"Stop grumbling, you old ghost of the woods, and make places," interrupted the prince. "The chests that have come must be unpacked in Rodeck for the time being at least, and if the worst comes to the worst, you must find room in your own house for them."
"Yes, indeed, Stadinger has room and to spare in his own house for them," it was the tall, dark man who spoke now. "And I'll superintend the unpacking myself."
"That's a good plan," said the prince, heartily, "and Zena can assist him; she is at home yet, I suppose?"
"No, your highness, she has gone away."
"Away!" cried prince Egon. "And where has she gone?"
"To the city," was the laconic answer.
"That won't do. You should keep your grandchild with you here at Rodeck all winter."
"That matter seems to have arranged itself," answered the steward with quiet dignity. "Just now my old sister, Rosa, is at home with me. If you should come to my humble dwelling, Herr Rojanow, she would feel greatly honored."
Rojanow gave him a glance which was anything but friendly, and the young prince said sharply:
"Look here, Stadinger, you are treating us after a most unwarrantable fashion. You send Zena away, for no reason in the world, and she's the only one worth seeing about the whole place. There's not a woman in Rodeck who isn't past sixty and whose head doesn't wobble from side to side, and as to the belles of the kitchen whom you brought from Fürstenstein to help us out, they're worse looking than our own people."