waste valuable time."

"What! you wish to be rid of me so soon? Why, this is the bridal
night. One does not part with one's wife at this rate."

Leopold, the caretaker, made a warning gesture.

"Come, Leopold, I must have my jest," laughed Steinbock.

"Within certain bounds," returned the old man phlegmatically. "It is
high time you were off. You are foolhardy to match your chances with
justice. Prison stares you in the face."

"Bah! Do you believe it?"

"It is a positive fact," added the princess.

"But to leave like this has the pang of death!" Steinbock remonstrated,
"What! shall I be off without having even kissed the bride?"

"The bargain is concluded on all sides; you have your thousand crowns."

"But not love's tribute. I must have that. It is worth a thousand
crowns. Besides," with a perceptible change in his manner, "shall I
forget the contempt with which you have always looked upon me, even in
the old days that were fair and prosperous? Scarcely! Opportunity is
a thing that can not be permitted to pass thus lightly." Then I
observed his nose wrinkle; he was sniffing. "Tobacco! I did not know
that you smoked, Leopold."