We keep up a certain state, we live in a castle, if you
will; but we really do nothing worth while, principally, I suppose,
because we are so poor."
"So poor?" echoed Susie, open-eyed.
"You are thinking of the apartment de luxe," said the Prince, with a
smile; "of the special train. But, do you not see, those are the very
things which make me poor. I have no use for seven rooms; in the special
train, I can occupy but a single seat. All the rest is waste, which does
me no good--rather the reverse, indeed, since it serves to impress
people with an exaggerated idea of my importance and so pave the way for
fresh extravagances. I did not mean that I am poor absolutely; I do not
suppose that I shall ever want for food and clothing and a place to
sleep. It is only as a Prince that I am poor--that we Markelds are all
poor."
"But one would think there were many things worth while which a man in
your position could do," said Susie, earnestly, "even if you aren't
rich."
"Oh," he explained, looking down at her with a laugh in his eyes, "I
would not have you think that I am always wholly idle. I am colonel of
a dragoon regiment, and I inspect it, sometimes, or ride in front of it
at a general review. I hunt. I attend various functions of the court. I
even sometimes act as the representative of my house, as I am doing
now.
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