“I am very glad you liked them,” said I.
“Yes, indeed, I always did. What noble castles those! How do you call that beautiful ancient castle opposite Coblenz? Erin-bright-in-steen?”
“You mean Ehrenbreitenstein,” said I; “that is a Prussian fortress.”
“No matter what you call it,” said he, “it is a splendid specimen of architecture. I wish we had something like it in this country.”
“I really do not see the use of it,” said I.
“But I do,” said he; “we want a little chivalry of that sort,—our people are altogether too prosaic.”
“They are too much occupied with politics,” observed another gentleman.
“Altogether too much, sir,” repeated the admirer of Germany.
“But they say it is all for their own good; it improves their condition.”
“I don’t want to know their condition. Heaven save me from politics!”