Having at that time again taken up my residence in Berlin, I called upon the Prince at his new palace, No. 77 Wilhelmstrasse, on the 4th of October, and had an interview with him in his study looking out upon the garden, which lasted from 4.15 to 5.15 P.M. He received me in a very friendly way, gave me his hand, and, after inviting me to sit down opposite him at the other side of his large writing-table, said:-- “Well, then, you have once more become a Berliner?” “Yes, Serene Highness; I found Leipzig too dull in the long run, and, besides, I wished to be near you in order to offer you my services as occasion arose.” He: “And you have broken with the _Gartenlaube_?” I: “Keil (the publisher) died six or seven months ago, and the new editors considered many things to be trivial, and wished to have them struck out. I was of a different opinion, however, and, as the gentlemen held to their own view, I took back my manuscript. I shall, however, in future have the _Grenzboten_ entirely at my disposal, or at least the whole political part of it, which, at present, is not what it ought to be. The article in question was that on Varzin, which, it is true, I treated in great detail. But I look on these things with the eyes of the next century, and I therefore find nothing which concerns you trivial and insignificant; and I feel sure that posterity will be of the same opinion.” He: “But not the present day. That also applies to the book, which has grown too bulky owing to the numerous details, and you will not make any profit on it. Besides, there are passages that could be turned into ridicule, and the comic papers will not fail to take advantage of that opportunity. And I, too, should come in for my share. I do not mind that, however, but you?” I: “It is also a matter of indifference to me. I have no fear, either of them or of the other critics, if I only know that I have not lost your good will thereby.” He: “Oh! certainly; but you have given the remarks made by others at my table--what was said over the wine, and should not be made public. You will make yourself many enemies in that way. I have not struck out much, and have left in a great deal that really ought to have gone out. Other things, however, had to go.” He took up two of the proof-sheets and looked them over. “For instance, that my poor father ate bad oysters. And here, where Lehndorf tells the story about Princess Pless and the Crown Prince. What will Lehndorf think when he sees what he said at my table published by some one?” I replied that I was not aware he had meant the Princess Pless, and that she had not been named by me.