Fiction > Book editions > London, 1885 - Prince Otto

14 PRINCE OTTO
both pines and people. We reckon ourselves
part Grllnewalders here, lying so near the
borders ; and the river there is all good Grllne-
wald water, every drop of it. Yes, sir, a fine
state. A man of Grllnewald now will swing me
an axe over his head that many a man of Gerol-
stein could hardly lift ; and the pines, why,
deary me, there must be more pines in that little
state, sir, than people in this whole big world.
'Tis twenty years now since I crossed the
marshes, for we grow home-keepers in old age ;
but I mind it as if it was yesterday. Up and
down, the road keeps right on from here to Mitt-
walden ; and nothing all the way but the good
green pine-trees, big and httle, and water jDOwer !
Avater power at every step, sir. We once sold a
bit of forest, up there beside the highroad ; and
the sight of minted money that we got for it,
has set me ciphering ever since what all the
pines in Grlinewald would amount to.'
' I suppose you see nothing of the Prince ? '
inquired Otto.
' No,' said the young man, speaking for the
first time, ' nor want to.'
' Why so ? is he so much disliked ? ' asked
Otto.
' Not what you might call disliked,' replied
the old gentleman, ' but despised, sir.'
' Indeed,' said the Prince, somewhat faintly.