where it came from. I asked him to give me some
to pay Mrs. O’Halloran, but he only laughed
in his leering way and said that he needed it all.
At another time when I went up to Cousin Willie’s
room one day when he was out, I saw quite a lot of
silver things hidden in a corner of the cupboard.
They looked like goblets and silver dinner things,
and there was a revolver and a sheath-knife hidden
with them. I began to think that he must have
stolen all these things, though it seemed impossible
for a prince. I have spoken to Uncle William
several times about Cousin Willie, but he gets impatient
and does not seem to care. Uncle never desires
very much to talk of people other than himself.
I think it fatigues his mind. In any case, he
says that he has done for Willie already all that
he could. He says he had him confined to a fortress
three times and that four times he refused to have
him in his sight for a month, and that twice he banished
him to a country estate for six weeks. His duty,
he says, is done. I said that I was afraid that
Cousin Willie had been stealing and told him about
the silver things hidden in the cupboard. But
Uncle got very serious and read me a very severe lecture.
No prince, he said, ever stole. His son, he explained,
might very well be collecting souvenirs as memorials
of his residence in America: all the Hohenzollerns
collected souvenirs: some of our most beautiful
art things at Potsdam and Sans Souci were souvenirs
collected by our ancestors in France fifty years ago.
Uncle said that if the Great War had turned out as
it should and if his soldiers had not betrayed him
by getting killed, we should have had more souvenirs
than ever. After that he dismissed the subject
from his mind. Uncle William can dismiss things
from his mind more quickly than anybody I ever knew.
The Same Day. Later
I was so surprised this afternoon, when I happened
to go down to the door, to see Mr. Peters, the ice
gentleman that was on the ship, with his ice cart
delivering ice into the basement. I knew that
he delivered ice in this part of the city because
he said so, and I think he had mentioned this street,
and two or three times I thought I had seen him from
the window. But it did seem surprising to happen
to go down to the door (I forget what I went for)
at the moment that he was there. He looked very
fine in his big rough suit of overalls. It is
not quite like a military uniform, but I think it
looks better. Mr. Peters knew me at once.
“Good afternoon, Miss Hohen,” he said
(that is the name, as I think I said, that we have
here), “how are all the folks?”