Fiction > Book editions > London, 1885 - Prince Otto

A ROMANCE 71
' Xor do I require advice,' said Otto, rising.
' All of this must cease.' And he began to walk
to and fro with his hands behind his back.
' Well, Otto, may God guide you ! ' said Gott-
hold, after a considerable silence. ' I cannot.'
' From what does all this spring ? ' said the
Prince, stopping in his walk. ' What am I to
call it ? Diffidence ? The fear of ridicule ?
Inverted vanity ? What matter names, if it
has brought me to this? I could never bear
to be busthng about nothing ; I was ashamed
of this toy kingdom from the first ; I could
not tolerate that people should fancy I believed
in a thing so patently absurd ! I Avould do
nothing that cannot be done smiling. I have
a sense of humour forsooth ! I must know
better than my maker. And it was the same
thing in my marriage,' he added more hoarsely.
' I did not believe this girl could care for me ; I
must not intrude ; I must preserve the foppery
of my indifference. What an impotent picture ! '
' A}', we have the same blood,' moralised
Gotthold. ' You are drawing, with fine strokes,
the character of the born sceptic'
' Sceptic r — coward ! ' cried Otto. ' Coward
is the word. A springless, putty-hearted, cower-
ing coward ! '
And as the Prince rapped out the words
in tones of unusual vio-our, a little, stout, old