PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 BY 
 
 UPTON SINCLAIR 
 
OF THE 
 UNIVEIteJTY 
 
 OF 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 A PHANTASY 
 
 By UPTON SINCLAIR 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
 CHARLES H. KERR & COMPANY 
 1910 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1903 
 
 BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY 
 
 (INCORPORATED) 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 
 PRESS OP 
 JOHN F. HIGGINS, 279 Monroe St.. Chicago 
 
PS 
 
 M4M/ 
 
 TO 
 
 30, etton 
 
 IW618542 
 
PRINCE H AGEN 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THESE things happened to me when I lived 
 far away in the country; they may seem 
 strange when they are read ia cities, but I have 
 determined to tell the story, whether people 
 believe it or not. 
 
 It has to do with the Nibelungs. In these 
 days, when the works of Wagner have been so 
 much written about and sung about, one might 
 perhaps assume the Nibelungs to be a people 
 familiar to every one; but lest this should not 
 be so, it must be said, at the outset, that the 
 Nibelungs are strange creatures who live in 
 the deep caves of the ground, and being blind 
 to beauty, spend their lives in digging for 
 gold. Once upon a time, one of them named 
 Alberich found a magic ring which gave bi-i 
 
12 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 power over all the rest; and Alberich s son, 
 Hagen, a most unpleasant person, was the 
 murderer of the hero Siegfried, and was 
 drowned by the nymphs of the Rhine, as he 
 well deserved. One may see all these things 
 exactly as they occurred many hundred years 
 ago, in Wagner s " Nibelung Ring." 
 
 My story began one warm day in midsum 
 mer, not so many years ago. I was camping 
 out in the mountains that summer, and back 
 from the tent there was a deeply-wooded glen 
 with a streamlet in it a very pleasant place 
 when the weather was sultry. On this par 
 ticular day I was sitting there in a hammock, 
 and in my lap, lying open, was the score of 
 " Das Rheingold," which I had been study 
 ing. 
 
 It is a fact about these creations of Wagner, 
 that if one is only caught by them young 
 enough, they become so real to him that the 
 men and women of every-day life remain 
 shadowy in comparison; and the wonderful 
 music belongs to them so absolutely that often 
 a tiny melody has power to bring up a whole 
 scene, and all the emotions of a scene, with 
 never-to-be-diminished intensity. 
 
 It chanced that on this afternoon, my eye 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 13 
 
 had rested on such a theme as that, a half- 
 dozen notes once repeated: 
 
 and straightway I was in Nibelheim once 
 more, with its dark caverns and its rocky walls 
 looming about me, and with the terrible Al- 
 berich, lash in hand, driving before him the 
 frightened crowd of treasure-laden dwarfs. 
 
 The Nibelungs are an interesting race to 
 think about; I have often tried to imagine 
 them, and the kind of life they lived, and the 
 kind of world they built. They are repre 
 sented to us as creatures not immoral, but un 
 moral; as having no other ideal than the get 
 ting of gold, and therefore having no other 
 duty, spending the whole of their lives in 
 the effort, and being, both in their joys and 
 sorrows, very funny little men indeed. I 
 dwelt upon that idea for some time, and like 
 wise upon another which it had often brought 
 to my mind: the wonder whether this huge, 
 overgrown civilisation of ours, this vast, ma 
 chine-built jungle, where bigness is so much 
 taken for greatness, and greediness for power, 
 
i 4 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 whether it were not perhaps but a larger 
 Nibelheim, without the excuse of darkness. 
 I went on to the thought that it must be the 
 fault of the artists, who are its soul; there be 
 ing among them no man with any thought of 
 strenuous living, or of the need of truth, no 
 soul to scourge the selfishness, and fire the 
 hearts of the coming men with generous 
 emotion and resolve. 
 
 There are a number of small demons espe 
 cially commissioned to watch out for such 
 moods in people. There is, in the first place, 
 the Demon of General Indisposition, who 
 thinks there is no need to be in such haste to 
 forge those sentences, because the thought is 
 very obvious, and you can rouse it at any time ; 
 there is the sly little Demon of the Fact, whose 
 eyes twinkle as he hints that evil has been in 
 the world for some time, and that it occupies 
 considerable territory; there is the aged and 
 sedate devil who reminds you that it is unwise 
 to take life too seriously, and that the via 
 media is by far the better; last of all, there is 
 the plain old Demon of the Body, who says 
 nothing, but does most. You see the young 
 soul, so eager, so fierce in its rage against dul- 
 ness, and so swift in its impatience for beauty, 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 15 
 
 and you see the man of the world, placid and 
 experienced, taking all that comes to him, and 
 you wonder how it came about. If you could 
 only hear these demons chuckling, you would 
 know better what it means. 
 
 In this particular case, I think it was the 
 first named of them and the last; it was a 
 very warm day, and a hammock is a treacher 
 ous contrivance; the streamlet tinkled on, and 
 the wind swayed the pine-trees gently. I sat 
 for some time much entertained with the 
 thoughts that teemed in my brain, and not 
 altogether unaware that it was a fine emotion, 
 and one that people would justly admire; 
 then, entirely without realising it, and still 
 imagining that I was hard at work, I began to 
 nod. It was too late for any resistance then; 
 the demons had it all their own way, and must 
 have laughed a great deal; in a few minutes 
 more I was fast asleep. 
 
 How long it lasted, I cannot tell; I only 
 know that when I opened my eyes it was dark 
 night; and that, as happens always, I awoke 
 with a start, and with a burst of anger that 
 brought me to my feet with a leap. For a 
 moment I stared about me, half dazed, and 
 scarcely believing it could be true that I had 
 
16 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 so wasted my time; and then I fell to work 
 berating myself. It is a very useful habit, and 
 one can sometimes, when he has learned the 
 art, get into such a rage over a wasted hour, 
 that he can fight off the demons for a week. 
 In this instance, however, I had scarcely be 
 gun before I stopped quite short; and I stared 
 about me in wonder. Then, in spite of every 
 thing, I could not help smiling; for I had 
 fancied that I heard, from the depths of the 
 woods, a few dancing notes of music: 
 
 " It is still ringing in my ears," I thought, 
 with a smile, and then turned to take up the 
 lash again. 
 
 But I did not take it, for I heard that music 
 once more, and this time so plainly that I 
 could not but start back and clutch the ham 
 mock beside me. Then, as the breeze stirred 
 more strongly, I heard it a third time, and I 
 whispered, half breathlessly, " What can it 
 mean? It is a violin!" 
 
 Now my camp was several miles from the 
 nearest house, and I lived in it alone. There 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 17 
 
 was no violin in those mountain-forests except 
 my own, and that lay beside the hammock; 
 and yet, even while I stood repeating this to 
 myself, and arguing with my foolish fancy, the 
 skipping music came nearer and nearer, 
 louder and louder. It seemed to spread out on 
 every side of me, the whole place seemed to 
 become alive with it; and I heard not only 
 violins, but, in spite of my astounded incredu 
 lity, flutes and a drum, and a triangle, a 
 whole orchestra, in fact, all merrily trip 
 ping the same quaint measure. The trees 
 about me shook with it, the rivulet danced 
 to it, the forest resounded with it. It swelled 
 out, it rose higher, it took hold of me in spite 
 of myself; it rose to a very Wagner climax, 
 and I cried aloud in breathless wonder: " It 
 must be the Nibelungs! " 
 
 Now a moment later I was, of course, 
 ready to laugh at myself. " It can t be," I 
 said, " because there aren t any," and thought 
 it a very fine argument. And so it seemed 
 to be, until a moment later; for then I gasped, 
 helplessly, " There they are!" 
 
 I have said that the forest was dark; there 
 was a moon, however, half-veiled by clouds. 
 It lighted faintly a little glade just beyond, 
 
i8 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 and there all at once I saw a figure moving 
 and then a second then a whole crowd 
 with the quick little running motion I knew 
 so well. It was the Nibelungs for a fact! 
 
 And now there was real Wagner music; I 
 saw the capering forms on every side of me, 
 the whole forest sprang into life with them, 
 they danced a very Bacchanal about me. The 
 music swept on in climax after climax. I was 
 dazed, bewildered, half unable to convince 
 myself by the evidence of my eyes. Yet I 
 saw the figures as plain as day; I heard 
 them laughing and prattling; I heard the 
 metal sounds of the armloads of treasure they 
 bore "niedliches Niblungentand! " And 
 then suddenly, as if the little creatures had 
 read my mind and meant to convince me of 
 their actuality, I felt a sharp pinch that made 
 me cry out. I heard a laugh from one of the 
 dwarfs, and as I leaped forward, I felt an 
 other and yet sharper twitch, and then an 
 other. I broke into a run, and in a flash the 
 whole swarm closed about me, pushing and 
 yelling like mad. The music swelled into a 
 deafening crash, with blare of trumpets and 
 clatter of cymbals, and away up the glen we 
 tore. 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 19 
 
 It was only a few yards further we came 
 to a sudden turn, to a high black wall of rock. 
 I was about to swerve, when it yawned open 
 before me ; the swarm pressed about me, and, 
 before I realised it, I had plunged through 
 the cavernous entrance. There was a loud 
 hissing of steam, and I remember the thought 
 flashing over me that it happened just so in 
 " Das Rheingold;" and then all was black 
 ness, and I found myself rushing swiftly down 
 a steep incline, swept onward by the surging 
 throng. I seized one of my pockets to keep 
 my eye-glasses from falling out; and then, 
 seeing that I could do nothing else, I bent all 
 my energies to keep from stumbling as the 
 wild race went on. 
 
 A man of literary tastes is not usually in 
 training for sprinting, and I very speedily 
 reached the end of my strength. I was 
 breathless and staggering, and I had just con 
 cluded that if the mad creatures did not stop, 
 I should fall and let them do with me what 
 they chose, when suddenly I felt the ground 
 become level beneath me, and saw a dim light 
 in front. We swept out into the open, and I 
 gazed about me at towering cliffs and yawning 
 caverns, black as night. I took one look, and 
 
20 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 then gave a cry of wonder, for I knew it in 
 an instant we were in Nibelheim ! 
 
 I leave it to any one to imagine my con 
 sternation at this discovery. I stood staring 
 about me in the half-shadows, and, long after 
 I should have regained my composure after 
 my run, I was still leaning upon a ledge of 
 the rocks, gasping for breath, and whispering 
 to myself: "Nibelheim! It is Nibelheim!" 
 
 The mob of creatures, who had so suddenly 
 introduced me to the scene, paid no further 
 attention to me. It seemed as if, having 
 brought me there, they had accomplished their 
 purpose, and they vanished in the black cav 
 erns. Here and there I still saw a few of the 
 men moving, little stumpy creatures about 
 three feet high, wrapped in rough, furry 
 garments, and with dark, wizened features. 
 " They are the Nibelungs, beyond any doubt," 
 I thought to myself. " I cannot imagine what 
 this strange adventure may mean." 
 
 I was still consumed with wonder, though 
 my breath had returned, when I heard a voice 
 coming from the depths of one of the passages, 
 a voice so deep and grave that it seemed 
 as if it could scarcely come from one of the 
 dwarfs. " Let the earth-man advance," it 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 21 
 
 said, and I, knowing that the words were 
 meant for me, stepped quietly toward the 
 sound. I had not gone very far before I saw 
 in front of me a figure seated upon a raised 
 chair, a huge chair, which glittered even in 
 the half-light so that I knew it must be made 
 of gold. The figure bore in its hand a sceptre, 
 and upon its head was a crown, while about 
 it, bended upon one knee, was a throng of the 
 little dwarfs. The man had long black hair, 
 coming half-way to his waist, and I needed 
 to take but one glance in order to know him. 
 I started back, gasping the word " Albench! " 
 
 The old Nibelung heard me, and a smile 
 crossed his face. " You know me, then? " he 
 said. 
 
 "Know you?" I echoed. "Why, Albe- 
 rich " 
 
 I stopped, for I felt some one nudge me; 
 looking down, I saw one of the little creatures. 
 " Your Majesty! " he admonished, in a piping 
 voice. " Your Majesty! " 
 
 " Yes," said old Alberich, gravely, having 
 heard him, " for I am the king of the Nibel- 
 ungs, you know." 
 
 "Oh!" I echoed, and then suddenly ex 
 claimed: "But, your Majesty, I understood 
 
22 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 that after you lost the Tarnhelm and the ring, 
 you ceased r 
 
 I stopped again, embarrassed. King Albe- 
 rich laughed. 
 
 " Oh, yes," he said, " but you are far behind 
 the age. The Nibelungs discovered the need 
 of a ruler again, you know, and they were used 
 to me; so I am still king." 
 
 I bowed in silence. There was a moment s 
 pause, and then he remarked, sociably: " I 
 observe that you are familiar with the works 
 of Wagner." 
 
 " Yes," I said, " but I am astonished to find 
 that you know of them." 
 
 The king and the courtiers looked at me 
 so that I felt I had said something absurd. 
 " Dear me," said Alberich, " who should 
 know of them if not we?" I could not an 
 swer that argument, and there was again a 
 pause. 
 
 I must have looked foolish in my perplex 
 ity; by way of making conversation, I ob 
 served : " You are fond of Wagner? " 
 
 " H m! " said King Alberich, meditatively. 
 "Not so fond as you earth-men are; he is a 
 very much overrated man, you know." 
 
 I looked interested. " You see," weril on 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 23 
 
 the other, " we are in a position here to under 
 stand him and his methods much better. We 
 know all his tricks." 
 
 "Pray," said I, quickly for I have my 
 idols "pray explain!" I had quite for 
 gotten the strangeness of my situation in my 
 excitement about that remark. 
 
 " Willingly," said King Alberich, smiling. 
 " Perhaps you think him original? " 
 
 "Original!" I gasped. "Surely, of all 
 things ! If ever a man " 
 
 " No doubt," interrupted the other, laugh 
 ing, " no doubt. For instance, you have heard 
 him called original in his scenic effects?" 
 
 " Why, certainly," I answered, promptly. 
 
 " Well," remarked the king, with a wave of 
 his hand, " look about you! " 
 
 And I looked. As I have said before, it 
 was the very identical Nibelheim that I had 
 seen a score of times. Except for the absence 
 of signs of wear, and of the energetic head and 
 shoulders of the conductor, I should have 
 thought I was in the Metropolitan Opera 
 House. 
 
 " And you call that Wagner s originality! " 
 sniffed the old Nibelung. 
 
 His dreadful meaning had flashed over me 
 
24 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 all in an instant. " You mean he came here 
 and copied it? " I cried. 
 
 " Exactly," laughed Alberich. 
 
 I was crushed. I knew not what to say. 
 For a lifelong Wagnerian, that was almost 
 too much. 
 
 "But, your Majesty!" I cried. "Surely 
 not all - 
 
 "You heard our Nibelung music?" asked 
 he. I had heard it, alas, and I could say no 
 more. 
 
 In the meantime, the other had continued, 
 relentlessly. "Original!" he laughed. "It 
 is indeed wondrous originality! To listen in 
 the Rhine-depths to the song of the maidens, 
 to dwell in the forest and steal its murmurs, 
 to catch the crackling of the fire, and the flow 
 ing of the water, and the galloping of the 
 wind, and the death-march of the thunder 
 and then write it all down for your own! 
 And to take our story and tell it just as it hap 
 pened, to take the very words from our lips, 
 and sign your own name to them! Origi 
 nality!" 
 
 For a long time I could say nothing, no 
 glimmer of hope came to me. Then suddenly, 
 however, I exclaimed: "But, your Majesty, 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 25 
 
 one thing at least! Even his enemies granted 
 him that! The invisible orchestra!" 
 
 And King Alberich laughed again. " Do 
 you see our orchestra? " he asked. 
 
 And then, for the first time, I noticed, with 
 a start, what I had taken as only natural be 
 fore that this whole scene had been set to 
 music! I had been so used to the thought 
 before that it would have seemed unnatural 
 to me if the voices of the Nibelungs had not 
 been accompanied by the wheezing of stopped 
 trumpets, if a bassoon had not followed the 
 deep voice of Alberich, if the announcement 
 of Wagner s damnation had not been accom 
 panied by a tutti fortissimo. Now that I 
 thought of it, I was made very happy to no 
 tice that my own thinking was made beautiful 
 by soaring melodies upon the strings with an 
 accompaniment of horns and harp; by which 
 I knew that my heart was clean, and that I 
 was young. 
 
 I was so carried away by the wonder of 
 these discoveries that I forgot all about the 
 loss of my argument; I listened for a time in 
 joy to my own heart s singing, and then I cried 
 out, eagerly: " But do you mean that every 
 thing here happens to music? " 
 
26 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 " If you had only ears to hear," said the 
 old king, gravely, " you would know that the 
 universe happens to music." 
 
 After that, I said nothing for a long time. 
 I listened, and, when the spell was broken, 
 it was by Alberich s voice again. 
 
 " The way of your coming here is strange, 
 my dear sir," said he, " and no doubt you are 
 confused and puzzled. But I pray you to 
 have no alarm, for no harm is meant. I have 
 only taken the liberty of having an earth-man 
 brought to me because I have need to consult 
 some one upon a matter of grave importance." 
 
 I looked at him in some astonishment, won 
 dering very much what the old Nibelung 
 could possibly wish to consult me about; I 
 saw he was eyeing me keenly. 
 
 "Who are you?" he demanded, suddenly. 
 
 I told him my name. 
 
 " And tell me something about yourself," 
 he said. " What do you do? " 
 
 " I am an author," I replied. 
 
 "That means that you write books?" said 
 he. "What sort of books?" 
 
 " Mainly," said I, " I edit the books of 
 friends who drown themselves." 
 
 His Majesty gazed at me again cautiously. 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 27 
 
 He turned to his attendants, and they held a 
 consultation in whispers; I bore the ordeal 
 as gracefully as I could. Afterward King 
 Alberich turned to stare at me again. 
 
 " Well," he said, suddenly, " there is plenty 
 of time for us to discuss the thing; we need 
 not make up our minds at once. You are 
 in no great hurry, I trust? " 
 
 I answered that I was not. " I am very 
 much interested in my adventure," I contin 
 ued, with a smile. " It is quite new to me 
 all your Majesty s kingdom." 
 
