"I won't pretend that there was not a chorus of exclamation when he appeared. The Crown Prince asked me why I didn't have him clipped.
"'Don't listen to them, old friend,' I murmured in my little steed's ear. He understood and knowingly tossed his head.
"The Grand Duke Rudolph rode up beside me. I made myself so agreeable that the poor man evidently felt encouraged and said in a low voice:
"'Then you don't regret having me for your companion, mademoiselle?'
"'How could you think so, sir?' I answered. 'This Court half suffocates me. We never have a moment to ourselves. There's room to breathe out here. We can talk.'
"'So you love Nature!' he murmured, radiant. 'How happy I am!'
"I was happy, too. I was certain that he wouldn't leave me for a second.
"The first fox was started. Nothing remarkable happened except, perhaps, when Taras-Bulba, fired by the sound of the horn, performed a polka and came down with his forelegs on the back of Adalbert's mare, almost unseating her rider. After that they all kept away from my little horse as if he'd been the plague.
"The Grand Duke of Lautenburg was riding one of those horses so beloved of the Germans, a great dark bay with hocks as big as a ham, and a back like a billiard-table. Moreover, it didn't take me long to notice that the ugly brute had a hard mouth and galloped with his head between his legs.
"My poor friend, I thought, you'll have some fun soon when you come to the ditches.