"I wonder he did not give me a silver groat," said the Courtlander. "The secretary sparrow may be dainty and kiss only ladies, but this Prince of Muscovy has not pretty manners. I hope he does not marry the Princess after all."
"Not with her goodwill, I warrant," said Paul Strelitz; "either you or I would have a better chance, unless our Prince Ludwig compel her to it for the good of the State!"
"Prince Wasp seemed somewhat disturbed in his mind," said the Courtlander, chuckling. "I wish I were on guard in the rose-garden to see the meeting of Master Prettyman and his Royal Highness the Hornet of Muscovy!"
CHAPTER VII
H.R.H. THE PRINCESS IMPETUOSITY
The Princess Margaret spoke low and confidentially to the secretary of embassy as they paced along. Johann Pyrmont felt correspondingly awkward. For one thing, the pressure of the Princess's hand upon his arm distracted him. He longed to have her on his other side.
"You are noble?" she said, with a look down at him.
"Of course!" said the secretary quickly. The opposite had never occurred to him. He had not considered the pedigree of travelling merchants or Hamburg architects.
The Princess thought it was not at all of course, but continued —
"I understand – you would learn diplomacy under a man so wise as the High Councillor von Dessauer. I have heard of such sacrifices. My brother, who is very learned, went to Italy, and they say (though he only laughs when I ask him) worked with his hands in one of the places where they print the new sort of books instead of writing them. Is it not wonderful?"
"And he is so brave," said the secretary, whose interest suddenly increased; "he won the tournament yesterday, did he not? I saw you give him the crown of bay. I had not thought so brave a man could be learned also."
"Oh, my brother has all the perfections, yet thinks more of every shaveling monk and unfledged chorister than of himself. I will introduce you to him now. I am a pet of his. You will love him, too – when you know him, that is!"
"Devoutly do I hope so!" said the secretary under his breath.
But the Princess heard him.
"Of course you will," she said gaily; "I love him, therefore so will you!"
"An agreeable princess – I shall get on well with her!" thought Johann Pyrmont. Then the attention of his companion flagged and she was silent and distrait for a little, as they paced through courts and colonnades which to the secretary seemed interminable. The Princess silently indicated the way by a pressure upon his arm which was almost more than friendly.
"We walk well together," she said presently, rousing herself from her reverie.
"Yes," answered the secretary, who was thinking that surely it was a long way to the summer parlour, where he was to meet the Prince.
"I fear," said the Princess Margaret quaintly, "that you are often in the habit of walking with ladies! Your step agrees so well with mine!"
"I never walk with any others," the secretary answered without thought.
"What?" cried the Princess, quickly taking away her hand, "and you swore to me even now that you never helped a lady from her horse in your life!"
It was an impasse, and the secretary, recalled to himself, blushed deeply.
"I see so few ladies," he stammered, in a tremor lest he should have betrayed himself. "I live in the country – only my maid – "
"Heaven's own sunshine!" cried the Princess. "Have the pretty young men of Plassenburg maids and tirewomen? Small wonder that so few of them ever visit us! No blame that you stay in that happy country!"
The secretary recovered his presence of mind rapidly.
"I mean," he explained, "the old woman Bette, my nurse, who, though now I am grown up, comes every night to see that I have all I want and to fold my clothes. I have no other women about me."
"You are sure that Bette, who comes for your clothes and to see that you have all you want, is old?" persisted the Princess, keeping her eyes sharply upon her companion.
"She is so old that I never remember her to have been any younger," replied the secretary, with an air of engaging candour.
"I believe you," cried the outspoken Princess; "no one can lie with such eyes. Strange that I should have liked you from the first. Stranger that in an hour I should tell you so. Your arm!"
The secretary immediately put his hand within the arm of the Princess Margaret, who turned upon him instantly in great astonishment.
"Is that also a Plassenburg custom?" she said sharply. "Was it old Bette who taught you thus to take a lady's arm? It is otherwise thought of in our ignorant Courtland!"
The young man blushed and looked down.
"I am sorry," he said; "it is a common fashion with us. I crave your pardon if in aught I have offended."
The Princess Margaret looked quizzically at her companion.
"I' faith," she said, "I have ever had a curiosity about foreign customs. This one I find not amiss. Do it again!"
And with her own princessly hand she took Johann's slender brown fingers and placed them upon her arm.
"These are fitter for the pen than for the sword!" she said, a saying which pleased the owner of them but little.
The Courtlander Otto, who had been on guard at the gate, had meantime been relieved, and now followed the pair through the corridors to the summer palace upon an errand which he had speciously invented.
At this point he stood astonished.
"I would that Prince Wasp were here. We should see his sting. He is indeed a marvel, this fellow of Plassenburg. Glad am I that he does not know little Lenchen up in the Kaiser Platz. No one of us would have a maid to his name, if this gamester abode in Courtland long and made the running in this style!"
The Princess and her squire now went out into the open air. For she had led him by devious ways almost round the entire square of the palace buildings. They passed into a thick avenue of acacias and yews, through the arcades of which they walked silently.
For the Princess was content, and the secretary afraid of making any more mistakes. So he let the foreign custom go at what it might be worth, knowing that if he tried to better it, ten to one a worse thing might befall.
"I have changed my mind," said the Princess, suddenly stopping and turning upon her companion; "I shall not introduce you to my brother. If you come from the Ambassador, you must have matters of importance to speak of. I will rest me here in an arbour and come in later. Then, if you are good, you shall perhaps be permitted to reconduct me to my lodging, and as we go, teach me any other pleasant foreign customs!"
The secretary bowed, but kept his eyes on the ground.
"You do not say that you are glad," cried the Princess, coming impulsively a step nearer. "I tell you there is not one youth – but no matter. I see that it is your innocence, and I am not sure that I do not like you the better for it."
Behind an evergreen, Otto the Courtlander nearly discovered himself at this declaration.
"His innocence – magnificent Karl the Great! His Plassenburger's innocence – God wot! He will not die of it, but he may be the death of me. Oh, for the opinion of Prince Wasp of Muscovy upon such innocence."
"Come," said the Princess, holding out her hands, "bid me goodbye as you do in your country. There is the Prince my brother's horse at the door. You must hasten, or he will be gone ere you do your message."
At this the heart of the youth gave a great leap.
"The Prince!" he cried, "he will be gone!" And would have bolted off without a word.
"Never mind the Prince – think of me," commanded the Princess, stamping her foot. "Give me your hand. I am not accustomed to ask twice. Bid