Page:T.M. Royal Highness.djvu/29

Rh "To whom may Heaven grant some idea of figures!"

"I agree."

At this point the conversation between the two Ministers ceased. It was broken off by the announcement by aide-de-camp von Lichterloh, of the happy issue of the confinement. The smaller banqueting-hall was soon filled with officials. One of the great carved doors was quickly thrown open, and the aide-de-camp appeared in the hall. He had a red face, blue soldier's eyes, a bristling flaxen moustache, and silver lace on his collar. He looked somewhat excited, like a man who had been released from deadly boredom and was primed with good news. Conscious of the unusualness of the occasion, he boldly ignored the rules of decorum and etiquette. He saluted the company gaily, and, spreading his .rlbows, raised the hilt of his sword almost to his breast crying: "Beg leave to announce: a prince!"

"Good!" said Adj itant-General Count Schmettern.

"Delightful, quite delightful, I call that perfectly delightful!" said Lord Marshal von Buhl zu Buhl in his jerky way; he had recovered consciousness at once.

The President of the High Consistory, Dom Wislezenus—a clean-shaven, well-built man, who, as son of a general, and thanks to his personal distinction, had attained to his high dignity at a comparatively early age, and on whose black silk gown hung the star of an Order—folded his white hands on his breast, and said in a melodious voice, "God bless his Grand Ducal Highness!"

"You forget, Captain," said Herr von Knobelsdorff, laughing, "that in making your announcement you are encroaching on my privileges and province. Until I have made the most searching investigation into the state of affairs, the question whether it is a prince or a princess remains undecided."

The others laughed, and Herr von Lichterloh replied: