Long Live the King! | Page 4

the other royal box,
and caught his Cousin Hedwig's eye. She also had seen the
handkerchief; she took out her own scrap of linen, and mimicked the
shadow. Then, Her Royal Highness the Archduchess Annunciata being
occupied with the storm, she winked across at Prince Ferdinand
William Otto.
In the opposite box were his two cousins, the Princesses Hedwig and
Hilda, attended by Hedwig's lady in waiting. When a princess of the
Court becomes seventeen, she drops governesses and takes to ladies in
waiting. Hedwig was eighteen. The Crown Prince liked Hedwig better
than Hilda. Although she had been introduced formally to the Court at
the Christmas-Eve ball, and had been duly presented by her grandfather,
the King, with the usual string of pearls and her own carriage with the
spokes of the wheels gilded halfway, only the King and Prince
Ferdinand William Otto had all-gold wheels, - she still ran off now and
then to have tea with the Crown Prince and Miss Braithwaite in the
schoolroom at the Palace; and she could eat a great deal of
bread-and-butter.
Prince Ferdinand William Otto winked back at the Princess Hedwig.
And just then - "Listen, Otto," said the Archduchess, leaning forward.

"The 'Spinning Song' - is it not exquisite?"
"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.
The Crown Prince had developed a strong liking for the young officer.
He assured Hedwig one time when she came to tea that when he was
king he would see that she married the lieutenant. But Hedwig was
much distressed.
"I don't want him that way," she said. "Anyhow, I shall probably have
to marry some wretch with ears that stick out and a bad temper. I dare
say he's selected already. As to Lieutenant Larisch, I'm sure he's in love
with Hilda. You should see the way he stares at her."

"Pish!" said Prince Ferdinand William Otto over his cup. "Hilda is not
as pretty as you are. And Nikky and I talk about you frequently."
"Nikky" was the officer. The Crown Prince was very informal with the
people he liked.
"Good gracious!" exclaimed the Princess Hedwig, coloring. "And what
do you say?"
Miss Braithwaite having left the room, Prince Ferdinand William Otto
took another lump of sugar. "Say? Oh, not much, you know. He asks
how you are, and I tell him you are well, and that you ate thirteen
pieces of bread at tea, or whatever it may have been. The day Miss
Braithwaite had the toothache, and you and I ate the fruit-cake her
sister had sent from England, he was very anxious. He said we both
deserved to be ill."
The Princess Hedwig had been blushing uncomfortably, but now she
paled. "He dared to say that?" she stormed. "He dared!" And she had
picked up her muff and gone out in a fine temper.
Only - and this was curious - by the next day she had forgiven the
lieutenant, and was angry at Ferdinand William Otto. Women are very
strange.
So now Ferdinand William Otto ran his fingers through his fair hair;
which was a favorite gesture of the lieutenant's, and Hedwig blushed.
After that she refused to look across at him, but sat staring fixedly at
the stage, where Frau Hugli, in a short skirt, a black velvet bodice, and