This was, and still is, an unostentatious building and furnished in exceedingly plain style. But it pleased the Crown-prince, who was simple in his tastes by nature and education; and it also satisfied Louise, who was not at all fond of show. When, after the King’s death, Frederick William the Third might and should have removed to the castle, he preferred to remain in the simpler dwelling as long as he lived. When his children became dissatisfied, he would say to them: “You wish to make a show in the world, forgetting how it was with me at your age. On my birthday I received a pot of heliotrope worth threepence, and when my tutor wished to give me an unusual treat, he would take me to a coffee-garden and order twopence worth of cherries.” To a newly married son, whose house he had fitted up in princely style, he remarked: “I had no such splendors when I married your mother. I can only wish that you may live as happily and contentedly as we have done.” In marked contrast to the usual brilliant, vain, superficial court life of the period, a new life now began in the Crown-prince’s palace. A simple, old-fashioned household was established, a shining example of German family life, of simplicity, love, and faithfulness. Both husband and wife avoided as much as possible any contact with the unsavory persons who frequented the court of Frederick William the Second as satellites of the celebrated Countess Lichtenau. The young couple ignored the French custom of formal address and used the more intimate “thou.” The King noticed this with displeasure and called them to account with the words: “I hear that you call the Crown-princess ‘Thou’!” But the Crown-prince answered: “For very good reasons.” And on being asked what these reasons were, replied: “With ‘Thou’ one always knows where one stands, but with ‘you’ all is uncertainty.” In his exalted station he had, at best, but little freedom, and even when King he “wished to enjoy in his home life some of the independence that belongs to every private citizen.” He was not so much in his element at court as at home “with his wife.” When she had laid aside the necessary trappings of fashion and stood before him in her plain gown and ordinary attire, he would look at her as upon a pearl newly restored to its pristine purity; then he would grasp her hand with a radiant expression and exclaim: “Thank God! that you are my wife once more!” And when she would laughingly ask: “How, am I not always your wife?” he would reply, sighing jocosely: “Ah no! All too often you are obliged to be the Crown-princess.”