'Indeed,' cried Otto, 'I never said a word of such a thing.'

'Not you!' cried Fritz. 'Never a word to compromise! You was
sowing seed: ground-bait, our president calls it. But it's hard to
deceive me, for I know all the agitators and their ways, and all the
doctrines; and between you and me,' lowering his voice, 'I am myself
affiliated. O yes, I am a secret society man, and here is my
medal.' And drawing out a green ribbon that he wore about his neck,
he held up, for Otto's inspection, a pewter medal bearing the
imprint of a Phoenix and the legend LIBERTAS. 'And so now you see
you may trust me,' added Fritz, 'I am none of your alehouse talkers;
I am a convinced revolutionary.' And he looked meltingly upon Otto.

'I see,' replied the Prince; 'that is very gratifying. Well, sir,
the great thing for the good of one's country is, first of all, to
be a good man. All springs from there. For my part, although you
are right in thinking that I have to do with politics, I am unfit by
intellect and temper for a leading role. I was intended, I fear,
for a subaltern. Yet we have all something to command, Mr. Fritz,
if it be only our own temper; and a man about to marry must look
closely to himself. The husband's, like the prince's, is a very
artificial standing; and it is hard to be kind in either. Do you
follow that?'

'O yes, I follow that,' replied the young man, sadly chop-fallen
over the nature of the information he had elicited; and then
brightening up: 'Is it,' he ventured, 'is it for an arsenal that you
have bought the farm?'

'We'll see about that,' the Prince answered, laughing. 'You must