betokened obstinate firmness, the Baron found
a mollifying tone expedient. "Come, good
Master Hubert," he coaxed, "do this for the
Prince, and we will not quarrel about price."

"I am hourly expecting my nephew," was
the tailor's next remark. "He is coming
from Paris after having completed his studies
at Göttingen. He is a young man who, to
judge by the money he has cost me, must be
a wonderful genius. I cannot think of your
fifteen suits; all that I can do is to lend his
Highness my people's clothes. My nephew,
I dare say, will not care about being received
in grand liveries."

The Baron groaned inwardly, "I must," he
thought, "lower our dignity before this miserable
tailor's money-bags!" The Minister of
State then tapped his snuff-box, and cogitated
profoundly. At length he caught an idea.
"You will change the collars and facings to
our colour?" he asked.

"Willingly:" and Master Hubert held out
his hand to the Baron, for the purpose of
clinching the bargain. The latter, though
deeply shocked at this familiarity, thought it
better, under present circumstances, to swallow
his resentment; and, exerting a gentle
violence over his pride, he mildly shook the
outstretched digits of the independent tailor."

"Ah!" thought Rrobrecht, as he
proceeded to rejoin the Prince. "If I could only
persuade his Highness to impose some sort of
income, or property-tax, we should soon pull
down the pride of these monied gentlemen."

As he advanced under the acacias,
Rrobrecht discovered that the Prince was not
alone. He was too discreet a courtier to
interrupt a tête-a-tête, and bent his steps
where numerous and pressing engagements
required his presence. The sex and beauty
of the Prince's companion explained, perhaps,
the eagerness with which he accompanied his
Minister to the spot. He was long in quitting
it. For more than an hour he and Albertina,
the tailor's daughter, paced the avenue.

Early on the morning of the day appointed
for their visitor's arrival, the Baron Von
Rrobrecht, magnificently attired, and glittering
in the effulgence of all his orders,
presented for the Prince's signature a closely-
written parchment: it was the royal consent
to the sale of a farm.

"The means are violent, I must admit,"
said Rrobrecht; "but, then, our peculiar
position demands the sacrifice; we shall thus be
enabled to receive your august cousin with
proper pomp and splendour.

The Prince signed without reading.

About eleven o'clock in the forenoon,
Rrobrecht again made his appearance, to announce
that some peasants had seen a horseman of
distinguished mien, but evidently travelling
incognito, enter the inn at Zwéibrüken, on
the frontiers—about a quarter of a league
distant—having previously inquired his way
to Minnigissenbourgh.

The Prince mounted his charger, and set
off to meet the visitor, accompanied by
Rrobrecht, the soldiery, and the band. To tell
the truth, his Serene Highness was delighted
at getting away from home for a short time,
under whatever pretext it might be; for
during the last two or three days all had
been at sixes and sevens in the palace.
His own valet had been metamorphosed by
the Baron into a sort of grand chamberlain.
A horrible noise rendered the palace unbearable.
All the old state-rooms had been
furbished up with the furniture which but
scantily garnished the private apartments.

As they approached the frontier, they beheld
a dense cloud of dust at a short distance.
Rrobrecht drew up his forces in open order,
and the band began to tune their instruments.
The Prince was an amateur, and out of the
seventy men of which his army consisted,
forty-five were musicians. In a few minutes
the cloud of dust increased in volume and
propinquity. Rrobrecht gave the signal, and the
band struck up Spontini's marche triumphale.

Then there issued from the cloud, a horse
covered with foam. A figure was seated
on it, clad precisely in the way in which
a peasant would suppose noblemen go about.
The costume was ultra-fashionable and gaudy;
consisting partly of the dress of the German
students, and partly of that of the young
Parisian exquisites of the day.

He halted. Rrobrecht, who had dismounted,
walked solemnly up to the side of the horse,
and commenced reading an address of
welcome. The soldiery presented arms.

The new comer stood erect in his stirrups
with surprise. The Prince laughed.
Rrobrecht had not got further in his recitation
than—"Penetrated with a sense of delight at
the honour conferred by your Royal Highness's
presence, we cordially——" when the horseman,
with a look of alarm, expressed a hope
to the Prince that the old gentleman was not
a "dangerous" lunatic; for a lunatic of some
sort he assuredly thought him.

"This is all a mistake," said the Prince.

"I should think it was," asserted the
stranger. "Don't you know who I am, old
fellow?"

These expressions assured the Baron that
their utterer was not his Royal Highness.

"I am Heinrich, nephew to Master Hubert
Oberschneider," continued the free-and-easy
student. He then cantered off, leaving the
soldiery at "present arms;" the band playing
the march of triumph, and the Prince
almost reeling with laughter.

The Lord High Chamberlain and
Commander-in-Chief pocketed his address in
disgust, and set the army in motion towards
home. On arriving at the palace, a letter
was put into the Prince's hand by the postman
(who had passed them on the road)
announcing that his cousin had been obliged
to change his route.

Everything was in readiness for the fête
which was intended to dazzle and astound his