'Nothing! nothing!' said Ottilia, and made my heart live.
The grim and taciturn Baroness Turckems, sitting opposite to her, sighed audibly.
'Has the princess been trying to convert you?' the margravine asked her.
'Trying? no, madam. Reading? yes.'
'My good Turckems! you do not get your share of sleep?'
'It is her Highness the princess who despises sleep.'
'See there the way with your free-thinkers! They commence by treading under foot the pleasantest half of life, and then they impose their bad habits on their victims. Ottilia! Ernest! I do insist upon having lights extinguished in the child's apartments by twelve o'clock at midnight.'
'Twelve o'clock is an extraordinary latitude for children,' said Ottilia, smiling.
The prince, with a scarce perceptible degree of emphasis, said,
'Women born to rule must be held exempt from nursery restrictions.'