HONOUR TO WHOM HONOUR IS DUE
Quite recently in Reuss
Militia at a fire
(I'm sure it will rejoice you)
Great credit did acquire.
When this, through a memorial,
Their gracious Prince by Right
Had learned; those territorials
He to him did invite.
And when the good men shyly
Stood up before him, each
His Gracious Highness highly
Praised in a Gracious speech.
A solemn affidavit
(With parents' names and date)
Each then produced and gave it
—His birth certificate.
His Highness then demanded
The eldest of the band,
And clasped that horny-handed
With his All-Highest hand.
Now, this great deed recorded,
Who would not dwell for choice
Where heroes are rewarded
As in the land of Reuss?
Where Lola was concerned, she very soon put a match to the inflammable, if arrogant, heart of Prince Henry, and, as a result, was "commanded" to accompany him to his miniature court at Ebersdorf. She did not, however, stop there very long, for, by her imperious attitude and contempt of etiquette, she disturbed the petty officials and bourgeois citizens surrounding it to such a degree that they made formal complaints to his High-and-Mightiness. At first he would not hear a word on the subject. Such was his favourite's position that criticism of her actions was perilously near lèse-majesté and incurred reprisals. As soon, however, as the amorous princeling discovered that his bank balance was being depleted considerably beyond the amount for which he had budgeted, he suffered a sudden spasm of virtue and issued marching-orders to the "Fair Impure," as his shocked and strait-laced Ebersdorfians dubbed the intruder among them. There was also some suggestion, advanced by a gardener, that she had a habit of taking a short cut across the princely flower-beds when she was in a hurry. This was the last straw.
"Leave my kingdom at once," exclaimed the furious Henry. "You are nothing but a feminine devil!"
Not in the least discomfited by this change of opinion, Lola riposted by presenting a lengthy and detailed account for "services rendered"; and, when it had been met (and not before), shook the dust of Reuss-Lobenstein-Ebersdorf from her pretty feet.