"Oh, it is impossible that a nobleman should need more, that is, provided he does not expend it in a foolish manner, like a madman."
"And if, in order to live in a style befitting a nobleman, I should nevertheless need more, what am I to receive for every thousand?"
"Well, then, for every thousand, I will pay a hundred of your oldest debts," said the king. "But commence. And you, gentlemen, drink and smoke, and pay attention to what he has to say."
CHAPTER IV.
AIR-CASTLES.
"I will begin," said Pollnitz. "First of all, I shall need a respectable house, to receive my guests in, to exhibit my collections, and entertain my friends; to pursue my studies, without being disturbed by the slightest noise; a house, in which my wife must have her separate apartments, and as I shall wish to have my friends with me, every now and then, to smoke, my wife's reception-rooms must be entirely separated from mine."
"But," exclaimed the king, "your wife will certainly allow you to smoke in her rooms!"
"And if she permitted it, your majesty, I would not do so; it becomes not a cavalier to smoke in a lady's room."
The king reddened a little, and carried the mug to his lips, to hide his embarrassment; he remembered how often he had smoked in the queen's rooms, notwithstanding her sighs.