He gave a short, hasty cough, and walked the room twice with his hands clasped at his back, and then, coming straight in front of me, said, “And your name? What's your name?” “Potts! Potts!” said I, with a firm energy. “Potztausend!” cried he, with a grim laugh: “what a strange name!” “I said Potts, Herr Rittmeister, and not Potztausend,” rejoined I, haughtily. “And I heard you,” said he; “it was involuntarily on my part to add the termination. And who are the Pottses? Are they noble?” “Nothing of the kind,--respectable middle-class folk; some in trade, some clerks in mercantile houses, some holding small government employments, one, perhaps the chief of the family, an eminent apothecary!” As if I had uttered the most irresistible joke, at this word he held his hands over his face and shook with laughter. “Heilge Joseph!” cried he, at last, “this is too good! The Prince Max going out with an apothecary's nephew, or, maybe, his son!” “His son upon this occasion,” said I, gravely. He, did not reply for some minutes, and then, leaning over the back of a chair, and regarding me very fixedly, he said,-- “You have only to say who you are, and what your belongings, and nothing will come of this affair. In fact, what with your little knowledge of German, your imperfect comprehension of what the Prince said, and your own station in life, I'll engage to arrange everything and get you off clear!” “In a word,” said I, “I am to plead in _forma, inferioris_,--isn't that it?” “Just so,” said he, puffing out a long cloud from his pipe. “I 'd rather die first!” cried I, with an energy that actually startled him. “Well,” said he, after a pause, “I think it is very probable that will come of it; but, if it be your choice, I have nothing to say.” “Go back, Herr Rittmeister,” cried I, “and arrange the meeting for the very earliest moment.” I said this with a strong purpose, for I felt if the event were to come off at once I could behave well. “As you are resolved on this course,” said he, “do not make any such confidences to others as you have made to me; nothing about those Pottses in haberdashery and dry goods, but just simply you are the high and well-born Potts of Pottsheim. Not a word more.” I bowed an assent, but so anxious was he to impress this upon me that he went over it all once more. “As it will be for me to receive the Prince's message, the choice of weapons will be yours. What are you most expert with? I mean, after the pistol?” said he, grinning. “I am about equally skilled in all. Rapier, pistol, or sabre are all alike to me.” “_Der Teufel!_” cried he: “I was not counting upon this; and as the sabre is the Prince's weakest arm, we 'll select it.” I bowed again, and more blandly.