The latter started, as I thought angrily, at the sharp imperious tone in which he was addressed, and glanced at me in some hesitation.
"Do you hear me, sir?" exclaimed von Nauheim, still more sharply; and then, getting no sign from me, the two men left the room. "That fellow gets more presuming every day. The Prince made far too much of him; but I'll soon have a change. So you don't know the position of things here, eh, Mr. Student? Do you set much store on your life?" And he eyed me very sharply, expecting to see me wince.
I did not disappoint him. I started and, in a tone of some alarm, asked:
"Why? There is no danger of that sort here, is there?"
"Do you know how your late cousin, Gustav, lost his?"
"What do you mean?"
"Ah, I thought the question would surprise you. I'm not going to tell you everything, because these matters are for men of action, and not bookworms. He died in a duel, forced on him for the sole reason that he was the Prince's next heir."
"Oh, but that cannot be possible," I cried, as if incredulous.
"Possible," he echoed, with a laugh. "Can you fight? I mean, do you think you can stand before the finest swordsmen or the picked shots in all Bavaria?"
"I don't see the necessity."