thrashed him, they do say, soundly. Kuno took it as best he could,

but at last he broke out, and dared the Prince to throw his whip

away and wrestle like a man; for we are all great at wrestling in

these parts, and it's so that we generally settle our disputes.

Well, sir, the Prince did so; and, being a weakly creature, found

the tables turned; for the man whom he had just been thrashing like

a negro slave, lifted him with a back grip and threw him heels

overhead.'

'He broke his bridle-arm,' cried Fritz - 'and some say his nose.

Serve him right, say I! Man to man, which is the better at that?'

'And then?' asked Otto.

'O, then Kuno carried him home; and they were the best of friends

from that day forth. I don't say it's a discreditable story, you

observe,' continued Mr. Gottesheim; 'but it's droll, and that's the

fact. A man should think before he strikes; for, as my nephew says,

man to man was the old valuation.'

'Now, if you were to ask me,' said Otto, 'I should perhaps surprise

you. I think it was the Prince that conquered.'

'And, sir, you would be right,' replied Killian seriously. 'In the

eyes of God, I do not question but you would be right; but men, sir,

look at these things differently, and they laugh.'

'They made a song of it,' observed Fritz. 'How does it go? Ta-tum-

ta-ra . . .'

'Well,' interrupted Otto, who had no great anxiety to hear the song,

'the Prince is young; he may yet mend.'

'Not so young, by your leave,' cried Fritz. 'A man of forty.'

'Thirty-six,' corrected Mr. Gottesheim.

'O,' cried Ottilia, in obvious disillusion, 'a man of middle age!

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