"Oh, no, not this sky!" and he cast up a grudging glance at the opaque grayness overhead. "Here you seem to have a sun that looks only the other way."
She threw back a light remark, while her eye strayed over the field. Presently he returned to the subject.
"So you only like soldiers because of their uniforms?"
"And when they ride well. I like drums too," she added.
"Ah! good! I can play on the drum. It is my one instrument."
"Does it require much practice?"
"Oh, yes; it is very difficult—to play well. But it has been very useful to me. I took a drum with me to South America. That is music that the natives can understand, it can make them afraid; and when one is all by oneself in the forest, then it helps that one shall not feel lonely. One night when I had no fire left, I was saved my life from wild beasts just by beating at them with my drum. It is funny that you should like drums."
"I like something with them as well," said Charlotte.
"Ah," grunted the Prince, "that depends. There is some music in the world that ought never to be allowed."
"Well, there is some of ours," said the Princess, as the massed bands of three regiments sent forth their blast. "How does that strike you?"