumstances, describing her
face and style, repeating her pretty English.

My father nodded: he thought I exaggerated that foreign English of hers;
but, as I said, I was new to it and noticed it. He admitted the greater
keenness of attention awakened by novelty.

'Only,' said he, 'I rather wonder--' and here he smiled at me
inquiringly. ''Tis true,' he added, 'a boy of fourteen or fifteen--ay,
Richie, have your fun out. A youngster saw the comic side of her. Do you
know, that child has a remarkable character? Her disposition is totally
unfathomable. You are a deep reader of English poetry, I hope; she
adores it, and the English Navy. She informed me that if she had been the
English people she would have made Nelson king. The Royal family of
England might see objections to that, I told her. Cries she: "Oh!
anything for a sea-hero." You will find these young princes and
princesses astonishingly revolutionary when they entertain brains. Now at
present, just at present, an English naval officer, and a poet, stand
higher in the esteem of that young Princess Ottilia than dukes, kings, or
emperors. So you have seen her!' my father ejaculated musingly, and
hummed, and said: 'By the way, we must be careful not to offend our
grandpapa Beltham, Richie. Good acres--good anchorage; good coffers--good
harbourage. Regarding poetry, my dear