"At the ball he said quite suddenly to her:
"'Princess of Princesses, if you had a handful of gold, what wish would you grant yourself?'
"'I should make happy the poor of Berlin,' answered the birthday child.
"'How large, then, must the handful be, Princess of Princesses?' asked the King with a smile.
"'As big as the heart of the best king in the world,' answered our Crown Princess, her eyes dancing.
"And now we hear that because of this clever answer Berlin is to have a fine new charity.
"Ludwig says it would be much better if our King paid his debts, but I like our King, and so do the people."
Marianne skipped a little.
"Our Crown Prince has gone to Poland. We hear much of a brave man called Kosciusko, but Prussia rejoices that at last we have defeated him.