“Not at all.”
“Then, if you will permit me, I will go with you to your lodgings.”
“That will be an honor and a pleasure. If you please, this way, Your Royal Highness; my rooms are on the ground floor.”
He conducted the prince up a few steps, through a corridor to his sitting-room door, which he opened to usher his visitor in.
“But you are all roses here!” cried Victor Adolph as he entered.
“Yes, the whole house is dedicated to the queen of flowers. But all this splendor will soon be ended. Two days more and the Rose-Week will be a thing of the past. Then we shall all be scattered to the four winds.”
“But what has been uttered, planted, experienced, felt here will not be scattered to the winds.” And as the prince sat down in the easy-chair which Helmer pushed forward for him, he added with a deep sigh, “I have gone through a vast lot of experiences since I have been here.”
Helmer looked up inquiringly: “Yet nothing terrible, I hope?”
“That’s as one looks at it—may I?” And he took a cigarette from a smoking-table standing near.
Helmer gave him a light, then sat down on the other side of the table, and they were soon engaged in earnest talk.