Manchurian Books

"I don't know what to think," stammered Herr Goebel at last, gazing
across the table with bewildered face.
"Think of your good fortune. A moment ago you imagined a thousand
thalers were lost. Now it is but five hundred thalers invested, and you
are a partner with the Royal House of the Empire."


III
DISSENSION IN THE IRONWORKERS' GUILD

Up to the time of his midnight awakening, Prince Roland had led a
care-free, uneventful life. Although he received the general education
supposed to be suitable for a youth of his station, he interested
himself keenly in only two studies, but as one of these challenged the
other, as it were, the result was entirely to the good. He was a very
quiet boy, much under the influence of his mother, seeing little or
nothing of his easy-going, inebriated father. It was his mother who
turned her son's attention towards the literature of his country, and he
became an omnivorous reader of the old monkish manuscripts with which
the Palace was well supplied. Especially had his mind been attracted by
the stories and legends of the Rhine.


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