The Colonel followed his prisoner and
clapped-to the door; and at that the four horses broke immediately
into a swinging trot.
'Gentlemen,' said the Colonel, after some little while had passed,
'if we are to travel in silence, we might as well be at home. I
appear, of course, in an invidious character; but I am a man of
taste, fond of books and solidly informing talk, and unfortunately
condemned for life to the guard-room. Gentlemen, this is my chance:
don't spoil it for me. I have here the pick of the whole court,
barring lovely woman; I have a great author in the person of the
Doctor - '
'Gotthold!' cried Otto.
'It appears,' said the Doctor bitterly, 'that we must go together.
Your Highness had not calculated upon that.'
'What do you infer?' cried Otto; 'that I had you arrested?'
'The inference is simple,' said the Doctor.
'Colonel Gordon,' said the Prince, 'oblige me so far, and set me
right with Herr von Hohenstockwitz.'
'Gentlemen,' said the Colonel, 'you are both arrested on the same
warrant in the name of the Princess Seraphina, acting regent,
countersigned by Prime Minister Freiherr von Gondremark, and dated
the day before yesterday, the twelfth. I reveal to you the secrets
of the prison-house,' he added.
'Otto,' said Gotthold, 'I ask you to pardon my suspicions.'
'Gotthold,' said the Prince, 'I am not certain I can grant you
that.
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