 " Ah, yes ! " replied the king, and, with a 
 sudden gesture, he rose. " It is well -said," 
 he continued ; " it is always customary to show 
 our visitors about the land to show our 
 treasures, above all. That will please you, no 
 doubt." 
 
 " Most certainly, your Majesty," I replied. 
 At the same time, I heard that wonderful 
 orchestra sing out, as cheerily as a little bird : 
 
 which made it seem like an old friend. 
 Before this, I had noticed the courtiers 
 
28 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 standing listlessly about, and had been im 
 pressed with the thought that King Alberich 
 was now a very old man, with trembling, 
 palsied hands. At this moment, however, he 
 moved with alacrity; and the eyes of the 
 others gleamed darkly, as we moved toward 
 the treasure-vaults. 
 
 " You see," the old king said, " we do not 
 often have a chance to show our wonderful 
 possessions to a stranger." 
 
 " I understand," I said, as I saw him kneel 
 down to unlock a huge iron door. " And I, 
 for my part, am very much honoured indeed." 
 
 The" door creaked on its hinges. Beyond 
 it loomed vast darkness, yielding a damp 
 odour, and long echoes of every sound we 
 made. "It must be an immense place!" I 
 exclaimed. 
 
 " This cavern runs for several miles back 
 in the earth," was the calm reply. I gasped 
 for breath. 
 
 " You do not mean that it is all full of 
 gold!" I cried. 
 
 " From ceiling to roof, with solid masses 
 of it," said the king, gravely. 
 
 I own that I was awestricken; and, in the 
 half-light at the entrance, I saw the old Ni- 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 29 
 
 belung s eyes shining like fire. But I heard 
 the music give a nasal snarl. I shuddered. 
 
 " Forward! " cried the king. " All this is 
 nothing to what you shall see later on." 
 
 He strode out into the darkness, I behind 
 him, down a passage just large enough for 
 our bodies. " The gold is on both sides of 
 us," said Alberich. " One is almost over 
 powered by the presence of so much majesty, 
 of so much slumbering power. Put your hand 
 upon it, feel it how cold and hard it is!" 
 
 The old man s voice had suddenly become 
 deep and resonant. " Forward!" he ex 
 claimed. " There is so much to see!" 
 
 We strode on, past solid walls of the metal, 
 all in utter darkness ; we walked and walked, 
 until I was weary, and until I began to fear 
 that there was no end. " One thousand, six 
 hundred and seventy-two paces," said the king, 
 counting. " In eleven more we come to the 
 vault of the carved and beaten vessels. Ah, 
 here we are! " 
 
 The procession stopped, a key turned, and 
 we entered. " Here," said King Alberich, 
 " here are the priceless of my treasures. All 
 of these wondrous carvings are by masters of 
 
30 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 undying fame, and all are worth many times 
 the weight of the gold." 
 
 I felt a new burst of interest; I had heard 
 of the Nibelung smiths, and I exclaimed, ex 
 citedly: " Let us see them! " 
 
 " Put your hands upon this first of them," 
 said the king; " this is by the wondrous mas 
 ter, Mimi, who died seven or eight hundred 
 years ago. A cavern of wealth could not buy 
 this precious thing!" 
 
 It was a huge vase, reaching nearly to the 
 ceiling. " Give me a light," I cried. " Let 
 me look at it!" 
 
 " A light? " cried the king. 
 
 " A light! " echoed the courtiers, in wonder. 
 " A light? " 
 
 " Of course," I said. " How else can I 
 see it? " 
 
 " But, my dear sir! " protested King Albe- 
 rich, "candles are so expensive! We never 
 dream of bringing a light into our treasure- 
 vaults!" 
 
 I was quite helpless with perplexity. " But 
 then, what is the good of the beautiful vase? " 
 I cried. 
 
 " Why, my dear sir, can you not know its 
 value without seeing it? These works, you 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 31 
 
 must understand, are by the acknowledged 
 masters ; every one knows their worth without 
 the need of examining them." 
 
 " Oh," said I, beginning to comprehend, 
 " you value them by the name? " 
 
 " Of course," replied the king, relieved at 
 my words. " I have in this vault, for instance, 
 no less than seventeen Mimis, three of them 
 over ten feet high, and one of them the world- 
 renowned Coronation-cup, which I will pres 
 ently show you. This one upon which your 
 hand rests was sold in the beginning for over 
 one hundred and seventy thousand dollars, 
 and has since nearly doubled in value I" 
 
 " But give me some idea of it," I put in. 
 "What is the design? " 
 
 "The design?" asked the king, slightly 
 embarrassed. " Why, bless me I m sure 
 I don t know." 
 
 " Not know! " I gasped. 
 
 " My dear sir," he protested, " how could I, 
 with my huge collection, keep track of such 
 things as that? And what good would it do 
 me, besides? " 
 
 I did not reply for a moment; then I said: 
 " But I wonder, then, that your people should 
 care to make vases at all." 
 
32 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 " The tendency is indeed that way," was 
 the reply. " And now to go on with the 
 treasure - 
 
 " But, your Majesty," I put in, hastily, " if 
 we are not to see the carvings, will it not be 
 just as well for you to tell me about them, 
 without taking me through all these long 
 vaults?" 
 
 " Not go through the vaults!" cried the 
 king. 
 
 "Not go through the vaults!" echoed the 
 courtiers, in amazement. 
 
 It took me several minutes to make the little 
 men believe that I was serious in this, and that 
 I really did not care to handle those vast 
 masses of gold. 
 
 " I had hoped to show you all my posses 
 sions! " groaned the poor king. 
 
 " But, your Majesty," I asked, " how long 
 would that take?" 
 
 " Less than a month," he said, pleadingly. 
 
 " But, your Majesty," I exclaimed, " you 
 forgot that my life is short." 
 
 " Ah, yes," said he, shaking his head, " I 
 forgot that you were an earth-man. You see 
 how pitifully limited your poor career must 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 33 
 
 be! If you were only a Nibelung, you might 
 live four or five thousand years." 
 
 " It is very sad," I replied, as we turned to 
 retrace our steps; " but you will have to de 
 scribe your treasures to me instead. Tell me, 
 are all the Nibelungs as rich as you?" 
 
 " I am by no means a rich man," said Albe- 
 rich, " even though I am king. The extent 
 of some of our modern fortunes, sir, would 
 simply exceed your belief. There goes one of 
 the richest of Nibelungs now! " 
 
 Nothing was said for some time after that. 
 The king was watching the great man out of 
 sight, and I was thinking. 
 
 " Tell me, your Majesty," I asked, sud 
 denly, " you Nibelungs know nothing better 
 to seek than gold? " 
 
 He looked at me in perplexity. " Why, 
 no," he said; "what is there more valuable 
 than gold?" 
 
 I hesitated, uncertain just how to make plain 
 what I meant. " Do you never get tired of 
 this life? " I inquired; " do you never wish 
 to travel?" 
 
 " A great many have wished it," was the 
 reply. " But competition is so fierce in these 
 days, it takes all one s faculties." - 
 
34 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 Again I was silent. 
 
 " I suppose," I said at last, " you have never 
 thought of unselfishness, have you? " 
 
 " Unselfishness? " asked the old king. 
 " How do you mean? " 
 
 I cast about me for a way to make my 
 thought plain. " Suppose," I said, " that some 
 one wished to dig gold for you, instead of 
 for himself?" 
 
 The king looked puzzled. "Why," he 
 said, " it would be some trick he was playing 
 
 on me." 
 
 fc But suppose that he really did wish to? " I 
 insisted. 
 
 By the way that Alberich and his courtiers 
 looked at me, it was plain that they consid 
 ered I was a little wrong in my mind. " In 
 that case," said the king, gravely, " in that 
 case, I should most certainly let him dig." 
 
 I dropped the subject. There was a pause, 
 and then Alberich, who had no interest what 
 ever in my vagaries, asked : " Would you like 
 to see more of the country? " 
 
 "I think not, your Majesty," I said; "it 
 must be getting late." 
 
 In reality, I had no idea of what time it 
 was, but I was disgusted with the darkness 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 35 
 
 and with the stifling atmosphere of the 
 gloomy caverns. 
 
 " Yes," said Alberich, " that is so, and we 
 have a matter of business to discuss, you re 
 member. Let us return to the palace." 
 
 The " palace " I made out to be the place 
 where I had first entered. I thought, with 
 relief, that I should find space there at any 
 rate, and fresh air, and I set out quickly to 
 follow the party. 
 
 Weariness and depression had settled upon 
 me in the noisome caverns ; and when I came 
 out into the open again, I stretched out my 
 arms and drew a long breath of relief; at 
 the same instant the music, which before had 
 been wheezing and scraping, flung suddenly 
 loose in a fierce surge of joy that trembled 
 and quivered, and shook the darkness from 
 its wings. I stopped and listened in wonder, 
 breathless, because I knew it was I who was 
 making that; and I laughed, and cried aloud 
 in childish glee: " Oh, is it not beautiful? " 
 
 King Alberich shrugged his shoulders; it 
 was evident, by the way the others looked at 
 me, that they thought I was entirely daft. 
 " I am glad, at any rate," said Alberich, after 
 
36 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 a long pause, " that there is somebody who 
 likes that orchestra." 
 
 " Likes it! " I echoed. " Do you mean that 
 you do not? " 
 
 " You would not if you lived here very 
 long/ was the reply. " You can have no idea 
 how monotonous it becomes when one is dig 
 ging. I have heard it do nothing but thump 
 on the drum for sixteen hours a day; and 
 sometimes, when I am bargaining for a new 
 vase for my collection, it keeps up such a 
 dreadful wheezing that I have to pay a few 
 cents more, just to get rid of it! " 
 
 " But such music as you heard just now? " 
 I protested, helplessly. " Surely " 
 
 " What is the good of it? " asked the other. 
 " It is like drinking; you get fond of it, and 
 it never does anything but waste your time 
 and distract your mind." 
 
 I let the subject drop, and gradually mat 
 ters sank back to their normal state. At last 
 I ventured to suggest: "Your Majesty had 
 some business to talk about with me." 
 
 " Ah, yes," said Alberich, quickly, " let us 
 attend to that now." And he seated himself 
 upon the throne, and had a chair brought for 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 37 
 
 me. He dismissed his courtiers, and in an 
 other minute we were alone in the hall. 
 
 " Now," said the king, " we can talk the 
 thing over thoroughly. 7 And he leaned over 
 toward me, becoming confidential. 
 
 " You know, my dear sir," he inquired, 
 " that I had a son, Hagen, who was the slayer 
 of the great Siegfried? " 
 
 " Yes, your Majesty," I responded. 
 
 " A most lamentable affair," said he. " I 
 have since lived bitterly to repent my own 
 share in such violence. You did not know, 
 I presume, that Hagen, too, had a son, by one 
 of the daughters of earth? " 
 
 " No," I said; " he is not mentioned in his 
 tory." 
 
 " Very true," replied Alberich ; " but that 
 son, Prince Hagen, is now living. And, in 
 the inevitable course of events, he will fall 
 heir to the throne which I now occupy." 
 
 " Ah," I said, " I see." 
 
 " The boy," continued the other, " is seven 
 or eight hundred years old, which in earth 
 measure would make him about nineteen. A 
 very critical age, my friend, in the training 
 *f the young." 
 
 I assented. 
 
38 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 " Now," said the king, " I have sent for you 
 to speak frankly. I am in trouble, in fact, 
 I am utterly at a loss; I am helpless, and 
 almost hopeless. I call myself, sir, a plain, 
 hard-headed man of business; I generally 
 know what s what, and I ve held my own with 
 the best. But my understanding has not 
 proved equal to this emergency; and it is 
 because I have been given to understand that 
 earth-people think more and see farther than 
 others, that I have had one brought here. I 
 need advice." 
 
 I was interested in the old man after this 
 confession; the flattery was very subtle. " I 
 will do what I can," I said. 
 
 " Well," continued the other, " you know 
 my interest in Nibelheim. This prosperity 
 which you see is my life-work; and now, 
 when I think of the possibility of my death, 
 my one care is about its future. When I look 
 at the future now, I see storm. Yes, sir, storm! 
 I see ruin and misery and despair! For there 
 is no use mincing words with you, this grand 
 son of mine, Prince Hagen, is bad!" 
 
 " You do not mean it," I said, as the king 
 stopped. 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 39 
 
 " Bad, sir, hopelessly and wholly bad," he 
 reiterated. 
 
 I thought for a moment. " You mean that 
 he does not show a proper desire for gold? " 
 
 " He shows desire enough," was the reply, 
 " but it is the way in which he shows it. To 
 put the matter in a nutshell, my dear friend, 
 Prince Hagen is his father come to life again, 
 a child of violence and crime." 
 
 The dreadful figure of Hagen stood out in 
 my imagination above the pettiness of Nibel- 
 heim. I shuddered. 
 
 " Is it not a very cruel thing," went on King 
 Alberich, plaintively. " Once once only, 
 in a long lifetime I was tempted from the 
 paths of righteousness; and for ever, after 
 that, evil must haunt me! Only think of it! 
 for seven or eight centuries I have striven 
 with all my might to make amends for that 
 violence; I have toiled and dug night and 
 day, as if I were made of iron; I have had 
 but one purpose and one thought in life; and 
 now, after all my efforts to be a good and use 
 ful citizen, I find this boy Hagen as wild and 
 restless as I was in my most violent days, and 
 even more disdainful of authority and order. 
 You can have no conception of it, sir. He is 
 
40 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 utterly beyond command, mine and all others ; 
 his thirst for gold is so insatiate, his contempt 
 for others so savage, that, verily, I believe 
 that he would do murder, as his father did, 
 if he were not prevented. He robs right and 
 left, and, when he is discovered, no man can 
 tell whether he will choose to lie, or to con 
 fess it with mocking defiance. And, sir, you 
 can have no idea of his energy and daring; 
 we can only control him by keeping him under 
 lock and key. And one cannot keep a king 
 in a cage." 
 
 Old Alberich stopped; his voice had been 
 trembling as he spoke, and there were almost 
 tears in his eyes. " Ah," he pleaded, " think 
 what will become of the treasure I have 
 amassed, of the laws I have made! Think 
 that peace and plenty must give way to strife 
 and misery in our land!" 
 
 " It is very sad," I said, mechanically. 
 
 " Yes," cried the other, " but what am I 
 to do? Tell me, sir, how can this boy be 
 trained to respect the property of others? how 
 can he be taught what is the real destiny of 
 Nibelheim? Let me tell you, in a word, why 
 my followers led you here. It is because I 
 wish to tell you that if you could show me 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 41 
 
 any way to remedy this evil if you could 
 only stay here and use your greater strength 
 of mind and body to overcome Prince Hagen, 
 and teach him what is right sir, you should 
 carry hence a treasure beyond anything the 
 surface of the earth has ever seen. Tell me, 
 can you give me help?" 
 
 And the old man stopped and gazed at me 
 imploringly; there was a long silence. 
 
 I had no interest in King Alberich s civili 
 sation, nor was the offer of reward of import 
 to me; I am a poet, and my business in the 
 world is imagining things different. But it 
 had occurred to me, while listening to the 
 king, that there might be a chance to do some 
 thing to lift these wretched Nibelungs from 
 the blind degradation in which they were 
 sunk. I had done a great deal of crying out 
 in the wilderness about the follies of men, and 
 got small thanks for my hoarseness ; might it 
 not be that here was a case in which an idealist 
 might be of real use? I could not but believe 
 that these creatures could be lifted; that with 
 education and intelligence would come gen 
 erosity and aspiration ; and, clearly, a chance 
 of turning their energies to purposes of beauty 
 
42 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 and goodness was not one that a man who 
 sought to be helpful could neglect. 
 
 " King Alberich," I said, slowly and 
 thoughtfully, " I have things of importance 
 to do, and I have no time to stay down here 
 and train Prince Hagen " 
 
 I saw the old man s face fall. " Oh, do not 
 tell me that!" he cried. "I " 
 
 " Listen," I said. " There is perhaps some 
 thing else that we can do. How would it 
 do to take Prince Hagen up to the world?" 
 
 Alberich gave a start. 
 
 " The world in which he lives here," I con 
 tinued, " is a small one; there he might have 
 a wider field in which to vent, his energies. 
 There, too, he might be instructed in many 
 things that it would be useful for a king to 
 know; and men could be found there far bet 
 ter fitted to teach him than I, and more able 
 to understand his disposition." 
 
 I was striving to put the matter before the 
 old man as delicately as I could. I could not 
 well have said that I was cherishing a hope 
 of teaching his grandson the ideal of a Chris 
 tian society, of awakening in his savage heart 
 some gleam of a soul, so that he might learn 
 to love other things than wealth, and might 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 43 
 
 come back to Nibelheim with a fiery deter 
 mination to clean it out as a noisome swamp. 
 I could not say that I was sure Prince Hagen 
 could not live with honest men very long with 
 out coming to hate the darkness and the mean 
 ness of this cave-born race. 
 
 It was plain that my suggestion was an en 
 tirely new one to old King Alberich; he sat 
 for some time gazing at me in perplexity. 
 " You mean that you yourself would see to 
 it that the proper training was given?" he 
 asked. 
 
 " If I took him with me," I answered, " it 
 would mean that I was interested in accom 
 plishing my purpose." 
 
 " But could you manage him? " exclaimed 
 the old man, gazing about him with a vague 
 alarm. " Could anybody manage him? He 
 is a demon in his will." 
 
 " All boys are more or less demons," I said. 
 " All have to be broken ; sometimes those who 
 have the most self-will make the noblest men 
 when they have been rightly trained." 
 
 The king seemed to take heart from my 
 confidence; in truth, I was minded for any 
 thing in those days, being accustomed blithely 
 to maintain that any difficulty was but a call 
 
44 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 upon a man s energies; from which it may be 
 guessed that I was not much older than Prince 
 Hagen. 
 
 " If you can manage him, that is one diffi 
 culty out of the way," said Alberich; "but 
 your proposal is so unexpected I scarcely 
 know what to reply." 
 
