“You have been beating about the bush long enough now, Electress!” he cried warmly.  “You have made inquiries after all possible things, except the principal matter and person in whom you are at bottom most interested.  It might have been expected that our Electoral Prince would have begun himself, since ‘out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.’  But our young gentleman remains elegantly monosyllabic, and it would seem that he is not at all overjoyed upon his return to the poverty-stricken, quiet house of his father.  It is true, he has lived in much handsomer style at the Orange court, lived there, indeed, amid plenty and pleasure—­by the way, we can sing a little song on that subject, for our son has seen well to the outlay, but the payment all fell to the lot of us at home.  But now, sir, now tell us a little of the petty court at Doornward, of our sister-in-law, the widowed Countess of the Palatinate, and finally, what I know your mother thinks the principal thing, finally tell us also about her beautiful and fascinating daughter, the Princess Ludovicka Hollandine.”

The Prince slightly shuddered.  At the mention of this name, which he had not heard since his departure from The Hague, he could not prevent the ebbing of all his heart’s blood, and a deadly pallor overspread his cheeks.  He cast down his eyes, and yet felt that all eyes were turned upon him with questioning, curious glances.  But this very consciousness restored to him his self-possession and composure.  Once more he raised his head with a vigorous start, shook back into their place the brown locks which had fallen down over forehead and cheeks, and met the Elector’s looks of inquiry with a full, intrepid gaze.

“Most gracious father,” he said, with quiet, passionless voice, “very little can be said about the petty court of Doornward.  Our aunt, the Electress of the Palatinate, reflects with sorrow upon the past; the three Princesses, her daughters, and their three little brothers, reflect with hope upon the future, and of the present therefore but little is to be told.”

“They must be very beautiful, those Princesses of the Palatinate, are they not?” asked the Elector.

“I believe they are,” replied the Prince composedly.

“He only believes so!” cried his father.  “Just see how they have slandered him, for they would have had us believe that he knew exactly, and was quite peculiarly edified by the beauty of the Princesses of the Palatinate.”

“And why should he not have been, your highness?” asked the Electress, smiling.  “The Princesses of the Palatinate are our own cousins, and it seems very natural, surely, that he should have a cordial, cousinly regard for them.”

“Maybe, Electress!” cried George William, “but it were to be wished that it had stopped there!  I should like, therefore, to hear something about the Princess Ludovicka Hollandine.  Is she, indeed, so very fair as report represents her to be?”