Holding his feet, he stared out of a
drowsy trance, wondering, admiring, musing, losing his way among
uncertain thoughts. There is nothing that so apes the external
bearing of free will as that unconscious bustle, obscurely following
liquid laws, with which a river contends among obstructions. It
seems the very play of man and destiny, and as Otto pored on these
recurrent changes, he grew, by equal steps, the sleepier and the
more profound. Eddy and Prince were alike jostled in their purpose,
alike anchored by intangible influences in one corner of the world.
Eddy and Prince were alike useless, starkly useless, in the
cosmology of men. Eddy and Prince - Prince and Eddy.
It is probable he had been some while asleep when a voice recalled
him from oblivion. 'Sir,' it was saying; and looking round, he saw
Mr. Killian's daughter, terrified by her boldness and making bashful
signals from the shore. She was a plain, honest lass, healthy and
happy and good, and with that sort of beauty that comes of happiness
and health. But her confusion lent her for the moment an additional
charm.
'Good-morning,' said Otto, rising and moving towards her. 'I arose
early and was in a dream.'
'O, sir!' she cried, 'I wish to beg of you to spare my father; for I
assure your Highness, if he had known who you was, he would have
bitten his tongue out sooner. And Fritz, too - how he went on! But
I had a notion; and this morning I went straight down into the
stable, and there was your Highness's crown upon the stirrup-irons!
But, O, sir, I made certain you would spare them; for they were as
innocent as lambs.
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