PRINCE PRIGIO. 33

 

horn,” he said; ‘‘you must be intoxicated.
Sir! you have insulted your prince and your
superior officer. Consider yourself under arrest !
You shall be sent toa prison to-morrow.”

On this, the poor officer appealed piteously to
everybody in the tavern. They all declared that
they had not seen the prince, nor ever had an
idea that he was doing them the honour of
being in the neighbourhood of their town.

More and more offended, and convinced that
there was a conspiracy to annoy and insult
him, the prince shouted for the landlord, called
for his bill, threw down his three pieces of gold
without asking for change, and went into the
, street. ,

“Tt is a. disgraceful conspiracy,” he said.
*‘ The king shall answer for this! I shall write
to the newspapers at once!”

He was not put in a better temper by the
way in which people hustled him in the street.
They ran against him exactly as if they did not
see him, and then staggered back in the greatest
surprise, looking in every direction for the
person they. had jostled. In one of these
encounters, the prince pushed so hard against a
poor old beggar woman that she fell down. As
he was usually most kind and polite, he pulled
off his cap to beg her pardon, when, behold,
the beggar woman gave one dreadful scream,
and fainted! A crowd was collecting, and the
prince, forgetting that he had thrown down all