"They are only pretending to spin," remarked Prince Ferdinand
William Otto.

Nevertheless he listened obediently. He rather liked it. They
had not fooled him at all. They were not really spinning, - any
one could see that, but they were sticking very closely to their
business of each outsinging the other, and collectively of
drowning out the orchestra.

The spinning chorus was followed by long and tiresome solos. The
Crown Prince yawned again, although it was but the middle of the
afternoon. Catching Hedwig's eye, he ran his fingers up through
his thick yellow hair and grinned. Hedwig blushed. She had
confided to him once, while they were walking in the garden at
the summer palace, that, she was thinking of being in love with a
young lieutenant who was attached to the King's suite. The
Prince who was called Otto, for short, by the family, because he
actually had eleven names - the Prince had been much interested.
For some time afterward he had bothered Miss Braithwaite to
define being in love, but he had had no really satisfactory
answer.

In pursuance of his quest for information, he had grown quite
friendly with the young officer, whose name was Larisch, and had
finally asked to have him ride with him at the royal
riding-school. The grim old King had granted the request, but it
had been quite fruitless so far after all. Lieutenant Larisch
only grew quite red as to the ears, when love was
mentioned, although he appeared not unwilling to hear Hedwig's
name.