Fiction > Book editions > London, 1885 - Prince Otto

90 PRINCE OTTO
ere lie had time to speak, Gottliold touched him
on the arm. He swallowed his wrath with a
great effort. ' It is well,' he said, taking the
roll. ' Follow me to the Flag Tower.'
The Chancellor gathered himself together,
and the two set forward. It w^as a long and
complicated voyage ; for the library was in the
wing of the new buildings, and the tower which
carried the flag was in the old schloss upon the
garden. By a great variety of stairs and corri-
dors, they came out at last upon a patch of
gravelled court ; the garden peeped through
a high grating with a flash of green ; tall,
old, gabled buildings mounted on every side ;
the Flag Tower climbed,- stage after stage, into
the blue ; and high over all, among the building
daws, the yellow flag wavered in the wind. A
sentinel at the foot of the tower stairs presented
arms ; another paced the first landing ; and a
third was stationed before the door of the ex-
temporised prison.
' We guard this mud-bag like a jewel,' Otto
sneered.
The Gamiani apartment was so called from
an Itahan doctor who had imposed on the
credulity of a former prince. The rooms were
large, any, pleasant, and looked upon the
garden ; but the walls were of great thickness
(for the tower was old), and the windows Avere