“A week hence, and the king goes forth a bankrupt.”
“If he lives,” judiciously.
“Dead or alive, it matters not which; he goes.”
“And the wedding? What is it I hear about Prince Frederick and the peasant girl?”
Johann laughed. “There will be no wedding.”
“And the princess?”
“A pretty morsel, a tidbit for the king that is to be.”
“The king that—eh, Johann, are you getting drunk so soon?” Stuler exclaimed. “I know of no king—”
Johann reached over and caught the innkeeper's wrist. The grasp was no gentle one. “Listen, that was a slip of the tongue. Repeat it, and that for your life! Do you understand, my friend?”
“Gott in—”