 I thought to myself, as I watched him, that 
 perhaps it was the first time that the old Ni- 
 belung had ventured far from the track of 
 convention in his thousands of years of life. 
 He paced back and forth, knitting his brows 
 and mumbling to himself, twisting the ques 
 tion about, and peering at every side of it, 
 as if it were a precious treasure he was buy 
 ing. At last he came back to his first ques 
 tion, of whether or not Prince Hagen could 
 be controlled. I made a suggestion which cut 
 the matter short abruptly, " Why not see 
 what he thinks of it himself? " 
 
 A light dawned on the other s face; he 
 called the Nibelungs, and, in response to his 
 command, several of them went to seek the 
 boy. As they led him in, they clung so close 
 to his side that I fancied he must even now 
 be in durance for some offence. 
 
 Truly he was not a promising person to 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 45 
 
 wreak one s ideas upon; there was, as Albe- 
 rich had said, all of Hagen in him. He was, 
 in the first place, a foot taller than any of the 
 other Nibelungs, coming, in fact, up to my 
 shoulder; he had the wizened, dwarf-like 
 features of the race, but with a grimness that 
 came from elsewhere. His hair and eyes 
 were jet-black, the latter gleaming darkly 
 from beneath deep, lowering brows. As they 
 brought him in, he spoke to neither of us, 
 but glowered sullenly at me. He gave no sign 
 of hearing, as his grandfather timidly ven 
 tured an introduction. 
 
 I must say that, as I watched this figure, 
 I had waverings; I began to share the king s 
 doubts if he could be induced to submit him 
 self to me, and even to hope that he might 
 not. But the question was settled otherwise, 
 and with the swiftness of a lightning-flash; 
 for the king stammered, hastily: " Hagen, 
 this gentleman wishes to take you with him 
 to see the life of the earth-men ; " and the boy 
 started back, a swift glow flushing across his 
 face, and a new light leaping into his eyes. 
 He stared from Alberich to me, and back 
 again to Alberich, exclaiming, incredulously, 
 "No!" 
 
46 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 " It is true, Hagen," the old man reiterated. 
 " It all depends upon whether you wish to 
 go!" 
 
 And Hagen flung out a wild cry. " Wish 
 to go!" he gasped, his face transfigured. 
 " Oh, by the gods, just try me! " 
 
 And that settled the matter. I found my 
 self whispering faintly, " You re in for it;" 
 and then upbraiding myself for a coward. 
 
 It was wonderful to see how young Hagen s 
 sullenness vanished; it was like cloud-land 
 shadows on the mountains. And by the thou 
 sand swift questions he asked who I was, 
 and what the world was like, and what was 
 the reason of our trip it was plainly to be 
 seen that he was still a boy. Between his 
 inquiries, and the cautions and exhortations of 
 the old king, I passed the next hour or two 
 of my time. It was agreed that we should 
 start immediately, but afterward we found 
 that it was far after midnight, and so I ac 
 cepted the king s invitation to remain with 
 him until the following morning. 
 
 " You would find it a tedious climb to the 
 surface, anyhow," he said, laughing. " How 
 would you like me to have you carried there 
 while you slept? " 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 47 
 
 I did not make any answer to what I 
 thought his jest, but followed him to his pal 
 ace, a cavern in the rocks near by; in one of 
 its several niches, called the guest-chamber, 
 I bade good night to my host and his excited 
 grandson, and then flung myself down upon 
 a pallet of straw. Being a tired and healthy 
 person, in a few minutes I was sound asleep. 
 
 The next incident of this tale is the opening 
 of my eyes. I awoke all at once, and gave 
 one glance about me; then I sat up with a 
 start. The brook was tinkling beside me, the 
 breeze was murmuring through the pine-trees 
 above me, and I was lying in the hammock, 
 gently rocking, the open volume of " Das 
 Rheingold " still lying in my lap. 
 
 I knew not what to make of it for a mo 
 ment; I saw that the sun was just sinking 
 behind the mountains, and I exclaimed, half- 
 aloud: " How long have I been sleeping? " 
 
 I got up from the hammock, trying to col 
 lect my faculties. I found myself debating 
 in perplexity, " How in the world can Al- 
 berich have gotten me here? " when suddenly 
 the real truth of the thing flashed over me, 
 and I started back and caught hold of the 
 
48 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 hammock, and shook from head to foot with 
 uncontrollable laughter. 
 
 " Certainly," I gasped, " that was the most 
 extraordinary dream I ever had in my life! " 
 
 And truly, the more I thought of it, the 
 more wonderful it seemed. It had taken such 
 a hold on me that I had actually sat in the 
 hammock, convinced for a moment that I had 
 spent the previous night in Nibelheim! 
 
 I was so much amused at these things that 
 I never once thought of being angry at hav 
 ing slept away a warm afternoon. I thought, 
 in fact, that if one could dream like that often, 
 it would pay him to sleep. " There is a story 
 in it," I muttered. " It is a real idea! " 
 
 I took up my book, and made my way down 
 the glen to where my little tent stood by the 
 lake-shore; I went in and sat down, still 
 thinking about that dream. Every circum 
 stance was as vivid as ever. I saw the dark 
 caverns, saw the wizened face of old Albe- 
 rich, and the sullen glare of young Hagen; 
 I was sure that my ears were still ringing 
 with the Nibelung music. 
 
 " The Nibelung music," I mused, as I sat 
 there; " I really think there are possibilities 
 in that thought. Fancy a poet dowered with 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 49 
 
 the gift that the life of his soul should be 
 uttered in music; fancy him dreaming in the 
 forests, and battling upon the mountain-tops 
 with the storm; fancy him by his gift made 
 master of all true men, and wondered at for 
 a madman by the mean!" 
 
 Then outside I heard the footsteps of the 
 little French-Canadian boy, who rows up the 
 lake to bring me my milk and butter, and who 
 always takes care to arrive with his clinking 
 pails whenever I am nearest to the heights. 
 I gave up in despair, and sat waiting, for I 
 knew that he could not set down his burden 
 and be gone; I knew that he would need to 
 stop and chatter. 
 
 I was not mistaken; he dropped his load, 
 and then stood leaning in the doorway, twist 
 ing his bare toes together and eyeing me. I 
 sometimes wonder just what his fancies are 
 about the man who lives away off in the forest. 
 
 " Bon jo ," said he, in French-Canadian 
 fashion. 
 
 " Good day," said I, abruptly. I did not 
 expect to be interested in the youngster s con 
 versation ; but as it happened, his next three 
 words made me jump. 
 
 " Where you yest day? " he asked. 
 
50 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 " Yesterday? " I inquired. " Why what 
 do you mean? " 
 
 "You not here," he replied; "where you 
 
 go?" 
 
 I stared at the youngster; I could not half 
 believe my ears. "You are crazy!" I 
 laughed I noticed that the laugh was 
 strange. " Don t you remember yesterday 
 I gave you the penny? " 
 
 The boy shook his head. " No, no," he de 
 clared, stolidly; "that day fore yest day." 
 
 I said nothing; I could not even think. 
 Meanwhile, the boy went on, " I come yest - 
 day with my pa; you not here. We wait 
 ve y late; you not come. Where you go?" 
 
 Now it may seem incredible, but all the 
 time I had been so calmly musing about that 
 dream of mine, I had been haunted by a 
 strange, uncomfortable feeling. This is the 
 twentieth century, and I am not given to su 
 perstitions. But for all that, there was some 
 thing in me which wanted to cry out what it 
 did not dare to cry out that it was no dream 
 at all that I had really spent the night in 
 Nibelheim! 
 
 And now, therefore, the effect of the boy s 
 words may be imagined. For a long time I 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 51 
 
 simply stared at him in consternation, grop 
 ing in darkness; and then, suddenly, I sprang 
 at him and caught him by the shoulders. 
 "You can t mean that!" I cried, wildly. 
 " It can t be possible! " 
 
 " W-what? " gasped the boy, in fright. 
 
 "That I was not here yesterday! That I 
 did not give you that penny last night! " 
 
 " But I spend that penny yest day matin," 
 said the boy, stolidly. 
 
 Now a thing like that was almost madden 
 ing; I stood in the middle of the room, run 
 ning my hands through my hair, and staring 
 blankly into space. " Nibelungs! " I gasped. 
 "Why, it is utter madness it is ridiculous! 
 But in heaven s name, can I have slept tfaenty- 
 four hours in that hammock? And that 
 music! Surely it couldn t be possible " 
 
 And then I stopped short, transfixed; I 
 bent forward in wonder, my eyes staring; and 
 then I turned upon the boy, and saw that he 
 was staring too. 
 
 " Did you hear that? " I panted. " Did 
 you?" 
 
 " Somebody play," he said, wonderingly. 
 "Who do that?" 
 
 And then, just as on the previous night, 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 I heard the sound again. An instant later it 
 rang out suddenly in a loud crash that made 
 me leap; and it surged louder, swifter and 
 swifter, nearer and nearer, until it seemed to 
 burst in my very face: 
 
 SCHNELL. 
 
 
 
 cres 
 
 And after that for one brief instant there 
 was a dead silence; it seemed an age. I 
 looked at the boy, and the boy looked at me, 
 and both of us were white; my own hands 
 were trembling. " That could not be a delu 
 sion!" I found myself thinking, swiftly. 
 " It must be true!" 
 
 And a moment later came a knock! 
 
 The flap of the tent had fallen down, and 
 some one had tapped upon the tent-pole, in 
 the absence of a door. I was weak and trem 
 bling, and there was warm perspiration on 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 53 
 
 my hands, as I said to the boy, " Go and see 
 who it is." 
 
 He obeyed ; I saw him take hold of the flap 
 to push it aside, and was conscious of a cold 
 chill. But at the same instant, the flap was 
 flung back from the outside, and I saw a dark 
 figure standing in the entrance, and smiling 
 at me. 
 
 "Good afternoon!" said a familiar voice. 
 " Did you think I was not coming? " 
 
 // was Prince Hagenl 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 SOON after that, Prince Hagen and I were 
 seated in the tent, the farm-boy having taken 
 his departure. The Nibelung had parted 
 with the uncouth costume of his fellows, and 
 was clad in a natty summer suit, obtained, I 
 could not guess how; he twirled a straw hat 
 in one hand, and, seated on a chair, with his 
 legs crossed carelessly, he gazed at me from 
 beneath his half-closed eyelids. 
 
 "Well," he said, "what are we to do 
 now?" 
 
 The truth to be told, I did not know. I 
 gazed at him in perplexity, and at last stam 
 mered, "Why you see I have scarcely 
 had time to think about any plans, it has all 
 been so sudden." 
 
 " Oh, very well," said he, with a laugh ; 
 " think away. I shaVt bother you." 
 
 He turned, and began coolly surveying my 
 premises ; in the meantime, I strove to " think 
 
 54 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 55 
 
 away," as directed, but found it not easy to 
 take my eyes off my newly found protege. 
 He, for his part, was sufficiently occupied to 
 take no notice of me; everything was evi 
 dently new to him, and he got up and began 
 strolling around, examining each object in 
 turn. He studied my oil-stove in perplexity, 
 and gave it up as hopeless, incidentally leav 
 ing it so that the kerosene ran out. He exam 
 ined my shot-gun, looking into the muzzle, 
 and tapping it to see if it was hollow, in a way 
 which showed plainly that he did not know 
 what it was. In the same fashion, he wan 
 dered about the room, until at last, happening 
 to see me eyeing him, he asked, " I beg par 
 don, but what do you do? " 
 
 "I am an author," I said, deprecatingly; 
 " I write books." 
 
 " Oh," said he, " but why do you come 
 way out here in the forest, and live like this? " 
 
 " I wish to be alone," I explained, " so that 
 I can think undisturbed." 
 
 "Humph!" said Prince Hagen, and no 
 more. I was destined to learn afterward, to 
 my discomfort, how often he thought a great 
 deal and said nothing. 
 
56 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 " You do not expect me to stay here, too, 
 I hope?" he observed, at last. 
 
 " Oh, no," I replied, " by no means. I 
 understand that it is your wish to see the 
 world." 
 
 There was a silence for a moment, and then 
 I remarked, " It is about supper-time, and 
 perhaps we should get a little better ac 
 quainted if we first had something to eat. 
 We can discuss all our problems after that." 
 
 " I am willing," said the other, with the 
 utmost good humour; " what have you got? " 
 
 "Let me see," I mused; "I am afraid 
 this is rather an ( off day; provisions are 
 due to-morrow." I named what I had. 
 
 "That s all right," said Hagen; "bring 
 em along." 
 
 I got out my little folding-table, and spread 
 the feast; for a few minutes nothing more 
 was said, my guest falling vigorously upon the 
 eatables, and I, in the meantime, diligently 
 thinking. When, at last, the repast was over, 
 and the Nibelung had laid down his knife 
 and fork, I coughed once or twice, and then 
 began, very impressively: 
 
 " Prince Hagen, I think it best to tell 
 you frankly, in the first place, just why you are 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 57 
 
 sent here, and just what I have promised 
 your grandfather to attempt. It is his hope 
 that your sojourn here may have the effect 
 of broadening your understanding, and mak 
 ing you more fit for the grave duties of king 
 ship, which must some day devolve upon you; 
 that it may also " 
 
 I had a great many thoughts in my mind, 
 most of them phrased very finely, as I 
 thought; but I stopped just then, because my 
 companion s eyes were twinkling, and because 
 I felt uncomfortable. 
 
 "Jolly old cuss, my grand-dad, ain t he?" 
 observed he. 
 
 I was silent. Prince Hagen remained in 
 his former position, leaning back and watch 
 ing me under his half-closed lids; I felt as 
 if I were in an ambush. His wizened features 
 had taken on a quizzical look that was most 
 disconcerting. 
 
 " Tell me," he asked, suddenly, " you don t 
 suppose that that s the way Tm looking at this 
 thing, do you? " 
 
 I stammered some words; the other went 
 on : " I m not losing any sleep over the grave 
 duties of kingship that are going to devolve; 
 when they do, I ll chance em, but, between 
 
58 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 you and me, I think the old chap means to 
 hang on as long as he can. Pray don t let us 
 worry any more about that." 
 
 There was a moment s pause; then the 
 speaker went on, with easy self-possession: 
 " I have to humour old Alberich sometimes, 
 you know, but there s no need of any taffy 
 between you and me ; I m out for some fun, 
 and I think I can soon find out how to have 
 it. There s not the least use of your worrying 
 yourself thinking what you are going to do 
 with me." 
 
 That had not been my idea of how matters 
 were to stand, but Prince Hagen seemed to 
 take it all serenely. I was quite nonplussed 
 for the time. 
 
 " I suppose," he said, a smile flitting across 
 his face, " that the governor s been telling you 
 some spicy tales about my general deport 
 ment? " 
 
 "Ahem!" answered I. " Why he did 
 say that you had been rather er " 
 
 " Yes," said the other, " that s all right. 
 And I suppose he s scared you not a little, 
 and you ve been wondering if you mightn t 
 be murdered in your bed?"* He laughed, 
 and moved his chair a little nearer. 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 59 
 
 "Now listen to me, old man," he began; 
 "we ll soon get things straight." (I was not 
 a little taken aback by the " old man," but 
 I presumed it came from the other s princely 
 training, and so let it pass for the present.) 
 " The truth of the matter is, you know, that 
 I like to have my way; I always have had 
 it, and always mean to, and I can be just as 
 ugly as necessary when I don t. But there s 
 not the slightest reason why you and I should 
 quarrel. I want to see the world, and so long 
 as I m entertained, I m all right. I mean 
 to lay low, you understand, and look round 
 me, and I might just as well tell you before 
 hand that I don t mean to give anybody any 
 trouble." 
 
 After which speech, Prince Hagen leaned 
 back and beamed upon me, conveying his 
 genial conviction that he had said a very hand 
 some thing. 
 
 I was completely taken aback and overpow 
 ered by his condescension. I could only 
 reply vaguely that I thanked him for his kind 
 ness. After a moment he went on : 
 
 " In the first place, of course," he said, 
 " I m entirely helpless, for I ve no more idea 
 of this world of yours than an unhatched 
 
60 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 turkey. I should be quite lost, and I must 
 obviously have time to learn things, and get 
 to feeling at home. What are we going to 
 do about that? " 
 
 " That was what I wished to talk to you 
 about," I said, brightening a trifle. 
 
 " Well, talk away," said the prince. 
 
 " Your position," I said, " is not so very 
 different from that of our own sons; they, 
 too, have to learn about the world, and it is 
 the custom to send them to schools, where they 
 are taught everything that is needed to fit 
 them for life. Afterward they go to some 
 college, where they complete their education." 
 It was rather humiliating to find myself offer 
 ing these suggestions, when I had meant to 
 take firm command; but my relief was 
 greater than I chose to acknowledge to my 
 self when Prince Hagen agreed promptly 
 with my idea. 
 
 " That s very excellent," he said, his face 
 brightening up. " And how long should I 
 have to stay in these places? " 
 
 "Some years," I replied; "it would de 
 pend upon how much it was found necessary 
 to teach." 
 
 " I see," was the response. " I don t think 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 61 
 
 it will take me any such time to catch on to 
 things; but of course I sha n t stay any longer 
 than I wish to." 
 
 " Er yes," said I, hesitatingly. 
 
 " And now," went on the prince, mildly, 
 " the rest will be quickly settled. You have 
 any such place in mind?" 
 
 " Yes," I said, " I have an old college 
 friend, whose father, an excellent clerical 
 gentleman, keeps a boarding-school not so 
 many hours ride from here. There is a sum 
 mer session, for which you would be just in 
 time. You will find Doctor Myer a most de 
 lightful man, and I can recommend him as 
 a person of the highest character." 
 
 "Yes," said Prince Hagen, vaguely, "that 
 will be very nice. But I ll find out about 
 him myself when I get there. And now 
 we don t want to waste any time tell me 
 how I am to travel." 
 
 " Let me see," I mused, glancing at the 
 clock. " The night-train leaves the village 
 at the foot of the lake at ten. It is a moon 
 light night; there is no reason why we should 
 not start to-night, if you wish it." 
 
 And Prince Hagen was on his feet in an 
 instant. " Come," he said, " let us be off." 
 
