enjoy his special favor, a hearty slap on the shoulder.

"But, Stadinger, have you really taken all this in earnest? You ought to
know the prince better. He certainly does not seem to come back any
steadier than he went away."

"No indeed, he does not," sighed Stadinger. "And what his highness does
not devise for himself, Herr Rojanow hatches for him. He is the worst of
the two. It's hard lines that such a dare-devil should be quartered on
us."

"Rojanow? Who is he?" asked Schönau, all attention now.

"I hardly know, but he's come with the prince, who cannot live without
him. He met this friend in some heathen country. Maybe he is a
half-heathen, or Turk; he looks enough like one, with his dark face and
strange eyes. And the fellow, with his airs and orders acts as if he
were the lord and master of Rodeck. But he's as handsome as a picture,
handsomer even than our prince, who, by the way has given orders that
Herr Rojanow is to be obeyed in all things just like himself."

"More than probable it's an adventurer with whom the prince is amusing
himself," murmured Schönau, and aloud he said: "Well good-bye,
Stadinger, I must meet my brother-in-law now, and don't lose any sleep
over the sea-serpent. When his highness threatens you with it again,
tell him I will gladly keep it for him in our fish-pond, but I must see
it alive first."

He nodded laughingly to the old steward and stepped down to the entrance
gateway. Frau von Eschenhagen and her niece were already there, and a