"A hotel servant . . . who said he had been in your service. . . ."
"Please come to the point. . . ."
"Well! . . ."
The young man stopped, taken aback and frightened by the haughty attitude adopted by the prince, who exclaimed:
"But, sir, there must be some . . ."
"Well, sir, the man told me that you were very rich . . . and very generous. . . . And I thought that you might possibly . . ."
He broke off short, incapable of uttering the word of prayer and humiliation.
Sernine went up to him.
"M. Gérard Baupré, did you not publish a volume of poetry called The Smile of Spring?"
"Yes, yes," cried the young man, his face lighting up. "Have you read it?"