“Your Highness has soldiers?”
“A regiment.”
“How many men?”
“One hundred and twenty, besides the musicians.”
“Are they obedient, devoted?”
“Passive obedience, unbounded devotion; soldiers and officers would die for me to the last man.”
“It is their duty. Another question: Have you a prison in your dominions?”
“Certainly.”
“I mean a good prison, strong and well-guarded, with thick walls, solid bars, stern and incorruptible jailors?”
“I have every reason to believe that the Castle of Zwingenberg combines all those requisites. The fact is, I have made very little use of it; but it was built by a man who understood such matters—by my father’s great-grandfather, Rudolph the Inflexible.”