"I should be very grateful to you," replied the Prince, "if you would kindly tell me what you have heard. I have hitherto believed that my reputation was not by any means so bad as it might be."
"No one, however noble he may be, can escape calumny," exclaimed Mrs. Rollmaus, eagerly; "they talk of tricks. I fear your Highness will take it amiss if I mention this gossip."
"Tell me something of it," replied the Prince, "whatever it may be."
"They maintain that your Highness is convivial and lives quite boisterously, and other things which it would be unpleasant for me to repeat."
"Go on," said the Prince, cheerfully.
"That your Highness makes fools of other people."
"That is grievous," replied the Prince. "Is your coachman a courageous man?"
"He is somewhat surly even with Rollmaus, who indulges him much."
"Believe me Mrs. Rollmaus," continued the Prince, "it is a sorrowful business to be a prince. Disquiet from morning to evening. Every one will have something, and no one brings anything except bills. Thus all gaiety is sacrificed, one becomes sad, and slinks about through the bushes. My favorite recreation is a little quiet conversation in the evening with my old nurse and instructress, the widowed Cliquot, and to play a little 'patience.' Then one counts the good works that one has done during the day, sighs that they are so few, and looks for one's boot-jack. We are the victims of our position. If there is anything I envy the Professor's wife, it is her servant Gabriel, a trustworthy man, whom I recommend to your favorable attention."
"I know him," replied Mrs. Rollmaus; "I must acknowledge that the autobiography which you have given me agrees with all that I have discovered from the structure of your Highness's head, so far as your hat does not deprive one of the sight of it, which indeed is very much the case."