d. You are not the first by many who has
slept well below my roof," continued the old gentleman, mounting the
stairs before his guest; "for good food, honest wine, a grateful
conscience, and a little pleasant chat before a man retires, are worth
all the possets and apothecary's drugs. See, sir," and here he opened a
door and ushered Otto into a little whitewashed sleeping-room, "here you
are in port. It is small, but it is airy, and the sheets are clean and
kept in lavender. The window, too, looks out above the river, and
there's no music like a little river's. It plays the same tune (and
that's the favourite) over and over again, and yet does not weary of it
like men fiddlers. It takes the mind out of doors; and though we should
be grateful for good houses, there is, after all, no house like God's
out-of-doors. And lastly, sir, it quiets a man down like saying his
prayers. So here, sir, I take my kind leave of you until to-morrow; and
it is my prayerful wish that you may slumber like a prince."

And the old man, with the twentieth courteous inclination, left his
guest alone.

CHAPTER III

IN WHICH THE PRINCE COMFORTS AGE AND BEAUTY AND DELIVERS A LECTURE ON
DISCRETION IN LOVE

The Prince was early abroad: in the time of the first chorus of birds,
of the pure and quiet air, of the slanting sunlight and the mile-long
shadows. To one who had passed a miserable night, the freshness of that
hour was tonic and reviving; to steal a march upon his slumbering
fellows, to be the Adam of the coming day, composed and fortified his
spirits; and the Prince, breathing deep and pausing as he went, walked
in the wet fields beside his shadow, and was glad.

A trellised path led down into the valley of the brook, and he turned to
follow it. The stream was a break-neck, bolling highland river. Hard by
the farm, it leaped a little precipice in a thick grey-mare's tail of
twisted filaments, and then lay and worked and bubbled in a lynn. Into
the middle of this quaking pool a rock protruded, shelving to a cape;
and thither Otto scrambled and sat down to ponder.

Soon the sun struck through the screen of branches and thin early leaves
that made a hanging bower above the fall; and the golden lights and
flitting shadows fell upon and marbled the surface of that seething pot;
and rays plunged deep among the turning waters; and a spark, as bright
as a diamond, lit upon the swaying eddy. It began to grow warm where
Otto lingered, wa