62 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 I had made up my mind to sacrifice one 
 day from my work, and run down and see 
 my charge safely ensconced. I desired to 
 have a long talk with the good clergyman, 
 to explain to him the situation. I paused, 
 therefore, only to fling a few things into my 
 bag, and to make my tent fast, and then I 
 hurried to the boat, and was soon rowing 
 down the lake. Prince Hagen, in the mean 
 time, was asking a thousand questions about 
 everything concerned, promising so eager a 
 pupil that for the first time I began to feel 
 encouraged and sanguine. This continued 
 also when we came to the town, and to the 
 depot, and to the train; my companion was 
 quite exciting in his eagerness, and I found 
 it no uninteresting experience to be with a 
 person who had never heard of a railroad or 
 a telegraph before. 
 
 I had gotten my mail in the town, and in 
 it were some papers. On board the sleeper 
 I saw Prince Hagen eyeing these last, and I 
 explained their use. I found that the extent 
 of his education was the " three R s," prob 
 ably because these alone were needed in keep 
 ing accounts. I did what I could to indicate 
 to him what the direction of his future studies 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 63 
 
 would be. While we conversed on these mat 
 ters, I had, of course, things easily my own 
 way, and was flattered to find myself in pos 
 session of the authority I had failed at first 
 to exert. As I dilated upon the wonders of 
 steam and electricity, I became as impressive 
 as if these achievements of humanity had 
 been all my own; and after that had con 
 tinued for some time, I felt bold enough to 
 attempt once more to entertain Prince Hagen 
 with the beautiful plans I had formed for 
 his future. 
 
 We were speaking of studies that would 
 fit my companion for his future career. " You 
 have no objection to looking forward to your 
 kingship? " I hinted, remembering how sum 
 marily the question had been dismissed be 
 fore. 
 
 " Oh, not in the least," said he, with a smile. 
 
 " Did you ever think of preparing your 
 self for the difficult task? " I inquired. 
 
 " I m not afraid of it," he replied, his black 
 eyes sparkling. 
 
 " Let me tell you," I said, " what has been 
 my hope in bringing you here with me. It 
 seemed to me, when I saw the life of your 
 people, that it was pitifully sordid and poor, 
 
64 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 and I was so sure that there were things in 
 the civilisation of men that would help to 
 raise and improve them that it was a joy to 
 me to think of interesting you in our life." 
 
 My companion looked thoughtful. " Yes," 
 said he, " that is true. If we could only in 
 troduce a railroad like this, for instance. I 
 believe I ll set to work learning about it; I m 
 quick at things like that. Only think what 
 a revolution it would make in the mining and 
 transporting of our gold!" 
 
 I was a trifle disconcerted for a moment, 
 and I sat gazing at Prince Hagen. Suddenly 
 I asked: " Does it never really occur to you 
 how pitiful it is for a nation to centre its whole 
 life in the digging of gold?" 
 
 My companion looked slightly perplexed. 
 " No," he said, " I can t say I ever thought 
 of it. How do you mean?" 
 
 " I am sincerely hopeful," I said, " that you 
 will come to see what I mean, that you will 
 discover in yourself and in your countrymen 
 powers more beautiful and more worthy of 
 cultivation. Suppose, for instance to keep 
 close to practical things that you should 
 find it possible to bring a little beauty into 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 65 
 
 your land, to make beautiful homes for your 
 people to dwell in." 
 
 " Yes," was the doubting response. " But 
 what good would it do? It would cost a great 
 deal of time and money to make your beauti 
 ful homes, and then no one would care any 
 thing about them when they were made." 
 
 " But might not they be taught to care?" 
 
 Prince Hagen looked thoughtful. "Yes," 
 he said, " possibly. If they could be taught 
 to care, then the buildings would be worth a 
 great deal to me." 
 
 I felt, after those last words, somewhat like 
 a bird brought down on the wing. 
 
 " Prince Hagen," I said, very gravely, " I 
 fear your delusion is deeply rooted. Tell me, 
 have you never heard anything about Chris 
 tianity? " 
 
 " No," said he, " tell me about it." 
 
 " Perhaps it is there," I answered, " that 
 we can touch the real differences between 
 your view of things and mine. Christianity, 
 my dear sir, is the religion of the people whom 
 you are going to visit." 
 
 "Religion?" repeated the other. "Why, 
 the gods are dead, I thought." 
 
 "Yes," said I, "yours are, but not ours. 
 
66 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 And we have been taught that the true ideal 
 of life is to love one another, and to find our 
 happiness in one another s happiness, in giv 
 ing and in helping, and in making one s life 
 a joy." 
 
 I felt that I had made an impression this 
 time, at any rate; my companion was look 
 ing at me with interest. " What a curious 
 thing," he said. " And tell me, then, is it 
 true that everybody here acts upon those 
 principles? " 
 
 " I wish I could say that," I answered. 
 " It is not every one " 
 
 " Was that why some man built this rail 
 road, for instance? " 
 
 I stopped, a little in trouble. " I think," 
 I said, "that er- 
 
 The other saw that for some reason he 
 had embarrassed me, and he considerately 
 dropped the question. "What was it you 
 were going to say before? " he asked. 
 
 " I was going to say that there were many 
 bad and selfish men among us, and that it 
 is fatally easy to let their actions blind us 
 to the real and deep motives of society. You 
 will find, however, that the men who feel and 
 
PRINCE HA GEN 67 
 
 act as I have described are the ones who in 
 the end are deeply and truly respected." 
 
 "Ah, yes/ said the other; "I shall see 
 about that as I look around. I don t mean 
 to take anything on hearsay, you know." 
 
 He was a cold-blooded kind of a person to 
 talk to, was Prince Hagen; but I was deter 
 mined not to be daunted in my enthusiasm 
 just then. " Tell me," I asked, " would you 
 not really care to be honoured for ever as the 
 benefactor of your people? Supposing you 
 were to become convinced of the truth of this 
 religion, and were to introduce it, so that the 
 lowest man in your kingdom might be made 
 happy in the consciousness that he could at 
 tain true greatness as well as any? Supposing 
 that modern improvements might be intro 
 duced into your realm, so that it might be 
 come broader and more beautiful? Suppos 
 ing that your people might be educated to 
 think and know something of the wonders of 
 the universe in which they live, and of the 
 true happiness to which they might attain 
 through the exercise of their higher facul 
 ties? It is my hope that you may come to 
 perceive these high truths, Prince Hagen, 
 that you may be taught to admire such high 
 
68 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 qualities in the great men of history, and in 
 the ideals of art. For I assure you, when one 
 has once been stirred by such thoughts " 
 
 A Pullman car is an exceedingly unfor 
 tunate place to choose for the setting forth of 
 one s ideals. Just then, when I was quite 
 certain that I was carrying everything before 
 me, the conductor tapped me on the shoulder 
 and asked for my ticket; and, after I had 
 disposed of that matter, I was overwhelmed 
 by such a flood of questions, as to the mean 
 ing and uses of conductors, the arrangement 
 of sleeping-cars, and the colouredness of their 
 porters, that I had no opportunity to renew 
 the discussion of the high destinies of men. 
 It was not very long before our berth was 
 being put in order, an operation which my 
 companion surveyed with wondering interest 
 that showed me I was quite forgotten. 
 
 We reached our destination early the next 
 morning, and, after a breakfast and a cursory 
 inspection of a thousand things in the city 
 about us, we drove out to the boarding-school 
 of Doctor Myer. 
 
 He was a white-haired old gentleman, with 
 a benevolent countenance. I felt at the first 
 glance that he was the person to help me in 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 69 
 
 accomplishing my plans. I introduced my 
 young friend, James Hagen (according to a 
 previous arrangement), as a ward of mine, 
 who, for reasons which we desired not to 
 make public, was ignorant of the most ordi 
 nary matters of civilisation, and desired to 
 combine the studies of the school course with 
 a general examination into the things about 
 him. I could see that the good doctor was 
 puzzled, but he welcomed his riew pupil 
 kindly. After all matters incidental had been 
 arranged, I rose to take my have of Hagen, 
 during which ceremony the doctor consid 
 erately left the room. 
 
 " My dear friend," I said, " I think you 
 should be made quite at home in this place." 
 
 " Do I look as if, I felt forlorn? " asked the 
 other. 
 
 " I am sure," I continued, " that you will 
 find this old gentleman a perfect example of 
 the unselfish kindness of which I have talked 
 to you; and, if you will only meet your class 
 mates half-way, I am very certain you will 
 find more of the same generosity. I leave 
 you here with that hope in my heart." 
 
 " I trust so," said Prince Hagen, " and now 
 don t let me keep you from your train." 
 
70 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 His reminder was not untimely. I had just 
 chance to request the good doctor to keep me 
 informed as to the progress and the character 
 of his new pupil before I had to hurry off 
 to the depot. By the evening I was back in 
 my little tent once more, as busy as if Prince 
 Hagen had really been but a dream. 
 
 When I get fairly to work at my writing, 
 there is nothing else that claims any part of 
 my attention. It was in May that the inci 
 dents I have narrated took place; it is in 
 July that the next developments occur. In 
 the meantime, I had heard nothing from my 
 protege, and had given him not a thought, 
 except in hours of leisure, when I recollected 
 it all and wondered how his affairs were 
 progressing. 
 
 I could not get my mail except by going 
 for it, and it was not often I had time for 
 that. I had not seen a letter for a week, 
 when late one afternoon I entered the town, 
 and found two bulky epistles from the doc 
 tor, dated several days apart. It was with a 
 sudden awakening of interest that I tore open 
 the earlier of the two. It ran as follows: 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 71 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR: I promised to keep you 
 informed about your ward, and I shall take 
 this leisure hour to write you at length. 
 
 " I must tell you in the first place that it 
 is a source of endless speculation to me how 
 a person of this lad s rapacious curiosity can, 
 by any possibility, have remained as ignorant 
 about the most elementary things as he is. 
 I sometimes wonder if he may not have been 
 brought up on a desert isle; I presume, how 
 ever, that there are good reasons for keeping 
 these matters a secret. 
 
 " You have brought me a very curious and 
 interesting pupil. He is, in the first place, a 
 person of most tremendous energy; at that 
 which interests him, he will labour with lit 
 erally untiring persistence; he seems to have 
 no idea of either eating or sleeping until he 
 has learned what he wishes to know. But I 
 am sorry to say that what he does not wish 
 to know there seems to be no earthly possi 
 bility of forcing him to study. I have found 
 myself unconsciously treating him differently 
 from my other scholars. He speaks with such 
 serenity and certainty of what he means to do 
 that I am quite amazed at him, and some 
 times helpless to oppose him. I have per- 
 
72 PRINCE H A G E N 
 
 ceived that I should cause much trouble by 
 insisting upon having my way, and, wisely 
 or unwisely, I have always yielded. Young 
 Hagen is so very diligent in studying what 
 he likes, and seems to perceive so clearly what 
 he needs, that one is fatally inclined to be 
 lenient. 
 
 " I regret to tell you that the subjects he 
 chooses are very limited in range, and are 
 entirely of the practical kind. He expresses 
 his indifference, with most unbecoming lev 
 ity, for literature and for all the liberal arts. 
 He has been fascinated by the difficulties of 
 mathematics, but his great forte seems to be 
 for political economy, and for all the practical 
 problems of our present-day life. It has not 
 been my custom to teach matters such as these, 
 but he has induced me to guide him to books 
 that treat of them. According to your re 
 quest, I endeavoured to care especially for 
 his religious training, in which I found him 
 most lamentably deficient. I cannot discover 
 that it has made, any impression upon his 
 heart, however, though the ways of the Lord 
 are sometimes obscure to us, and the work 
 ings of His grace not to be foretold. 
 
 " I was most cruelly perplexed at first by 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 73 
 
 the young man s persistent truancy; he takes 
 this way of avoiding all lectures which he 
 does not enjoy, and I have been powerless to 
 prevent him. I feared very much that he was 
 being led into the paths of wickedness, but I 
 found, upon inquiry, that he was in reality 
 diligently informing himself about things of 
 importance; he has visited factories and 
 stores of all kinds, newspaper offices, and rail 
 road depots, and the ships at the wharves. 
 The last time I discovered him, after consid 
 erable alarm and anxiety, he was attending 
 the Democratic primary election in our dis 
 trict, and was in deep conversation with some 
 of the officials; nor would he leave at my 
 commands, but forced me to go home in de 
 spair. You must write me what to do in mat 
 ters such as these, for I am often tormented 
 with the fear that I may not be doing my 
 duty in allowing the young man thus to follow 
 his own inclinations. 
 
 " Another matter in which I am powerless 
 to control him, has been his hour of retiring; 
 I was very reluctant to break the rules of 
 my establishment in this matter, for it sets a 
 precedent subversive of all discipline. But 
 Hagen has discovered the newspapers and 
 
74 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 magazines as an endless source of information 
 about the world around him, and these he 
 reads without end. It is this that causes his 
 late hours, and it appears to be utterly impos 
 sible to stem the torrent of his eagerness. I 
 have given up interfering, and only trust that 
 there may be no danger of the eager pupil s 
 injuring his health by his labours. 
 
 " There remain but two matters to speak of; 
 one of them, is the young man s relation with 
 his fellow pupils. This seemed to be one of 
 most unaccountable hostility from the outset. 
 Young Hagen seemed to inspire the other 
 boys with aversion, and I was not long in find 
 ing that they had come to blows. I was much 
 worried lest they should be attempting to 
 bully him, but I was powerless to find out just 
 how matters stood. I only know that the 
 young man appeared continually marked with 
 the scars of combat, and seemed to grow 
 more and more defiant. Last week the 
 trouble culminated in a continued fracas; he 
 was hurt so badly as to be twice under the 
 doctor s care, and no less than six other pupils 
 were incapacitated from study. My vigorous 
 inquiry could not bring out the truth about 
 the matter, but since then the quarrelling ap- 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 75 
 
 pears to have ceased. There has been a 
 rapprochement, but who has won supremacy 
 I cannot tell. 
 
 " And now for the last matter of all. I 
 scarcely know how to speak of this, and I 
 only trust that it will not give offence. It 
 is truly a most dreadful thing. You must 
 consider the fact that you have kept the young 
 man s origin so close a secret as my reason 
 for asking you this question. Not many days 
 after his arrival, there began to be noticed 
 by the boys I tremble as I write it the 
 loss of numbers of articles from their rooms. 
 Sums of money were taken on various occa 
 sions, and on no less than four, valuable 
 watches and jewelry. No attempts to trace 
 these crimes to any one have been successful, 
 but it has been proved beyond doubt that the 
 author of them must be some one connected 
 with the school. My servants are all known 
 to me, and I hesitate to suspect them. In this 
 most fearful perplexity, I write to ask you 
 in confidence whether there could, by any pos 
 sibility, be something in the character or in 
 the former life of young Hagen, that would 
 warrant your suspecting him. There is one 
 circumstance, a very slight one, which turned 
 
76 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 my thoughts to him. Only write me that 
 there is no reason for having suspicion of him 
 more than of another, and I will dismiss the 
 cruel doubt from my mind. I pray that I 
 may not be angering you by this inquiry. 
 " I am, sincerely, 
 " ADOLPH MYER." 
 
 Such was the first letter. Without stopping 
 to think an instant, I tore open the second, 
 which I saw from the postmark had been 
 written only the day before. 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR: -- 1 scarcely know how to 
 begin to announce to you what I am forced 
 to announce in this letter. 
 
 " I shudder when I think of the almost 
 fiendish audacity and wilfulness of this fel 
 low Hagen. I have been praising him for 
 his dutifulness and virtue, and all the time 
 it would seem that the slight restraints which 
 were put upon him have been rousing in his 
 heart a volcano of rage and rebellion! And 
 to-day it has burst, and caused a series of 
 calamities which I think did never before 
 in the world occur to terrify the soul of an 
 unfortunate boarding-school principal. Be- 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 77 
 
 fore I begin to narrate them, I have to tell 
 you, sir, that you must come, and come im 
 mediately, to take James Hagen from this 
 place, or I shall not be answerable for the 
 consequences. 
 
 " I wrote you in my former letter that I 
 did not know what had been the result of 
 the contest for supremacy between this fel 
 low and the boys of my school. I know now 
 that it was a complete victory for him, and 
 that it converted them from an assemblage 
 of pupils as studious and gentlemanly as could 
 be found in this land --though I do say it 
 myself to a horde of demons, subject to the 
 imperious will of this boy. I shall proceed, 
 without further comment, to narrate the 
 events which have occurred at my establish 
 ment within the last twenty-four hours. 
 
 " I have a teacher, one of my most valued 
 assistants, named Tisdale; this gentleman is 
 a most admirable disciplinarian, able to get 
 more hard work out of a class of boys than 
 any teacher I have ever had occasion to meet 
 with. But he was so unwise, or so unfor 
 tunate, as not to approve of the leniency which 
 I displayed to young Hagen, and there had 
 
7 8 PRINCE H A G E N < 
 
 resulted several violent clashes from his at 
 tempts to bend the latter to his will. Since 
 the last, however, the pupil had apologised, 
 and I had concluded that the danger was over. 
 
 " Yesterday afternoon he was rebuked by 
 Mr. Tisdale, and immediately answered with 
 an audacious impertinence which completely 
 dumbfounded the teacher. To add to his 
 amazement, the class burst into frantic ap 
 plause, and, upon young Hagen s being or 
 dered to leave the room, they rose as one man 
 and left with him. 
 
 " When this astonishing news reached me, 
 I at once ordered that the pupils be confined 
 to their rooms, to the carrying out of which 
 order no resistance was made. But no sooner 
 had night come than they escaped, and, under 
 the leadership of Hagen, made their way in 
 silence down the hall to the room where Mr. 
 Tisdale slept. The unfortunate gentleman, 
 having no thought of danger, had left his door 
 unlocked, and so they secured admission un- 
 perceived. They laid hands upon him, and 
 carried him bodily out into the hall, tying 
 him, clad as he was in his robe-de-nuit, to 
 the post of the banister. I had no hope of 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 79 
 
 discovering the perpetrators of this outrage, 
 doubting not that, under the malignant influ 
 ence of Hagen, they would all deny their 
 guilt. Therefore, you may imagine my con 
 sternation at what followed on the following 
 morning, when Hagen arose, and, with an in 
 solent smile, announced that he had been the 
 leader and originator of the whole trouble. 
 Enraged at this, I threatened him with instant 
 expulsion, upon which he laughed and coolly 
 declared that he had done what he had be 
 cause he was ready to leave, having learned 
 all that we had to teach him! 
 
