"I made them arrest me."
"How?"
"I took a policeman's helmet from him, and ran away with it. At least that is what he said afterwards: I don't know whether it was true."
"Beautiful!" exclaimed the Prince in ravished tone. He did not turn a hair; it was merely as though he were listening to some fairy tale.
"But very likely it was!" persisted Charlotte, anxious for the worst to be believed; and then she gave him a full account of the whole thing.
"And what for did you do it?" he inquired when she had finished.
"Because they had told me that you were coming, and I had promised not to run away."
"I do not understand?"
"Well, I didn't know what you were like; and I didn't want you to think I was a bit anxious to meet you.—That was all!"
"That was all, was it?" Enlightenment dawned on him; he beamed at her benevolently.