rds the Englishman, "you
are to me, except by the conventions of society, a perfect stranger. Of
your character and wishes I am ignorant. I have never wittingly
disobliged you. There is a difference in station, which I desire to
waive. I would, if you still think me entitled to so much
consideration--I would be regarded simply as a gentleman. Now, sir, I
did wrong to glance at these papers, which I here return to you; but if
curiosity be undignified, as I am free to own, falsehood is both
cowardly and cruel. I opened your roll; and what did I find--what did I
find about my wife? Lies!" he broke out. "They are lies! There are not,
so help me God! four words of truth in your intolerable libel! You are a
man; you are old, and might be the girl's father; you are a gentleman;
you are a scholar, and have learned refinement; and you rake together
all this vulgar scandal, and propose to print it in a public book! Such
is your chivalry! But, thank God, sir, she has still a husband. You say,
sir, in that paper in your hand, that I am a bad fencer; I have to
request from you a lesson in the art. The park is close behind; yonder
is the Pheasant House, where you will find your carriage; should I fall,
you know, sir--you have written it in your paper--how little my
movements are regarded; I am in the custom of disappearing: it will be
one more disappearance; and long before it has awakened a remark, you
may be safe across the border."

"You will observe," said Sir John, "that what you ask is impossible."

"And if I struck you?" cried the Prince, with a sudden menacing flash.

"It would be a cowardly blow," returned the Baronet, unmoved, "for it
would make no change. I cannot draw upon a reigning sovereign."

"And it is this man, to whom you dare not offer satisfaction, that you
choose to insult!" cried Otto.

"Pardon me," said the traveller, "you are unjust. It is because you are
a reigning sovereign that I cannot fight with you; and it is for the
same reason that I have a right to criticise your action and your wife.
You are in everything a public creature; you belong to the public, body
and bone. You have with you the law, the muskets of the army, and the
eyes of spies. We, on our side, have but one weapon--truth."

"Truth!" echoed the Prince, with a gesture.

There was another silence.

"Your Highness," said Sir John at last, "you must not expect grapes from
a thistle. I am old and a cynic. Nobody cares a rush for me; and