be happy like the flowers, if we can be. It is because you could,
that I have always secretly admired you. Cling to that trade;
believe me, it is the right one. Be happy, be idle, be airy. To
the devil with all casuistry! and leave the state to Gondremark, as
heretofore. He does it well enough, they say; and his vanity enjoys
the situation.'

'Gotthold,' cried Otto, 'what is this to me? Useless is not the
question; I cannot rest at uselessness; I must be useful or I must
be noxious - one or other. I grant you the whole thing, prince and
principality alike, is pure absurdity, a stroke of satire; and that
a banker or the man who keeps an inn has graver duties. But now,
when I have washed my hands of it three years, and left all -
labour, responsibility, and honour and enjoyment too, if there be
any - to Gondremark and to - Seraphina - ' He hesitated at the
name, and Gotthold glanced aside. 'Well,' the Prince continued,
'what has come of it? Taxes, army, cannon - why, it's like a box of
lead soldiers! And the people sick at the folly of it, and fired
with the injustice! And war, too - I hear of war - war in this
teapot! What a complication of absurdity and disgrace! And when
the inevitable end arrives - the revolution - who will be to blame
in the sight of God, who will be gibbeted in public opinion? I!
Prince Puppet!'

'I thought you had despised public opinion,' said Gotthold.

'I did,' said Otto sombrely, 'but now I do not. I am growing old.
And then, Gotthold, there is Seraphina. She is loathed in this
country that I brought her to and suffered her to spoil. Yes, I
gave it her as a plaything, and she has broken it: a fine Prince, an