Fiction > Book editions > London, 1888 - Prince Otto

A ROMANCE 77
The Chancellor moved to the appointed
chair and took his seat in silence.
'And now,' said Otto, opening the roll,
' what is all this ? it looks like the manuscript
of a book.'
' It is,' said Gotthold, ' the manuscript of a
book of travels.'
' You have read it, Doctor Hohenstockwitz ? '
asked the Prince.
' Nay, I but saw the title page,' replied Gott-
hold. ' But the roll was given to me open, and .
I heard no word of any secrecy.'
Otto dealt the Chancellor an angry glance.
' I see,' he went on. ' The papers of an
author seized at this date of the world's history,
in a state so petty and so ignorant as Grtinewald,
here is indeed an ignominious folly. Sir,' to the
Chancellor, ' I marvel to find you in so scurvy
an employment. On your conduct to your
Prince I will not dwell ; but to descend to be a
spy ! For what else can it be called ? To seize
the papers of this gentleman, the private papers
of a stranger, the toil of a life, perhaps — to open,
and to read them. And what have we to do
with books ? The Herr Doctor might perhaps
be asked for his advice ; but we have no index
expurgatorius in Grtinewald. Had we but that,
we should be the most absolute parody and farce
upon this tawdry earth.'
Yet, even while Otto spoke, he had con-