shoes striking sharply on the marble.

At the window, old Adelbert cut off another slice of sausage with
his pocket-knife and sauntered back to his table of opera glasses
at the angle of the balustrade. The hurrying figure of the
sentry below caught his eye. "Another fool!" he grumbled,
looking down. "One would think new legs grew in place of old
ones, like the claws of the sea-creatures!"

But Olga of the cloak-room leaned over her checks, with her lips
curved up in a smile. "The little one!" she thought. "And such
courage! He will make a great king! Let him have his prank like
the other children, and - God bless him and keep him!"




CHAPTER II

AND SEES THE WORLD


The Crown Prince was just a trifle dazzled by the brilliance of
his success. He paused for one breathless moment under the
porte-cochere of the opera house; then he took a long breath and
turned to the left. For he knew that at the right, just around
the corner; were the royal carriages, with his own drawn up
before the door, and Beppo and Hans erect on the box, their
haughty noses red in the wind, for the early spring air was
biting.