 " I concluded at last not to go as far as to 
 have the rascal arrested, but I made up my 
 mind instantly that I would not do what the 
 fellow expected, and turn him away. I gave 
 orders to have him confined, which was man 
 aged after a desperate struggle. I now write 
 to say that I give you two days to come and 
 take him in charge. If you do not come, or 
 send, by that time, I shall very certainly allow 
 Mr. Tisdale to have him arrested. 
 
 " Further comment on these matters is un 
 necessary. His most dreadful outburst will 
 no doubt be described in all the papers to- 
 
8o PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 morrow, and I fear that the Myer Academy 
 may never recover from the disgrace of it all. 
 " I am, sir, respectfully, 
 " ADOLPH MYER." 
 
 I make no attempt to describe my emotions 
 at the reading of those letters. When I was 
 at the height of my excitement and won 
 der, an acquaintance chanced to pass, and 
 called out to me : " Oh, by the way, they 
 told me at the depot that a telegram came 
 for you last night." I knew in an instant 
 where it was from, and rushed down there. 
 When I had got the message and torn it open, 
 I read this: 
 
 " Hagen has made his escape threatening 
 watchers with revolver cannot find him police 
 notified will wire news. 
 
 "A. MYER." 
 
 This last settled the matter. When I re 
 covered from my consternation, I could only 
 call myself names for my folly in meddling 
 with the fate of this boy, or man, or devil. 
 I had been fairly warned about him, I said, 
 and it was only my stupid presumption that 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 81 
 
 had got me into the trouble. I exclaimed 
 to myself that now, when they caught him - 
 as they surely would I would tell who he 
 was, and have old King Alberich take him 
 back, and so wash my hands of the whole 
 affair. " In the meantime," I vowed, " I will 
 not take it upon myself to worry about him." 
 And with this virtuous resolution, I turned 
 and made my way down to the boat. I was 
 talking half-aloud, as is my wont, and I re 
 member that I had got so far as to observe: 
 " In truth, he is a very demon! " And then 
 suddenly I heard a step behind me, and a 
 merry laugh, and a voice, crying: "Wait a 
 minute there, old chap; what s the hurry?" 
 I whirled about in consternation, it was 
 Prince Hagen! 
 
 I think that I stood spellbound for at least 
 a minute ; during the time my mouth and eyes 
 must have been wide open, for the other shook 
 with laughter in every part of his frame as 
 he gazed at me. 
 
 "Prince Hagen!" I panted, finally. 
 
 " James," he said, correcting me, " James 
 Hagen." And then crouching suddenly with 
 
82 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 mock alarm, he whispered, gazing around 
 him: " Hist! the police!" 
 
 And then he burst into pealing laughter. 
 I stared at him, still half-dazed; but, as grad 
 ually I recovered my self-possession, I felt 
 decidedly otherwise than merry. I was vig 
 orously incensed at his conduct, and was 
 determined that nothing should prevent my 
 speaking my mind. 
 
 " I am astonished," I exclaimed, " that you 
 are not ashamed to return to me after your 
 disgraceful behaviour." 
 
 "You think it disgraceful?" he asked. 
 
 "I most certainly do," I declared; " so 
 disgraceful that I cannot bear to think of it." 
 
 " Then I wouldn t," said he, grimly. 
 
 I eyed him in silent wonder. " Why have 
 you returned?" I asked, at last. 
 
 " I came back to tell you I was through 
 with school," he answered, smiling. 
 
 " You are certainly through with that 
 school," said I. 
 
 " I am through with any," he added; " my 
 education is now complete." 
 
 I did not think it necessary to reply. " And 
 then you are going home?" I asked, a trifle 
 anxiously, I fear. 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 83 
 
 " Home? " he exclaimed. " Not much! I 
 am just ready to begin seeing the world." 
 
 I stopped in my walk, and I stood gazing 
 at him for at least half a minute. Then I 
 said, very sternly: " Prince Hagen, listen to 
 me. You are going back to Nibelheim." 
 
 He opened his eyes. " What do you 
 mean? " he asked. 
 
 " I mean," I replied, " that I am deter 
 mined not to be the cause of casting such a 
 man as you loose upon the world. I am going 
 to see you again under your grandfather s 
 control." 
 
 He was leaning back upon his cane, twid 
 dling his watch-chain, and eyeing me quiz 
 zically; his whole form seemed to shake with 
 his silent laughter, as I made that solemn 
 statement. " And pray," he asked, " suppose 
 I refuse to go? " 
 
 " In that case, I will call the aid of the 
 law." 
 
 " And upon what grounds will the law 
 assist you? " 
 
 " That you are my ward ; that I was given 
 control over you by your grandfather." 
 
 " Ah, yes," said he, " and when the question 
 
84 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 comes to be argued, pray how old will you 
 say I am? " 
 
 " Nineteen or twenty," I answered. 
 
 " Indeed! " he responded. " Do you know, 
 I thought I was much older. I believed I had 
 lived seven or eight hundred years." 
 
 " That is all quibbling!" I cried, angrily. 
 " You know that in your Nibelung measure 
 ment you are still a minor, and therefore " 
 
 " I have been reading your laws with in 
 terest," put in Prince Hagen, gravely, " but 
 I have not as yet found any provision for the 
 reduction of Nibelung ages to the scale of 
 your own." 
 
 " I shall explain the circumstances," I said, 
 trying not to show my annoyance. 
 
 " Ah, yes," laughed he, " you will explain 
 that I am a Nibelung. But are you sure every 
 body will believe you? " 
 
 "I can prove it," I said; "you will not 
 dare deny- 
 
 " On the contrary," observed Hagen, " I 
 shall laugh at it as most ridiculous nonsense." 
 
 He looked at me a moment, shaking again 
 with delight. " I have been inquiring into 
 some of your writings," he said, " and I see 
 you re an eccentric sort of a chap, very much 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 85 
 
 given to enthusiasms. Also, if I understand 
 it, your reputation for veracity is not quite at 
 par as it is; and now how d you like to have 
 the reviewers get you down as the man who s 
 been in Nibelheim? 
 
 I shuddered; I could not help it; and my 
 tormentor grinned. " Come, old boy," he 
 said, " listen to reason awhile. You seem 
 to be very anxious to have charge of me; 
 I m sure I can t tell just why, for I ve lived 
 many hundreds of years more than you, and 
 I know more than you ever would if you lived 
 thousands. Now, take my advice, and give 
 up the game, and don t get into trouble ; you 
 can t control me, and you ll only make me 
 angry. You see, I started out taking your 
 rainbow estimates of life, and now I ve found 
 out the truth about it myself, and I m ready 
 to go it on my own hook. I suppose it was 
 very wicked of me not to stay at school, and 
 have my head stuffed with Latin conjugations 
 and sawdust, but I m afraid I was born bad." 
 
 I had silently made up my mind, somewhat 
 to my chagrin, that Prince Hagen was right 
 in advising me to let him alone; I thought 
 it best to drop the question at once. " You 
 were not pleased with your surroundings?" 
 
86 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 I asked. " Doctor Myer s kindness had no 
 effect upon you? " 
 
 "Kindness!" snorted he. "The old sap- 
 head! And those boys oh, say, but I had 
 fun thinking of those words of yours about 
 the Christian love and fellowship of those 
 boys! I was smaller than they, and they 
 thought at first that they could bully me, and 
 laugh at me because I was ugly; but, by the 
 Lord, I fought em I fought em day and 
 night, and I fought em all around the place. 
 And when they found they couldn t beat me, 
 they came at me in twos and threes, and I 
 fought em that way; I fought em after they 
 had knocked me down, and I hated em so that 
 I d have fought em after I was dead. And 
 when I d mastered every man who dared to 
 look at me, you should have seen how they 
 cringed and toadied! And they hated the 
 slavery they lived in, but there wasn t a man 
 among em had dared raise a finger. When 
 I did it, oh, it was wonderful, I tell you, to 
 see how brave they were! Now I suppose 
 they re all snivelling again, and repenting, 
 and licking old Tisdale s boots!" 
 
 " I suppose you are not repenting? " I 
 asked, after a moment s pause. 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 87 
 
 "Repenting!" snapped Prince Hagen, 
 fiercely; "I d have poked that man s eyes 
 out, if it wouldn t have scared the rest!" 
 
 I said nothing; after a time the other went 
 on, laughing. " No, my good friend," he said, 
 " I m through being brought up in the paths 
 of virtue. I m going to try the world on my 
 own plan now." 
 
 " And pray what is that? " I asked. 
 
 My companion thought for a moment. 
 
 " Did you ever read anything about Napo 
 leon?" he demanded, suddenly. 
 
 " I know about him," I said. 
 
 " I have read every word concerning him 
 that I could find," said Hagen, " and I tell 
 you, that is what I call a man ! Why, it makes 
 your blood boil to read of it! And all of it 
 began from nothing; it was just the force of 
 one will. Oh, just you wait, and give me a 
 chance at it! " 
 
 Prince Hagen s hands were clenched con 
 vulsively, and his nostrils quivered; then he 
 broke into a laugh. 
 
 " Do you expect to be an emperor? " I 
 asked, mildly. 
 
 " The military ideal is heroic, because there 
 is no cringing in it," he replied; "but, un- 
 
88 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 fortunately, it is not possible in these days; 
 the mass of the people here have to be fooled. 
 It all comes to the same thing in the end, 
 of course, the world is just as much the 
 prey of the man who can master it as it ever 
 was. I see these millions of maudlin fools, 
 with no brains to think, and no souls to dare, 
 and I tell you I ll rule them or die! Only 
 wait! Only wait! I have ten times their clev 
 erness, and a hundred times their force! I m 
 not afraid, and they are, and I know what I 
 want, and they don t! So only give me time! " 
 
 He had been speaking swiftly; I was 
 watching him with deep interest. His jaws 
 were clenched, and his brows knit, and there 
 was a dull gleam in his eyes. " Only wait! " 
 he muttered again, half to himself. "Time! 
 Time!" 
 
 "What are you going to do?" I asked, 
 curiously. " How shall you begin? Are you 
 going into business, to become a capitalist? " 
 
 " It s too slow," he answered, hastily. 
 " Too slow! I ve thought of it all, and there s 
 only one way for a man in my position. I 
 shall make the plunge to-morrow, I m go 
 ing into politics." 
 
 "Into politics!" I gasped. 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 89 
 
 Yes," he reiterated, " just so. 
 
 " But, Prince Hagen," I objected, " it takes 
 influence to succeed in politics." 
 
 He looked up at me sharply. " You think 
 I won t succeed, do you? " he asked. 
 
 " I do not know," I said ; " I fear not." 
 
 " Perhaps," he said, and he smiled calmly. 
 " But I ll try it! I leave for New York to 
 night." 
 
 "Democrat or Republican?" I inquired. 
 
 " Democrat," was the reply; " you have to 
 have money to be a Republican. I shall be 
 an alderman, or worse, I promise you, by 
 election after next." 
 
 " I do not think it is possible," I answered. 
 
 "Don t you?" said Hagen. "Suppose I 
 tell you how I mean to do it." 
 
 " Go ahead," I replied; " I am curious to 
 hear." 
 
 " Well," said he, " in the first place I shall 
 be a member of Tammany Hall before I have 
 been in the city an hour, and then I shall set 
 to work making friends ; in a few days I shall 
 pick out the district that suits me, and give 
 the leader a good dinner; and after it is over, 
 I ll open on him like this : c You ve an elec 
 tion coming in a few months, and you are 
 
90 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 going to be pushed like the devil, and you 
 know it. Now I m going into politics as a 
 business, and give all my time to it. I m not 
 making any bluffs ; I m out for the dust, and 
 I m going to get it. I ll give you first chance 
 for a good worker, if you want one. I can 
 do what I m told to do, and there isn t any 
 thing I m afraid of; I can be trusted with 
 any money given me, and I can shut up like 
 a mouse-trap when it s necessary. I ve got a 
 clever tongue in my head, as you see, and I 
 can make friends with the best. I don t know 
 anything about the issues, but I know all the 
 phrases, and I can talk along a crowd to make 
 you open your eyes. I don t want anything 
 but to work night and day, and I am ready 
 to begin right now. I don t want any money; 
 I only want to show what I can do, and when 
 I ve shown you, you can give me what I m 
 worth, and I won t forget it. And now, say 
 the word. Is there anything impossible about 
 that?" 
 
 I was obliged to confess that there wasn t, 
 so far as my slight knowledge went. 
 
 " No," said Prince Hagen, " and by the 
 time election day comes, I ll be a bigger man 
 in that district than the leader, and the next 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 91 
 
 year I ll be Alderman Jimmy O Hagen, with 
 three music-halls, a gambling-place, and a 
 dozen saloons with hotels up-stairs; and then 
 I ll be on the way to the top, and I promise 
 you that, when I once get going, the devil 
 himself won t stop me." 
 
 " You ll be President last of all, I suppose," 
 I asked, dryly. 
 
 " No," was the grim response, " I want 
 none of the shams; but I ll be the man who 
 makes the President, and the man whom the 
 President obeys." 
 
 I was silent for a long time after that. The 
 other was eyeing me with amusement. " And 
 what says my virtuous idealist? " he asked, 
 "shall I succeed?" 
 
 " I fear you may," I said. 
 
 "And all your sublimities?" 
 
 " Do not worry about the sublimities," I 
 responded. " You may succeed, you may be 
 the mightiest power in the land ; but I assure 
 you no true men will respect you." 
 
 He laughed in my face. " Do you suppose 
 I want that? " he snapped. " That would be 
 to make them my equals; what is contempt 
 but impotent hatred? I don t want them to 
 respect me I want them to fear me, I want 
 
92 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 them to obey me; do you think they might 
 do that? " 
 
 He paused for a moment, and I sat lost in 
 thought. During our discussion we had been 
 strolling slowly down the road. " Let us not 
 go any farther," he said; "it is almost time 
 I was going back to the depot." 
 
 I started from the revery into which his 
 words had thrown me; he stood leaning 
 against a tree, with the rays of the evening 
 sun gleaming about him. I fixed my eyes on 
 his face, but he did not avert his gaze; he 
 only smiled, for he was very sure of him 
 self, and strong. 
 
 " No, no, my friend," he said, with a quiet 
 laugh, "the millions--! leave all the sub 
 limities and renunciations to them; I do not 
 come of their race, and I do not love their 
 virtues. But oh, if you think they won t 
 flatter me and honour me! If you think they 
 won t bow down to me as a god! Mark what 
 I tell you, what I tell you now, while I am 
 young and it takes daring to prophesy, I 
 shall some day stand on the top of this civilisa 
 tion of yours, and then just watch me, you who 
 spend your time dreaming about the wonder 
 ful goodness of men! Maybe I ll write you a 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 93 
 
 line once in awhile, and tell you how things 
 are going; or pay me a call in the city, and 
 you ll see. I sha n t make any pretences, I ll 
 tell every man what I am; and if I m not re 
 ceived by the highest and honoured with the 
 best, if your newspapers aren t filled with me, 
 and your society doesn t invite me, and your 
 great men don t banquet me, and your people 
 don t cheer for me; if I don t live in a palace, 
 and entertain like a king, and rule like an 
 emperor; if I do not go where I please, and 
 do what I please, and command whom I 
 please, you may send me back to school, 
 good friend, and turn me into a choir-boy! " 
 And those were the last words I heard from 
 Prince Hagen for a long time. He turned 
 and strode away, with a mocking gesture. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE author waves his magic wand and in 
 vites the reader to transport himself over four 
 months of time. 
 
 It was the first day of November, and I 
 was still in my mountain home, a removal 
 from the tent to a cottage with a warm fire 
 place having made it possible for me to re 
 main and witness the last rites of the dying 
 summer. But now the time had come when 
 cold winds and rain made it impossible for the 
 most obstinate friend of nature to stay longer, 
 and on that day I was again in the village, in 
 tending to inquire for some one to move my 
 trunks, and to leave for the city by an early 
 morning train. 
 
 I had, in the meantime, heard not a word 
 more of Prince Hagen, though in hours of 
 leisure I had often wondered how his bold 
 plans were succeeding. It was therefore 
 with a start of excitement that I fell to read 
 ing a letter, which, upon the first glance, I 
 
 94 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 95 
 
 discovered to be from him. " My dearly be 
 loved Idealist!" it began. 
 
 " I wonder," he wrote, " if you are curious 
 about the adventures of your schoolboy 
 friend; it is a rainy day, and I am waiting 
 here in a hotel for a man with whom I have 
 an engagement; I will scribble you a line. 
 My thoughts turn sometimes to you and your 
 prophecies. You must know that I am in the 
 swim, and swimming like a porpoise. I beg 
 leave to introduce myself as a duly elected 
 member of Tammany Hall, a district worker 
 of distinction, and a campaign orator of 
 amazing prestige. I do all the secret jobs, 
 and the money I take in and pay out would 
 make your hair stand on end if I told you, 
 which I shaVt. If you could only have seen 
 me all summer visiting the sick and the halt, 
 carrying free ice and free coal and free words 
 of comfort everywhere! During the summer 
 I gave an excursion, and the quantities of beer 
 which I contributed to the edification of hu 
 manity shall be a thing unmentioned. 
 
 " You may know you do, because you get 
 the papers up in your wilderness that we 
 are in the midst of an election-campaign down 
 here, and that things are fairly humming. 
 
96 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 What you may not know is, that your aspiring 
 friend has created a sensation, has electrified 
 audience after audience, is more in de 
 mand than the candidates themselves, travels 
 all over the city, and makes six speeches a 
 night, and is generally having a hilarious 
 adventure. Whether this letter will come 
 back to find you in New York, I do not know, 
 but in case it should, I enclose you a ticket 
 for a shindig, you may sit up on the plat 
 form if you come, just as if you were a person 
 of importance. 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 "JlMMIE O HAGEN. 
 
 " P. S. I shall not write to you again un 
 til I am Judge O Hagen; I have decided 
 that pays better than alderman." 
 
