Just inside stood a very dirty small boy.

The Crown Prince Ferdinand William Otto was most terribly
frightened. Everything was at sixes and sevens. Miss
Braithwaite had been crying her head off, and on seeing him had
fallen in a faint. Not that he thought it was a real faint. He
had unmistakably seen her eyelids quiver. And when she came to
she had ordered him no supper, and four pages of German
translation, and to go to bed at seven o'clock instead of
seven-thirty for a week. All the time crying, too. And then she
had sent him to his grandfather, and taken aromatic ammonia,

His grandfather said nothing, but looked at him.

"Here - here I am, sir," said the Crown Prince from the door.

The King drew a long breath. But the silence persisted. Prince
Ferdinand William Otto furtively rubbed a dusty shoe against the
back of a trousers leg.

"I'm afraid I'm not very neat, sir," said Prince Ferdinand
William Otto, and took a step forward. Until his grandfather
commanded him, he could not advance into the room.

"Come here," said the King.

He went to the side of the bed.

"Where have you been?"