CHAPTER IV - IN WHICH THE PRINCE COLLECTS OPINIONS BY THE WAY


A LITTLE before noon Otto, by a triumph of manoeuvring, effected his
escape. He was quit in this way of the ponderous gratitude of Mr.
Killian, and of the confidential gratitude of poor Ottilia; but of
Fritz he was not quit so readily. That young politician, brimming
with mysterious glances, offered to lend his convoy as far as to the
high-road; and Otto, in fear of some residuary jealousy and for the
girl's sake, had not the courage to gainsay him; but he regarded his
companion with uneasy glances, and devoutly wished the business at
an end. For some time Fritz walked by the mare in silence; and they
had already traversed more than half the proposed distance when,
with something of a blush, he looked up and opened fire.

'Are you not,' he asked, 'what they call a socialist?'

'Why, no,' returned Otto, 'not precisely what they call so. Why do
you ask?'

'I will tell you why,' said the young man. 'I saw from the first
that you were a red progressional, and nothing but the fear of old
Killian kept you back. And there, sir, you were right: old men are
always cowards. But nowadays, you see, there are so many groups:
you can never tell how far the likeliest kind of man may be prepared
to go; and I was never sure you were one of the strong thinkers,
till you hinted about women and free love.'