 Such was the letter; the ticket read as 
 follows : 
 
 GRAND MASS -MEETING 
 of the 
 
 REGULAR DEMOCRATS 
 
 of the 
 
 Four Hundred and Fourth Ward! / 
 Citizens Assemble ! 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 97 
 
 Assert the rights of the poor ! ! 
 Down with the capitalists ! ! ! 
 
 Spread - Eagle Hall, November 2d, at 8 P. M. 
 
 The speakers will be : Hon. Timothy Flaherty, Hon. 
 Brutus O Grady, Judge Patrick Mooney, Mr. James 
 O Hagen. 
 
 Admit One. Platform Entrance. 
 WELCOME ! 
 
 I found this a very interesting document, 
 and it took me but a moment to calculate that 
 my train reached New York at nine in the 
 evening, and that, with a cab, I could reach 
 Spread-Eagle Hall in half an hour more. I 
 made up my mind then and there that, barring 
 accidents, I would hear that campaign speech 
 of " Jimmie O Hagen." 
 
 As I went back to my boat, and as I rowed 
 homeward, I mused about the wonderfulness 
 of it all. It was funny; and yet I could not 
 but shudder as I thought of the fierce deter 
 mination of this man, who acted as he did in 
 spite of what I knew to be his fiery hatred of 
 trivial and humiliating things. I was more 
 than eager to know more about his adventures, 
 and to watch his future ; while I packed my 
 
98 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 trunks that night, I could think about nothing 
 but " Jimmie O Hagen." 
 
 The fact that my mind was so preoccupied 
 with him, made me at first mistake what oc 
 curred later that evening for a delusion of 
 my own fancy; it must have been about mid 
 night, and everything about me had been 
 silent as the grave, when suddenly I was 
 startled by a faint sound of music, the 
 same dancing theme that had first heralded 
 Prince Hagen s approach. I own that I 
 trembled, and that I clutched at a chair while 
 I listened; and when I heard a faint tap on 
 the door, my heart gave an unpleasant thump, 
 and my knees trembled visibly. 
 
 On the table lay a revolver, and I gripped 
 that, holding it in my pocket; but even then 
 it took all my resolution to go to the door. 
 Outside it was so dark I could see nothing at 
 first, and I stood waiting, my blood still 
 throbbing wildly, until at last there outlined 
 itself on the piazza a tiny figure, with two 
 sparkling, beady eyes. I knew that it was one 
 of the Nibelungs. I was relieved that it was 
 not Hagen. 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 99 
 
 " What do you want? " I asked, controlling 
 my voice with an effort. 
 
 The stranger did not answer at once, and I 
 stepped back into the room. " Come in," I 
 said, " if you wish." 
 
 The Nibelung came as near as the doorway, 
 and there stood, twisting in his hands his 
 little furry cap, and gazing at me under his 
 wizened eyebrows. 
 
 "What is it you wish?" Tasked. 
 
 " Prince Hagen was here? " he demanded, 
 in a quaint little voice. 
 
 " Yes," I said. 
 
 "Where is he now?" 
 
 " He is not here, he went away. He is in 
 the city." 
 
 The man stood twisting his cap more ner 
 vously than ever. 
 
 " You wish to see him? " I asked. 
 
 "Yes," said he, "the people wish to see 
 him." 
 
 "Why?" I asked; "is anything the mat 
 ter? " 
 
 " Yes, very much the matter. He is needed. 
 He must be king. Alberich is dead." 
 
 And I gave a leap as if I had been shot at. 
 
ioo PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 " Alberich dead!" I exclaimed, in con 
 sternation. 
 
 " Yes," was the reply, " he died last night." 
 
 I was staring at the little creature blankly; 
 I could not realise the truth. " Alberich 
 dead! " I repeated, faintly, and half-mechan- 
 ically. " Alberich dead!" 
 
 " You know where Prince Hagen is? " 
 asked the Nibelung, quickly. 
 
 " Yes," I said, " I know." 
 
 " And will you tell him to come? " 
 
 " I will," I replied. 
 
 " All right," said the Nibelung; " tell him 
 to come quickly; the people want him." And 
 then he turned and vanished in the darkness 
 without a sound. 
 
 I sat down in the chair, and stared into the 
 flickering fire. " Alberich is dead! " I whis 
 pered to myself, half-dazed. " King Albe 
 rich is dead! " 
 
 I was now, of course, obliged to go and see 
 Prince Hagen immediately upon my arrival 
 in the city; I saw that it was upon me that 
 the task of breaking this dreadful news de 
 volved. I thought of the fact that he had 
 been his grandfather s dearest care for long 
 centuries, that these two had lived together 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 101 
 
 in their caves for seven or eight hundred 
 years. " Even amid their pitiful search for 
 gold," I mused, " it cannot be but that there 
 was affection. Death is a dreadful thing." 
 I shuddered as I thought of having to take 
 Prince Hagen such a message, just at the time 
 of the triumph of his unclean ambition. 
 
 Meditating these matters, I passed a day 
 upon the train, and, as night fell, I found my 
 self in New York. The noise and confusion 
 of the city, as it burst upon me after my long 
 sojourn in the wilderness, made it seem to me 
 a very inferno, but I had no time to think 
 about it. I caught a cab, and set out at full 
 speed for Spread-Eagle Hall. 
 
 I had, on the way, ample evidence that the 
 city was in the midst of its annual election 
 throes. It was the year of a great Presidential 
 contest; the universe was rent in twain, and 
 brethren disputed with brethren about incom 
 prehensible matters. As I drove down a bril 
 liantly-lighted thoroughfare, I could see that 
 it was crowded with people, and whenever I 
 thrust out my head, I saw that campaign-ban 
 ners filled the air. I heard once and again the 
 strains of a brass band, and a score of times 
 I was whirled past a corner where an excited 
 
102 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 orator held forth from the back of a wagon. 
 I had a feeling as if I were approaching a 
 field of battle, and would soon reach the fir 
 ing-line and the smoke of the conflict. 
 
 I knew where Spread-Eagle Hall was, a 
 large theatre-building on a disreputable part 
 of the Bowery. As the cab whirled around a 
 corner, I heard a hoarse murmur, that told me 
 I was near to a crowd of men; at the same 
 time the driver reined up his horse. 
 
 " What s the matter? " I asked. " We re a 
 block away yet." 
 
 " Can t help it," was the reply. " Can t get 
 any nearer." 
 
 And then I leaned out and saw that the 
 street was packed with a mass of human be 
 ings. Traffic was stopped, and a long line 
 of cars stretched past me. 
 
 I paid my fare and descended. I could 
 see the hall, gleaming with lights, ahead of 
 me; being bent upon seeing Hagen, I made 
 several plunges into the crowd, but only to 
 be beaten back. Finally I espied a policeman, 
 and got out my ticket. 
 
 " Officer," I said, " I must get into the 
 hall." 
 
 " It can t be done," he answered. 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 103 
 
 "But this ticket!" 
 
 " Can t help it." 
 
 " But I must see James O Hagen on im 
 portant business immediately!" I exclaimed. 
 The man only shook his head. 
 
 " You ll see him as quickly here as any 
 wheres," he said. 
 
 And I was forced to content myself with 
 that. I gazed about me in the meantime at 
 the crowd, a motley assemblage, made up of 
 every type imaginable ; once in a while they 
 shouted and whistled, but for the most part 
 they stood patiently waiting. I waited also, 
 and meanwhile listened to the conversation 
 of two individuals beside me. 
 
 " Did yez ever hear him? " asked one. 
 
 " Heard him twice last night," said the 
 other. " Ain t he great? " 
 
 " Dey must be raisin de deuce inside dere; 
 listen!" 
 
 There came a hoarse murmur from the 
 direction of the hall ; the mob outside thrilled 
 in sympathy. "O Hagen!" shouted voices, 
 "O Hagen!" 
 
 " He ll be out soon," said the man beside 
 me; " an there ll be fun. Ray fer de Dem 
 ocrats!" 
 
104- PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 " Dey should have put him on de ticket!" 
 declared his companion, excitedly. " O Ha- 
 gen! O Hagen! Ray! Ray!" " 
 
 " So what he said is really true," I mused, 
 as I stood there. " He is mounting with the 
 best of them! And I coming to him with this 
 news of death ! " 
 
 While I was still whispering that, I heard 
 a prolonged uproar from within. It was a 
 frantic cheering, continued and continued, 
 seeming as if it would never end; it caught 
 the crowd about me, and they, too, broke into 
 shouts of impatience. " Oh, but he must be 
 givin it to em!" yelled the man beside me. 
 " Ray for O Hagen!" 
 
 And then suddenly, with a burst of light, 
 the doors of Spread-Eagle Hall were flung 
 open, and the cheering surged out like the 
 rolling of a wave; the mob in the street took 
 it up, and the air rang with a deafening up 
 roar. It reached its frantic pitch a moment 
 later, as half a dozen men appeared in the 
 doorway. The people leaped up and down, 
 waving their hats and howling until they 
 could howl no more. 
 
 " It s O Hagen ! " was the cry. " It s O Ha 
 gen! He s going to speak! " 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 105 
 
 It was at least two or three minutes before 
 this excitement showed any signs of diminu 
 tion. When at last things were quieter, a 
 man stepped up on a raised platform in full 
 view of every eye. The mob gave a howl. 
 
 " It s Paddy Mooney," I heard the man 
 beside me cry. " Ray for Mooneyl" 
 
 " Naw," cried the other, " who wants to 
 hear him? Git down out o that! Give us 
 O Hagen!" 
 
 The rest seemed to be of a mind with the 
 sentiment. They howled and howled; and 
 when Judge Mooney (who was a stout and 
 pompous and exceedingly red-faced judge 
 indeed) began, solemnly: "Feller citizens, 
 ladies and gennelmen - they only shrieked 
 the louder, "O Hagen! O Hagen! Give us 
 O Hagen!" 
 
 The unfortunate orator fought that storm 
 for at least a minute, but it got fiercer and 
 fiercer, and he had to yield. The cries of 
 "O Hagen!" continued, and at last another 
 figure rose beside that of the judge. I knew 
 it in an instant; it was Prince Hagen, other 
 wise Jimmie O Hagen, now the King of the 
 Nibelungs. 
 
 He stretched out his hand ; the crowd gave 
 
io6 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 one yell of joy, and then was silent as the 
 night. Thus, and thus only, Judge Mooney 
 got his chance to say, as solemnly as ever: 
 
 " Feller citizens, ladies and gennelmen, it 
 affords me great pleasure fer to introjuce to 
 you the orator of the evenin Mr. James 
 -O Hagen!" 
 
 And then " Paddy Mooney " sat down, and 
 the crowd had another burst of excitement. 
 I saw Prince Hagen standing there aloft, con 
 scious of his power, and proud of it, smiling 
 and nodding to right and left, shaking hands 
 with all whom he could reach, and patted on 
 the back by all who could reach him. I no 
 ticed, too, that in contrast to " the judge " he 
 was not clad in evening dress, which I took 
 to be part of a system of democratic good- 
 fellowship. 
 
 Meanwhile the mob yelled and yelled until 
 it was hoarse. When at last Prince Hagen 
 raised his hands and they became silent, he 
 said, with the utmost good nature: " I ve all 
 sorts of important things to tell you, if you ll 
 only give me a chance; " at which they yelled 
 louder than ever. 
 
 Pretty soon he began his speech, and I 
 listened with eagerness. For I was curious to 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 107 
 
 know how this thing had come about. I 
 wanted to see Prince Hagen s plans in action. 
 
 As it proved, the secret of his success was 
 not hard to discover. 
 
 I have sometimes dreamed of the poet, as 
 one who stands upon the mountain-tops and 
 sees the vast pageant of life roll by him; and 
 the music of it is like thunder, and he is mad 
 with the joy of it as he moulds it into words; 
 but always he is the lord of it, and plays with 
 it, and, as he sweeps himself on in the surge 
 of it, he laughs at each success. All of that, 
 in his way, was Prince Hagen, and the daring 
 of his ways, the reckless abandon of his soul, 
 was almost sublime. He seemed to know that 
 he had those men in his hands; and just what 
 he chose for them to do they did. If any one 
 interrupted him, friend or foe, he had a retort 
 as quick as lightning, and a laugh of glee 
 besides, to show how easy it was. It set the 
 audience wild, and drove the orator yet faster. 
 When he began to build up a climax, to feel 
 the crowd about you was like watching a tem 
 pest gathering on the hilltops. If he went 
 mad with wrath, gesticulated and shouted 
 until he broke down and went to pieces, it 
 made not the least difference in the world, 
 
108 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 for by that time the crowd had caught the 
 delirium, and drowned out his words and his 
 shouts with their own hoarse murmurs. He 
 wrought them up to such a pitch that, if he 
 had burst into song and chanted his deliv 
 erance, I verily believe no one would have 
 thought it strange. 
 
 The matter of it all was money and the 
 trusts; and he was a veritable prophet, with 
 a soul on fire with rage. He showed how this 
 monster was enclosing our whole civilisation 
 in its grasp, mastering society and turning 
 the labour of all men to its own foul uses ; he 
 showed how the capitalists owned the rail 
 roads, the telegraphs, the factories, the stores ; 
 and the fearful iniquity of it all he pictured 
 so vividly that it made his audience shudder. 
 It was a sudden flash of light into the very 
 vitals of our society; and it startled the spell 
 bound crowd with thoughts that never before 
 had come to them, that for this huge injus 
 tice of society there was no reason, that it 
 might be abolished, that all men might be 
 their own masters, and that poverty and dis 
 ease and suffering might no more soil the fair 
 earth of God. 
 
 " We stand here free men," cried the orator, 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 109 
 
 "brothers and friends; we are not slaves, we 
 are not idlers; we earn our bread, and why 
 should we not have it? Do you ever realise, 
 gentlemen, that it lies with you with you, 
 a sovereign people to throttle this loath 
 some serpent? Will you lie here in the grasp 
 of it, when you have but to assert your 
 strength? The government of this country 
 is made by you; the laws of this country are 
 what you wish them to be! If the capitalist 
 is your master, it is because he corrupts your 
 legislators with his ill-gotten gains; it is be 
 cause he blinds you with his threats of social 
 upheaval, because he makes you believe that 
 he and his iniquities are God s eternal neces 
 sities; it is because to-day the party which 
 follows his flag can fight with his unbounded 
 wealth and with the prestige of the great 
 names of the land; because the employer can 
 bully his men; because the capitalist can 
 threaten the newspapers, and bribe the voters, 
 and corrupt the very agents of the law. And 
 amid all this, there is no man dares see the 
 truth, dares brave the tyrant, and bid the peo 
 ple be free! Oh, my friends, I ask you if it 
 be not true? You Americans, inheritors of 
 the glorious principles of freedom that Wash- 
 
no PRINCE H A G EN 
 
 ington fought for and Jefferson laid down, 
 you work where you are bid to work, and 
 for what the capitalist may choose to pay you. 
 The street-cars you ride on belong to the capi 
 talist, the house you live in, the gas you burn; 
 the very food in your mouths and the clothes 
 on your backs are made from the capitalist s 
 materials, and with the capitalist s wealth. 
 And the capitalist lives on Fifth Avenue, roll 
 ing in his wealth, or idles in his private yacht, 
 mocking at all your hatred! I look around 
 me in simple wonder that in a land where the 
 people rule such things should have come to 
 be. But I fix my eyes upon the future, when 
 this veil of lies shall be torn away, when the 
 people shall rise like a young lion in its wrath, 
 and fasten its teeth in the throat of this in 
 iquity. I look for the time when citizens shall 
 have learned that the labour of man is for his 
 own wealth, and not for another s! I go 
 abroad and I cry this truth from the house 
 tops; I shout it into the ears of men! I say 
 unto you, citizens and free men who stand 
 about me, that you you are masters of so 
 ciety that you are the government that 
 justice is yours if you wish it that you have 
 only to see and know, and be free! And I 
 
PRINCE H A GE N in 
 
 leave you with the solemn warning that, if you 
 are not all in this world that you wish to be, if 
 you have not all in this world that you wish 
 to have, the fault can be but your own!" 
 
 And this was the matter of Prince Hagen s 
 speech. Of the manner I can give no idea 
 its fierce energy and its thundering wrath. 
 The orator wrought up his audience as if they 
 were going to battle, so that toward the end 
 of his speech both they and he were almost 
 incoherent with excitement; he waved his 
 hands and raged like a madman, and his audi 
 ence drowned his words in their yells and 
 applause. When he finished, it seemed as if 
 he needed only to have given the word to be 
 gin a riot; and, as it was, the mob broke out 
 into a shout like the rolling of thunder, and 
 bore down upon the platform, and caught the 
 orator on their shoulders, and carried him 
 about in triumph. The band in the hall 
 struck up at full force, and the fireworks 
 flamed from the platform, and for full five 
 minutes there was pandemonium let loose; 
 to all of it I was a wondering spectator, being 
 concerned about only one thing else not to 
 lose sight of Hagen. 
 
 When at last the excited crowd had scat- 
 
ii2 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 tered somewhat, I saw the man make his way 
 into a saloon which stood next to the hall, and 
 there I followed him. The place was crowded 
 to suffocation with a noisy, dirty crowd of 
 men, but I pushed my way in resolutely. I 
 made out that the district headquarters of the 
 organisation were located in this building, 
 and that here the orator of the evening was 
 receiving the congratulations of his fellow 
 workers and friends. And it was a royal wel 
 come, too; the place was echoing with his 
 name, with cheers and excited exclamations, 
 and the crowd would have kept him on its 
 shoulders still if he had not deprecatingly pre 
 vented them. 
 
 I did not care to obtrude myself into these 
 festivities with my dire tidings, and so I 
 waited until the noise had subsided. When, 
 finally, I came forward, Prince Hagen was 
 still surrounded by a crowd of men, but he 
 saw me and forced his way out, laughing 
 merrily. 
 
 "You were there?" he exclaimed. "I 
 looked for you. And how did you like my 
 speech? " 
 
 " Very interesting," I said, seeing that the 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 113 
 
 others were looking at me; and then, very 
 gravely, Prince Hagen winked one eye. 
 
 " Allow me to introduce you to my friends," 
 he said, facing about. " This is Judge 
 Mooney; Judge Mooney, my friend, Mr. 
 Virtus Semper." 
 
