be moved; you would have to pull the wall down, it is so firmly fixed.”
“Perhaps you have one like it here?”
“I have one that is even better, much better; that is really why I bought this house.”
“Ah! What visitor did you turn away from my door, about an hour ago?”
“The—the general. I would not let him in; there is no need for him to visit you, prince … I have the deepest esteem for him, he is a—a great man. You don’t believe it? Well, you will see, and yet, most excellent prince, you had much better not receive him.”
“May I ask why? and also why you walk about on tiptoe and always seem as if you were going to whisper a secret in my ear whenever you come near me?”