“Stadinger made a great hue and cry because I came upon him so unexpectedly,” answered the prince.  “To hear him you’d think it was his own castle and I was intruding.  And then I walked from the station, and he considered that a most undignified proceeding.  But the heat at Ostend was unbearable; the sun just poured down on the strand, and an irresistible longing came over me for my own cool forest home.  Thank the Lord, I am rid of the heat and noise of that Babel at last.”

His Highness had not cared in this instance to tell the truth.  A certain attraction in his immediate neighborhood, of which he heard accidentally, had started him from the North Sea at a moment’s notice.  Stadinger in a report which he sent his master concerning certain matters at Rodeck, had mentioned that preparations were being made at Ostwalden for the reception of the young widow.  And it was in consequence of his own gossipy letter that the steward was disagreeably surprised by the prince’s sudden appearance.  The head forester seemed somewhat sceptical about the prince’s fancy for his “cool forest home,” for he said banteringly: 

“Then I am greatly surprised that our Court remains so long at Ostend.  The duke and duchess are there, and Princess Sophie with a royal niece, a kinswoman of her late husband, I hear.”

“Yes, with her niece.”  Prince Egon turned suddenly and looked at his companion.

“Herr von Schoenau, I see you are about to congratulate me.  If you do I’ll demand satisfaction on the spot, right here in the middle of the forest.”

“I don’t intend to get into any difficulty with you,” laughed his hearer.  “But the papers speak very openly of an impending betrothal at Court, and that the duchess and Princess Sophie are charmed with the prospect.”

“My beloved aunt has many desires which I fear will never be gratified,” said the prince, coolly.  “Her obedient nephew doesn’t always fall in with her views, and that’s the case in this affair.  I went to Ostend because I had to; in other words, because the duke invited me, and I could not refuse; but the air did not agree with me, and I prize my health above all things.  I didn’t feel well from the first, so at last I resolved—­”

“To break loose,” interrupted the head forester.  “That was very like your highness, but how will you calm your kinsfolk at Court?”

“Oh, well, I can make it all right with them if they feel aggrieved.  As far as that goes,” continued the prince, with seeming frankness, “I made up my mind last winter to spend part of the summer here, and when Stadinger wrote me that some alterations were going on, I determined to come on to Rodeck myself to superintend them.”

“Superintend the putting up of a new chimney?” questioned the head forester in surprise.  “The old one smoked last winter, so Stadinger determined to put in a new one, but that don’t require any attention from you.”

“What does Stadinger know about it ?” said the prince angrily.  He wished the “old bear” would hold his tongue about what went on at Rodeck.  “I have many changes in view.  We are pretty near our destination, I see.”