"He is frightened of everything. He is frightened that he will be pelted in the London streets for being a Cherman prince, just as if anybody knew or cared who he was! He is frightened of being put in prison. He is frightened that the Cherman fleet will surround England and destroy her ships and starve her. He is frightened of being hungry and thirsty. He is as a pig in a poke that squeals till it gets out."
This remarkable simile was hardly out of the Princess's mouth before she squealed on her own account.
"Ach, and here he is," she said. "Now he will scold me, and you shall see how I also scold him."
He came lumbering up the passage towards them with a red, furious face.
"And what did I tell you, Sophy?" he said. "Did I not tell you to sit and wait for me and speak to no one, and here are you holding the hand of Lady Dodo, to whom already I have said good-bye, and so now I do not see her. It is done, also it is finished, and it is time we went to the station. You are for ever talking, though I have said there shall be no more talking. What have you been saying?"
Princess Albert still held Dodo's hand.
"I have been saying that your new portmanteau burst, and I must take your vests and your socks and your pants in my water-proof sheet. Also I have been saying——"
"But your water-proof sheet, how will your water-proof sheet hold all that was in my portmanteau? It is impossible. Where is your water-proof sheet? Show it me."
"You will see it at Charing Cross. And if it is wet on the boat I will take out again your vests and your socks and your pants, and they may get wet instead of me."
"So! Then I tell you that if it is wet on the boat, you will go to your cabin, and if you are sick you will be sick. You shall not take my clothes from your water-proof sheet."