 " I am most happy fer to meet a friend of 
 Mr. O Hagen s," said Judge Mooney, sol 
 emnly, squeezing my hand. " Beg pardon, 
 phwat was the name?" 
 
 " Er Semper," I stammered, inwardly 
 anathematising Prince Hagen, who beamed 
 at me. 
 
 " And Mr. Daniel O RafTerty," he contin 
 ued, " and Mr. Leary, the leader of our dis 
 trict; and Mr. John Grady, a member of our 
 campaign committee. Gentlemen, my friend, 
 Mr. Semper." 
 
 I bowed in general, and conversation was 
 resumed. " Mr. O Hagen is one of our most 
 promisin orators," whispered Judge Mooney 
 to me. " A most extra-ordinary young feller 
 most extra-ordinary." 
 
 " Yes," said I, vaguely; all the time I was 
 thinking of one thing, the tidings I had to 
 convey, and how it was to be done. I waited 
 until a moment when the Nibelung had 
 
ii4 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 turned aside from the group to take a glass 
 of water from the bar; then I said: " Prince 
 Hagen, may I speak with you a moment? " 
 
 " Certainly," he said, with some surprise. 
 " Excuse me just a second, friends." And 
 we moved over toward the corner of the room. 
 
 "What is it?" he asked. 
 
 " Prince Hagen," I began, slowly, " I have 
 come to bring you some news news, I fear, 
 that is very dreadful - 
 
 I stopped; he gazed at me in wonder. 
 " What in the world do you mean? " he asked. 
 
 " I scarcely know how to tell you," I re 
 plied, tremblingly. 
 
 " What is it? " he cried, impatiently. 
 
 "It is King Alberich," I said, "he " 
 
 And Hagen gave a wild start. " He 
 what?" 
 
 " He is dead! 9 I said. 
 
 It was frightful to see the effect of those 
 three words upon the man ; he turned an 
 ashen gray, and gave a quick shudder, as if 
 in mortal pain. He leaped at me, his eyes 
 gleaming, and caught me convulsively by the 
 arm. 
 
 "No!" he panted, hoarsely, "No!" 
 
 " It is true," I said, faintly. 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 115 
 
 "Who told you?" 
 
 " A Nibelung came." 
 
 The man leaped back, and a look crossed 
 his face such as I had never seen on a human 
 countenance before, and hope never to see 
 again. It was a look of wild, drunken, ec 
 static rapture; he clenched his hands once 
 or twice, gasping; and then he raised his 
 arms, and a peal of almost hysterical laughter 
 burst from his lips and fairly shook the room. 
 
 Every man in the place turned and stared 
 at him; and he laughed and laughed, like 
 a drunken man, like a crazy man; and then 
 he began pacing the floor like a caged beast, 
 swiftly and silently, seeking in vain some vent 
 for his devouring emotion. 
 
 " He is dead! " he gasped, choking. " Oh, 
 oh! It is mine! It is mine! Victory! Vic 
 tory! VICTORY!" 
 
 He spread out his arms, and his voice rose 
 to a thundering, triumphant shout. And then 
 he sank down and buried his head in his arms 
 on the table, convulsed with incoherent laugh 
 ter. 
 
 " Ha, ha, ha! " he gasped. " Ha, ha, ha! 
 Only think of it! Only think of it! I 
 am free! I am master! It is mine infinite 
 
n6 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 millions, that no man has ever counted 
 mine mine! And the victory! Ha, ha, 
 ha! Ha, ha, ha! Oh, God, what shall I do? 
 how could I have guessed it? It is triumph! 
 it is glory! it is the world! I am king! I 
 am king! King! KING!" 
 
 And again he rose and stretched his arms, 
 his chest heaving and his eyes on fire. The 
 men thought he was mad, and I was shud 
 dering; still fie laughed on, "Ha, ha, ha! 
 Ha, ha, ha! Make way for Hagen! Ha- 
 gen!" 
 
 Then suddenly, as if remembering where 
 he was, he whirled about, his face gleaming. 
 
 " Boys! Boys! " he cried, " say something 
 to me shout, some of you I shall burst! 
 Oh, oh, ho, ho! think of it it is 
 mine!" 
 
 " What is the matter? " cried one of them, 
 in wonder. 
 
 " It s a fortune!" cried Hagen. " IVe in 
 herited a fortune! Oh, millions, millions of 
 it! Ha, ha, ha!" 
 
 A thrill went through the crowd; they 
 understood now; and still the madman was 
 pacing up and down the room, singing, shout 
 ing, gesticulating, slapping the men upon the 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 117 
 
 back, tears in his eyes and wild, unquench 
 able laughter pealing from his lips. " Ha, 
 ha, ha! Ha, ha, ha! Free! Free! Mine 
 mine the world is mine! " 
 
 And then again he flung about and turned 
 to the crowd. " Shout, won t you? " he cried. 
 "Cheer me! Help me! Set em up, boys; 
 let s have a drink! " 
 
 The silence of the crowd had only been 
 for wonder, for the man s very presence made 
 you thrill like electricity. Some one gave a 
 yell, " Three cheers for O Hagen ! Hooray! " 
 And the crowd took it up, and the mob out 
 side took it up, and the air shook with it. 
 And Hagen seized a decanter of liquor, and 
 poured huge draughts of it down his throat; 
 and the men lifted him on their shoulders 
 as he drank, and bore him about, still shriek 
 ing and gasping, his face still alive with his 
 demoniac laughter. Outside, the band, in 
 formed no doubt of the tidings, struck up a 
 tune, the blare of which mingled with the 
 din and gave pace to it, so that the men began 
 to march; and Hagen, drunk with ecstasy, 
 took up the song: "Oh, say, can you see, 
 by the dawn s early light! " The whole com 
 pany joined him and sang it to the end with 
 
n8 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 mad fervour; it was a fearful, fearful scene, 
 and I buried my head in my hands by a table 
 and waited, shuddering, until it should be 
 over. But I have to confess that I was com 
 pletely overpowered by this man s audacity, 
 that I cared about nothing in the world so 
 much as to know what he would do. 
 
 A new development came very swiftly; the 
 song was scarce over, the men were still shout 
 ing and carousing, when suddenly I heard 
 Hagen s voice give an exclamation. I looked 
 up and saw that he had sprung to the floor and 
 was darting toward me; he leaned over the 
 table, his eager face and his burning eyes 
 close to mine. 
 
 " Tell me," he whispered, " quick! What 
 time does that night train leave for your 
 place?" 
 
 " Ten minutes to twelve," I said, mechan 
 ically, and heard him give a gasp. 
 
 " There is time to-night," he panted. 
 "Come!" 
 
 On the wall was a clock, showing that it 
 was a few minutes after ten; Hagen seized 
 me by the arm, and together we made for 
 the door. He took out a roll of bills, and 
 flung some to the bartender, calling, " Pay 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 119 
 
 yourself; " and to the rest he shouted, " Good 
 bye, boys, I ll see you later! " And then in a 
 second more we were in the street. 
 
 " In the first place, some clothes! " he mut 
 tered. " Confound my stupidity! " 
 
 I did not understand him, but he dragged 
 me along, in the meantime talking excitedly 
 to himself. Before very long, we came to a 
 tailor-shop, which was open that night on 
 account of the crowd. The proprietor was in 
 the doorway, and my companion seized him 
 by the arm and dragged him in. 
 
 " Got a dress suit? " he asked. 
 
 " Yes," answered the man, in wonder. 
 
 "One to fit me?" 
 
 " I guess so, but " 
 
 " Quick! " panted Hagen. " Don t lose an 
 instant! I ll pay you what you want. Find 
 one!" 
 
 The man dived into a pile of clothes. " I 
 think this - he began. 
 
 " Size? " demanded Hagen; and when the 
 man gave it, he added : " That ll do. How 
 much?" 
 
 " Fifty dollars." 
 
 " All right," said the other; " now a shirt, 
 
120 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 and the rest of the stuff! Have you got such 
 things?" 
 
 " I don t sell " began the tailor. 
 
 " Any of your own? " cried Hagen. " Ask 
 what you will! " 
 
 Then he turned to me. " Call a cab," he 
 cried, " quick!" 
 
 I ran outside, doing as I was told without 
 protest. There was a cab at the corner, and 
 I hailed it; by the time it was at the store, 
 Hagen had rushed out with an armful of 
 clothing, which he flung inside. 
 
 " Quick!" he exclaimed; " jump in!" 
 
 I leaped in, and Hagen stopped only to 
 give the driver the destination. I heard it, 
 and I gave a wild gasp " Twenty-third 
 Street. Republican Headquarters!" Then 
 the door slammed, and we were off. * 
 
 " Give you five dollars if you make it in 
 fifteen minutes!" yelled Hagen out of the 
 window, and then sunk back, and began sim 
 ply tearing off his clothes. 
 
 I was breathless with wonder and amaze 
 ment at all this; but Hagen did not stop to 
 enlighten me. " Quick!" he exclaimed. 
 " Help me on with these togs. It ll be job 
 enough for two in the dark." 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 121 
 
 I set to work mechanically. The adjusting 
 of that shirt was a labour to be remembered, 
 with the cab thumping along like mad, sway 
 ing this way and that, as the driver swept 
 around the corners. In the meantime, Hagen 
 was still talking swiftly to himself, now and 
 then bursting out as before into mad explo 
 sions of laughter. 
 
 " Tell me," I managed to stammer at last, 
 " what are you going to do? " 
 
 "Do!" he echoed. (" Look out for that 
 collar button!) Can t you understand what 
 I m going to do? " 
 
 " No," I said, " I must confess I cannot." 
 
 "Humph!" said Hagen. (" Can you tie 
 one of those plagued ties?) I should think 
 you might. Don t you know that I m a capi 
 talist now myself? " 
 
 I stopped what I was doing, and stared at 
 him in blank helplessness. 
 
 " Go on! " he cried, swiftly. " The tie! " 
 
 "But Prince Hagen!" I exclaimed. " Your 
 principles! The people have heard you 
 the reporters the papers! " 
 
 "Fool! "said he. "Wait!" 
 
 I said no more, but tied the tie, and other 
 wise adjusted him. By the time that difficult 
 
122 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 task was all completed, the cab had come to 
 a sudden stop, and we saw that we were in 
 front of the great hotel where the Republican 
 Headquarters were located. Hagen leaped 
 out, paid the driver, and turned to me. 
 
 " Look me over," he said, hastily. 
 
 We were under an electric light, and I sur 
 veyed his attire. " All right," I said, and 
 then he clenched his hands tightly and bit 
 his lips. 
 
 "I must not look excited," he said; and 
 then we sauntered into the hotel. Hagen went 
 straight to the desk. 
 
 "Mr. Weazel in?" he asked. 
 
 " Yes," said the clerk. 
 
 " I wish to see him at once." 
 
 "He is busy, sir," was the reply; "he is 
 in consultation with the State Committee. It 
 will be impossible for any one to see him 
 
 now." 
 
 < Humph ! " said Hagen. < I shall see him. 
 Can you send up my card?" 
 
 " Yes," said the clerk, " but it won t do any 
 good." 
 
 " Wait," said Hagen, and turned away into 
 the writing-room. " Listen," he said to me, 
 as we walked. " Have you a check-book? " 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 123 
 
 " Yes," I replied. 
 
 " Can I use it? " he asked. 
 
 " You can use it," I said, wonderingly, 
 " but you have no money in the bank! " 
 
 " Give me the book," said Hagen, and I 
 obeyed. He sat down and wrote, and I won 
 dered to see that his hand was steady. He 
 wrote a check and passed it to me silently, 
 falling to writing something else. The check 
 read like this: 
 
 " Thirteenth National Bank of New York: 
 " Pay to the order of the Republican 
 National Committee one hundred thousand 
 dollars. HAGEN." 
 
 And the letter which he handed to me after 
 ward was this : 
 
 " Prince Hagen requests the pleasure of an 
 immediate interview with Mr. Weazel upon 
 an affair of the utmost importance." 
 
 And this was sealed and addressed. " I 
 think that will do the business," said Hagen, 
 grimly, as he handed the envelope to the clerk. 
 
 The message was sent, and we stood wait 
 ing, my companion gazing calmly about the 
 corridor. " That s so-and-so," he said, point- 
 
124 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 ing out several notables to me; " you ll see 
 them all sent for to consult with me in a few 
 moments. And those are some reporters 
 standing over there in the corner. Just watch 
 them scurry by and by." 
 
 " But about that check? " I exclaimed. 
 
 " Oh, that s easy," said Hagen, smiling. 
 " I shall arrive up at your place early to 
 morrow, and get up a few hundred pounds of 
 gold from Nibelheim, and take it to a bank 
 er s, and have it telegraphed down here before 
 your banks are open in the morning. And, 
 if you want to know how I m going to man 
 age the rest of it, just see the papers to-mor 
 row. I guess it s about time for me to go." 
 
 And sure enough, the messenger returned 
 and whispered to the clerk, who opened his 
 eyes. " Mr. Weazel will see you immedi 
 ately," he said, bowing most deferentially. 
 And Prince Hagen waved me a farewell, and 
 was gone. 
 
 I was so interested at the outcome of these 
 adventures that I could not yet make up my 
 mind to leave the hotel; I seated myself in 
 a corner and watched. Sure enough, it was 
 not more than fifteen minutes before my 
 friend s prediction was verified, and I saw a 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 125 
 
 messenger come down the corridor, and speak 
 to each one of the prominent men whom I had 
 heard named. Every man of them turned at 
 once and went up to the committee s rooms. 
 At the same time I began to notice groups 
 of men standing about and whispering excit 
 edly to each other, from which I judged that 
 the news was leaking out; also I saw that the 
 reporters were looking very eager, as they 
 hovered about with their note-books in their 
 hands. Perhaps half an hour later they were 
 all summoned up-stairs. 
 
 I waited, amusing myself in the meantime 
 with speculations, and knowing that I must 
 see Prince Hagen again before very long. 
 And sure enough, at about twenty minutes 
 to twelve, I saw him come down, walking 
 arm in arm with the great Weazel, followed 
 by a swarm of the politicians and newspaper 
 men, and stared at by the very considerable 
 crowd that now filled the corridors. Under 
 those circumstances, I did not expect to have 
 anything to say to him, but, as he saw me as 
 he passed swiftly to the door, he called, cheer 
 ily: "I m on my way to the depot; come 
 along." 
 
 I followed him in silence to the cab; there 
 
126 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 was a swift farewell to his distinguished 
 friends, who were most wonderfully obse 
 quious; and then the vehicle rattled away, 
 and Prince Hagen sank back with a chuckle. 
 
 " Did everything go well?" I ventured to 
 ask, after a time. 
 
 " Splendidly," said he. 
 
 " And how did you manage it? " 
 
 "Oh, Lord," he said, "I can t tell that 
 story again. Wait and read it to-morrow. 
 This much I will tell you for your peace 
 of soul that before, I was a howling dema 
 gogue, and that now, I m a representative cit 
 izen; and I tell you I like it a D. sight 
 better." 
 
 " I understand," I said. 
 
 " Society is divided into two parties," con 
 tinued Prince Hagen, " those who have 
 and those who are trying to get; or, in the 
 cant terms, the conservatives and the radicals. 
 The one thing that worried me when I was 
 a radical was how in the world I was ever 
 to get out of it when I d gotten what I wanted ; 
 and now I m out of it as happily as Jonah, 
 and, if I wasn t on Fifth Avenue, I tell you 
 I d sing! " And Prince Hagen laughed hila 
 riously instead. 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 127 
 
 " Oh, but I m in for it! " he said, showing 
 signs of returning to his former ecstasy. 
 " Only think of it, the world lies open to me! 
 What is there that I may not do? " 
 
 "Your wealth is unlimited, I suppose?" 
 I said. 
 
 " Mine isn t," he answered, grimly, " but 
 the Nibelungs is." 
 
 He paused for a moment, and then sud 
 denly turned and gazed at me; an electric 
 light shone in through the window, and I saw 
 that his face was alive with laughter. " Tell 
 me something, will you?" he chuckled, "my 
 idealist ! " 
 
 " What is it ? " I asked. 
 
 " Do you think that the people will respect 
 me now ? " 
 
 " I don t know," I said. I could not keep 
 from joining his smile. 
 
 "You d better stay near me," said Hagen; 
 " I think you ll learn a few things, and per 
 haps you may put them in a book, and become 
 a capitalist yourself. As a matter of fact, 
 before very long, I shall own this city and 
 its citizens, body and soul, and I ll be the 
 nearest thing to a god in existence. Come 
 and see me some day; my home will be some- 
 
128 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 where on this avenue until I find a place more 
 suitable." 
 
 " Thank you," I said, gravely, " perhaps I 
 shall." 
 
 And just then the carriage, which had been 
 speeding swiftly, turned off the avenue to the 
 depot. " Here we are!" said Hagen, gaily. 
 " And now for Nibelheim! Good night, and 
 don t forget the papers! " 
 
 And with that he sprang out of the car 
 riage, and disappeared through the depot 
 door. 
 
 I did not forget the papers. This was what 
 I read in the official organ of the Republican 
 machine, the New York Moon: 
 
 " TAMMANY TRAPPED! 
 
 A FOREIGN NOBLEMAN S DARING EXPLOIT. 
 JOINED THE ORGANISATION! 
 
 And now reveals its plots and contributes a 
 fortune to beat it. 
 
 " One of the most sensational incidents ever 
 developed by a Presidential campaign elec 
 trified the members of the Republican com- 
 
PRINCE HA GEN 129 
 
 mittee at headquarters last night. About ten 
 o clock in the evening a man walked into the 
 building, and asked if Mr. Weazel was in; 
 upon being answered in the affirmative, he 
 sent up to that gentleman an envelope, which, 
 when opened, acted upon him, and upon the 
 members of the committee then assembled, 
 like a dynamite bomb. It contained a check 
 for the munificent sum of one hundred thou 
 sand dollars, payable to the National Cam 
 paign Committee, together with the request 
 that its signer, ( Prince Hagen/ be granted 
 an interview with Mr. Weazel. The name 
 of the gentleman was entirely unknown to any 
 of the committee, but the request was, of 
 course, at once granted. The result was an 
 amazing and almost incredible romance. 
 
