"
"Oho," thought I to myself, "the Doctor has something to revenge." And I
said:
"Doctor, what made you trouble to tell me all that long story? What was
it for? Am I to help you with her upbringing?"
"And then she's fiery as a volcano," he went on, never heeding my
question. "You asked if no one could ever win her? I don't see why not.
She is waiting for her prince, and he hasn't come yet. Again and again
she thinks she's found him, and finds out she's wrong; she thought you
were the one, especially because you had eyes like an animal. Haha! I
say, though, Herr Lieutenant, you ought at least to have brought your
uniform with you. It would have been useful now. Why shouldn't she be
won? I have seen her wringing her hands with longing for someone to come
and take her, carry her away, rule over her, body and soul. Yes ... but
he must come from somewhere--turn up suddenly one day, and be something
out of the ordinary. I have an idea that Herr Mack is out on an
expedition; there's something behind this journey of his. He went off
like that once before, and brought a man back with him."
"Brought a man back with him?"
"Oh, but he was no good," said the Doctor, with a wry laugh. "He was a
man about my own age, and lame, too, like myself. He wouldn't do for the
prince.
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