“Sire, Herr Behnisch is never really pleased, but he has not scolded me much lately, so I must have been pretty good. One day he wrote ‘Bien’ under my French exercise. Oh, I was so happy that I spent six groschen of the thaler my father gave me a little while since, and bought two pots of gilly-flowers, one for myself and one for my little brother Henry, that he should have a souvenir of my ‘Bien!’”
“That was right,” said the king, nodding approvingly. “When you are good, you must always let your friends and relations take part in it; keep the bad only for yourself.”
“I will remember that, and I thank you for the kind instruction.”
“The studies seem to go very well, but how is it with the behavior? They tell me that the prince is not always polite to his visitors; that he is sometimes very rude, even to the officers who pay their respects to him on his father’s account, and on my account, not on his own, for what do they care for such a little snip as he? They go to honor Prince Frederick William of Prussia, though he is only a little flag-bearer. They tell me that you do not appreciate the honor, but that at Easter you behaved very badly.”
“Sire, it is true; I cannot deny it—I did behave badly,” sighed the little prince.
“What was the matter?” asked the king. “It was not from fear, I hope? I should be very angry at that. Tell me yourself, and tell me the truth.”
“Your majesty can depend upon the whole truth. My tutor says that lying is despicable, and that a prince who will one day be a king should be too proud to tell a lie! I will tell you all about it. The officers came to see me at Easter, just as I had put the Easter eggs in the garden, for my little brother and some other boys whom I had invited to hunt for them. I had spent my last six groschen for the eggs, and I anticipated so much pleasure with the hide-and-seek for them. We had just begun, when the officers came.”
“That was really unfortunate,” said the king, sympathizingly.
“Yes, sire, very disagreeable, and I could not possibly feel kindly. While the officers were talking, I was always wishing they would go. But they stayed and stayed—and when Major von Werder began to make a long speech to me, and I thought there was no end to it, I became impatient and furious—and—”
“Why do you hesitate?” asked the king, looking tenderly at the frank, glowing face of the boy. “What happened?”