Fiction > Book editions > London, 1885 - Prince Otto

36 PRINCE OTTO
wlio are great in station — if they had only hearts
hke yours, how they would make the fires burn
and the poor sing ! '
'I would not judge them hardly, sir,' said
Otto. ' We all have our frailties.'
' Truly, sir,' said Mr. Gottesheim, with unction.
' And by what name, sir, am I to address my
generous landlord ? '
The double recollection of an Englisli traveller,
whom he had received the week before at court,
and of an old English rogue called Trnnsome,
whom he had known in youth, came pertinentlj^
to the Prince's help. ' Transome,' he answered,
* is my name. I am an English traveller. It is,
to-day, Tuesday. On Thursday, before noon,
the money shall be ready. Let us meet, if you
please, in Mittwalden, at the "Morning Star." '
' I am, in all things lawful, your servant to
command,' replied the farmer. ' An English-
man ! You are a great race of travellers. And
has your lordship some experience of land ? '
' I have had some interest of the kind before,'
returned the Prince ; ' not in Gerolstein, indeed.
But fortune, as you say, turns the wheel, and I
desire to be beforehand with her revolutions.'
' Very rigiit, sir, I am sure,' said Mr. Killian.
They had been strolling with deliberation ;
but they were now drawing near to tlie farm-
house, mounting by the trelhsed pathway to the