 " It appears that Prince Hagen, a foreign 
 nobleman, whose native place could not be 
 ascertained last night, has become enamoured 
 of liberal institutions, and, having renounced 
 his rights to a throne, has come to the United 
 States with the intention of making them his 
 permanent home. Being a man of high pub 
 lic spirit, he was determined to begin at once 
 his career of usefulness, hoping thus to rec 
 ommend his aims at once to his future fellow- 
 
130 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 countrymen. The iniquitous regime under 
 which this metropolis labours at present is 
 of course notorious throughout the civilised 
 world, and Prince Hagen had read much of 
 its practices. Knowing how skilfully it has 
 been accustomed to veil its corruption under 
 pretences of virtue, this courageous nobleman 
 conceived the daring and original idea of 
 coming to this country incognito, and enlist 
 ing as a recruit in the ranks of Tammany, 
 thus ascertaining for himself the real nature 
 of the organisation. This plan he carried into 
 success with amazing cleverness. He arrived 
 in New York last July, by what steamer could 
 not be learned ; he was at once elected a mem 
 ber of Tammany, becoming a highly valued 
 worker in the four hundred and seventh dis 
 trict of the four hundred and fourth ward, 
 which is under the leadership of ( Mike 
 Leary. The adventures of Prince Hagen 
 during this four months period make one of 
 the most thrilling stories imaginable. There 
 was little time for much to be learned last 
 night, and, in fact, it was decided to keep 
 these matters a secret at present. But it may 
 be stated, upon authority, that revelations of 
 a most sensational character will surely fol- 
 
PRINCE HA GEN 131 
 
 low, for Prince Hagen s very voice showed 
 the deep intensity of his nature and the deter 
 mined resolution of his character, and he 
 made plain that he had been deeply stirred 
 to wrath by the iniquities he had witnessed. 
 It is certain that many men high up in Tam 
 many Hall are trembling in their boots, as 
 they read this news to-day, for, so well did the 
 nobleman conceal his real identity that he 
 became a confidential agent of Leary, and was 
 admitted to full knowledge of all the work 
 ings of the organisation. He has a full list 
 of all the secret purposes to which the cam 
 paign money of Tammany has been applied, 
 and is acquainted with all the methods of 
 bribery and corruption which it has em 
 ployed. It is probable that many arrests will 
 follow from his revelations, and it is expected 
 that their publication, which will be made in 
 full before election-day, will profoundly in 
 fluence public opinion. There is full evi 
 dence of a well-concocted plot, on the part of 
 the Tammany heelers, to capture Leary s dis 
 trict by fraud, and also a hideous tale of black 
 mail levied upon gambling-houses and resorts 
 of still more pernicious character, for the ex 
 penses of the campaign. The nobleman has 
 
132 PRINCE H A G E N 
 
 himself, incredible as it may appear, been 
 the agent for the collecting of this tribute, 
 and the paying of it to the proper persons. 
 
 " Less important, perhaps, but still more 
 picturesque than these things, is Prince Ha- 
 gen s account of his adventures during the 
 months before election, when he was instructed 
 by a cynical district leader in the arts of ingra 
 tiating himself into favour with the ignorant 
 poor of the tenement-houses, by the distrib 
 uting of free ice and coal. The prince, who 
 was known by the name of Jimmie O Ha- 
 gen, spent a large sum of money, which was 
 really taken from his vast fortune, but which 
 his fellow workers assumed he had privately 
 collected by infamous methods, upon a great 
 excursion, which was described at the time 
 in this paper, and which attracted attention 
 for the disreputable character of those who 
 attended it, and for the scenes of riot which 
 prevailed on board the steamer. Too much 
 praise cannot, we think, be given to a gentle 
 man of noble blood and refined tastes who 
 thus placed himself among scenes of degrada 
 tion for the sake of a lofty purpose. Another 
 extremely interesting phase of Prince Hagsn s 
 experiences is the reputation which he ob- 
 
PRINCE HA GEN 
 
 tained as an orator; catching all the cant 
 phrases with which the demagogues are at 
 present beguiling the ignorant and dissatis 
 fied elements of our population, he infused 
 into them such vigour of manner as to produce 
 most extraordinary effects upon his audiences. 
 
 " During the last few days accounts have 
 several times appeared in this paper of the 
 extravagant orations of Jimmie O Hagen/ 
 orations which, in ridiculing, we had no 
 idea were secretly meant by their brilliant 
 author as burlesques. Last night Prince Ha- 
 gen delivered at Spread-Eagle Hall an 
 address to an enthusiastic throng, denouncing 
 the capitalists in such fierce terms as to drive 
 his audience almost wild with rage, and him 
 self with laughter. An account of this ex 
 traordinary speech was already in type at our 
 office when tidings of the new developments 
 arrived the former article is appended be 
 low. This speech was the climax of the noble 
 man s Tammany experiences, and immedi 
 ately afterward he drove to the Republican 
 headquarters to tell his story. 
 
 " Prince Hagen is, in personal appearance, 
 a man slightly below the medium size, with 
 a small face, much wrinkled and expressive 
 
134 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 of the keenest intelligence. Clad, as he was 
 last night, in a perfectly fitting and tasteful 
 dress suit, one could not but wonder how his 
 fellow workers of Tammany failed to discern 
 that he was a man of aristocratic breeding. 
 Prince Hagen s voice is deep and earnest, and 
 readily expresses his feelings. He evinced 
 last night the profoundest aversion for the 
 corruption with which he had become ac 
 quainted. He declared that his unprece 
 dented contribution to the campaign fund 
 was to be considered as an expression of this, 
 and that he stood ready to follow it by other 
 donations if, in the judgment of the commit 
 tee, it was not too late to spend it advanta 
 geously to prevent the triumph of principles 
 of public dishonesty in city and nation. The 
 prince declared that, in his judgment, a vic 
 tory of the Democratic nominee for President 
 would be a public calamity beyond any words. 
 " The estates from which Prince Hagen has 
 made this great donation are said to be of 
 tremendous extent, and their owner himself 
 stated that he could not tell their size. He 
 did not state in what part of the world they 
 are located, but he intimated that they con 
 tained extensive mines of gold, great quanti- 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 135 
 
 ties of which he has already had secretly 
 conveyed to this country. After making his 
 declaration, Prince Hagen left the city last 
 night for a destination unascertained; he 
 stated, however, that it was his intention to 
 make New York his permanent home, and 
 that he should at once begin the construction 
 of a mansion which should outshine any of the 
 homes of our millionaires. It is his intention 
 to enter society, where his vast wealth and 
 high rank, combined with the prestige of his 
 present coup, should give him swift success." 
 
 Such was the narrative of Prince Hagen s 
 doings. I had, after this, for some time no 
 source of information about him except the 
 newspapers, and so I cannot tell my story ex 
 cept by following their accounts. On the 
 following day there was substantially no fur 
 ther news about him, except that no one knew 
 where he was, and that efforts to learn the 
 country from which he came had been un 
 successful, though there were guesses ranging 
 from the South Sea Islands through Pata 
 gonia to Bohemia and the Cape of Good 
 Hope; it appeared also that public curiosity 
 was intensely excited, and there were pub- 
 
136 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 lished long interviews with every one who had 
 anything to do with the matter; likewise a 
 thousand anecdotes about James O Hagen s 
 Tammany career were invented by ambitious 
 journalists and contradicted by no one. 
 
 On the next day the news was spread that 
 Prince Hagen had returned to the city in 
 good health and spirits, and had made a fur 
 ther contribution to the campaign fund; and 
 most important of all, it was stated that the 
 promised revelations were to be made public 
 at a grand mass-meeting of citizens at Madi 
 son Square Garden on the following night. 
 
 I suppose no one of my readers has for 
 gotten that memorable evening. I was there 
 early, and likewise ten or twelve thousand 
 others; and when Prince Hagen appeared 
 we gave him an ovation. It was a wonderful 
 sight afterward to see that single man holding 
 his audience silent and motionless with de 
 light and wonder for three long hours. 
 
 He began, as he had promised, with his ex 
 posure of Tammany, and the angriest Demo 
 crat in that crowd must have shivered at the 
 image which he unfolded the more so 
 since he spoke no word that was not from 
 his own experience. He showed how a band 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 137 
 
 of robbers had gotten command of the ma 
 chinery of a great party, and were using the 
 prestige of its name to gain opportunities of 
 plunder and corruption; he showed how, 
 from the highest to the lowest, the vast 
 organisation was held together by self-inter 
 est, how its members reaped the rich harvest 
 of blackmail and of the patronage of a great 
 city s government; he showed how vice was 
 protected, and how corruption was shielded; 
 he showed how, year by year, the poor and 
 ignorant of the city were beguiled by sham 
 charities, and how honest men were deceived 
 by virtuous pretences; he showed how the 
 ill-gotten wealth was partly spent in bribery 
 to maintain the system, and how the unwisdom 
 of opponents had contributed to continue the 
 shameful wrong. All this he proved by facts 
 and figures, and delivered with such glow 
 ing fervour of indignation, tempered, how 
 ever, with serene self-command, that his 
 audience thrilled and trembled, and when 
 they did break forth, made the air shake with 
 their applause. 
 
 And after these things he came to the cam 
 paign and its issues. 
 
 " But, fellow citizens I trust I may use 
 
138 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 that appellation" (applause and cries of 
 assent) " fellow citizens, then, I wonder if 
 you realise what this thing means? Listen 
 to me; we stand, you and I, the men of this 
 republic, at the dawn of a new era in human 
 history. Before it the selfish egotisms of men 
 were held in bond by a despot, sword and 
 bullet were the reasons for which men obeyed 
 the law. But now we have hungered for a 
 new glory, we have vowed that we will show 
 new truth and new righteousness in the hearts 
 of men; we have chosen to demonstrate to 
 the watching nations that ( man is man and 
 master of his fate, that he needs no will to 
 guide him but the law of his own conscience, 
 that, in short, he can be free, and still be 
 just. And oh, my friends, it is a wonderful 
 thing; but it is a thing so infinitely perilous! 
 Do you ever stop to think, you men who build 
 this nation, what a vast mass of passion and 
 greed you have pent up by the stern example 
 of your will? The majority of men are 
 never comfortable, through their own weak 
 ness and badness they must needs be ever 
 struggling with poverty and sin; and they 
 look at the unthinkable wealth that society 
 has amassed, they look at it as a wild beast 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 139 
 
 stares at his prey, greedy and savage, waiting 
 only a signal to spring. And what is it that 
 restrains them? Is it any reasoning of their 
 own? Do you suppose that the dweller in 
 our tenements can perceive for himself the 
 truth that brain must be lord of body, that 
 great enterprise must needs be in the hands 
 of men of mind, and that the so-called capital 
 ist is the most hard-worked and the most 
 precious member of our society? To speak 
 of such a thing is to see its absurdity; the 
 mass of the ignorant and discontented see 
 only that they labour, and that another has 
 the wealth; and if there is anything that re 
 strains them from taking what they wish by 
 force, it is nothing but the sentiment which we 
 have built up, of respect for society and for 
 the principles of public honesty and law. I 
 tell you, as I look at this republic of ours, I see 
 a sight that makes me tremble; now that the 
 power rests solely with the people, there is 
 no longer any need that the poor man be in 
 cited to violence, no longer need of stirring 
 riot and pillage; there is a subtler method, 
 there is a more fearful danger. For the man 
 of our time has not only the power of his 
 brains, he has the power of the ballot! He 
 
140 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 may not be willing to steal, but now there is 
 another way shown him by which he may 
 possess himself of what is not justly his ownl 
 There is ever a class of men, creatures who 
 prowl about the outskirts of society, seeking 
 a chance to attack and devour; who are eager 
 to point out this dreadful truth to the poor, 
 that there is no longer any government 
 but themselves, that there is no longer any law 
 except the law they make. And I tell you in 
 all solemnity, my fellow citizens, that I be 
 lieve that the future of Democracy hangs 
 upon that pivot, I believe that the decision 
 whether society can be entrusted to the care 
 of the mass of its own members, depends 
 upon the one fact, whether those among us 
 who have mind and conscience can inspire 
 the whole body with our sentiments, can main 
 tain a respect for public justice and for pri 
 vate rights that will awe and restrain the 
 restless element. And, my dear friends, it is 
 for this reason, and no other reason, that I 
 am here to-night to speak to you ; it is for this 
 reason, and for no other reason, that I give all 
 the labour of my soul to the support of the 
 Republican candidate; it is because, when 
 ever I hear a word spoken about legislation 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 141 
 
 for the benefit of the poor at the expense of 
 the rich, I tremble, not for my purse and for 
 my possessions, but for the future of this land 
 of ours and for the future of the human 
 ractf!" (Tremendous enthusiasm.) 
 
 I have come now almost to the end of the 
 political career of Prince Hagen; and I 
 may finish the subject in a few words. Bril 
 liant as this start of his was admitted by every 
 one to be, I soon learned that it was elsewhere 
 that his ambition guided him. There is no 
 need to state here what was the outcome of 
 the campaign, or to bear witness to the 
 magnificence of the banquet which was ten 
 dered to Prince Hagen by grateful citizens; 
 nor should it be necessary to do more than hint 
 what was done with the evidence which he 
 possessed against Tammany officials. It is 
 a matter of common information how these 
 gentlemen were severally indicted, and how 
 after delays and delays repeated, public atten 
 tion was gradually turned to other matters, 
 and the whole affair was dropped. This same 
 thing has happened so often that people 
 who follow New York politics may not know 
 to just which cases I refer, but that is a mat 
 ter of no great consequence to our story. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 I GO on to trace the adventures of my hero. 
 I saw no more of him for a long period, but he 
 was by that time a public character, and I was 
 therefore quite as well informed. I have 
 concluded that the best way I can follow the 
 present part of his career is to give a few of 
 the newspaper items just as I read them my 
 self at intervals: 
 
 New York Hurled, November IQth. 
 
 " A rumour was bruited about social cir 
 cles yesterday, which, although up to a late 
 hour last night it had not been verified, 
 created, nevertheless, not a little excitement. 
 It concerned the foreign nobleman, said to be 
 a millionaire, who recently created such a 
 furor by his expose of Tammany Hall. It 
 has been understood that Prince Hagen, who 
 has since then been staying at the Waldorf- 
 Astoria, had in mind to make New York his 
 
 permanent home, and to entertain extensively 
 
 142 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 143 
 
 throughout the winter; yesterday s report 
 was that he had purchased the old Dyeman- 
 dust mansion at Five Hundred and Fiftieth 
 Street and Fifth Avenue, and was on the point 
 of refitting it throughout for his residence. 
 Mr. Dyemandust could not be found last 
 night, and at his hotel it was stated that Prince 
 Hagen, who is occupying a palatial suite 
 there, was away from the city. It is believed 
 that he is attending, in secret, to the invest 
 ment of his vast fortune, which he is said to 
 have brought entire to America. All efforts 
 to ascertain the origin of this nobleman, or 
 to ascertain his right to the title he bears, have 
 so far proven entirely unsuccessful; although 
 it is probable that, if he expects to enter soci 
 ety in this city, he will before long make these 
 things known. A person prominent in social 
 circles said last evening to a Hurled re 
 porter," etc., etc. 
 
 New York Hurled, December 2Oth. 
 
 " The sensational rumour, which caused so 
 much excitement about a month ago, that the 
 old Dyemandust mansion had been purchased 
 by Prince Hagen has at last been entirely 
 verified. Both the parties concerned ad- 
 
144 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 mitted yesterday, in an interview, that such 
 a deal had taken place, although they were 
 extremely reticent as to details. The price 
 paid, which is said to have been simply fabu 
 lous, could not be definitely ascertained. Mr. 
 Dyemandust was seen at his club by a Hurled 
 reporter; it was gleaned from his scanty re 
 plies that the mansion had not been for sale, 
 but that Prince Hagen had made an offer so 
 munificent that the family had yielded. 
 
 " Prince Hagen was seen late last night at 
 the Waldorf-Astoria, and condescended to 
 grant an interview. He admitted that he had 
 purchased the mansion, but when asked about 
 the price stated merely that it was a trifle. 
 
 " And about the report that the mansion 
 is to be refitted? he was asked. 
 
 " It is true; everything will be taken out 
 of it, was the reply. 
 
 " ( But the house was furnished in a most 
 sumptuous fashion only a few years ago. 
 
 " I am aware of that, he answered, mildly. 
 
 " You intend, then, to make it your per 
 manent home? the reporter inquired. 
 
 " Oh, by no means, was Prince Hagen s 
 reply. I intend the house for my occupancy 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 145 
 
 merely while I look about me to select some 
 place that suits me. 
 
 " * You intend to build, then, for yourself? J 
 
 " I do. 
 
 " Upon a larger scale? 
 
 " * Somewhat, was the smiling reply, in a 
 tone that betokened no great opinion of the 
 Dyemandust palace. Prince Hagen was ques 
 tioned further about this statement, but he 
 said that he preferred not to talk any more 
 about the matter at present. I am an unos 
 tentatious person by nature, he said, and I 
 do not care to talk about what I intend to do. 
 
 " Prince Hagen, asked the reporter, the 
 American people are naturally curious to 
 know about a person of your prominence. 
 Will you not tell them what country you are 
 from? 
 
 " Prince Hagen s eye twinkled, as he an 
 swered : * Would it not be better to let the 
 people find it out for themselves? It seems 
 to amuse them so much. It cannot be very 
 long before the secret comes out, you know. 
 
 " * Many efforts have been made already, 
 suggested the reporter. c All have failed. 
 
 " ( It is too bad, said the prince. 
 
 " It is your intention to enter society? 
 
146 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 " Why/ was the smiling reply, i that is 
 not an easy question to answer. How can I 
 tell if society will want me? I shall do what 
 I can to make myself agreeable; I cannot 
 say more than that. 
 
 " You will not make known who you 
 are? 1 
 
 " Who I am? Why, I have done that. I 
 am Prince Hagen. 
 
 " i And the extent of your fortune? Is that 
 a secret? 
 
 " No, not especially. 
 
 " * Would you be so good as to tell it? 
 
 " I do not know it. 
 
 " It is very large? 
 
 " Some people might, perhaps, think so. 
 
 " Ten million dollars, perhaps? sug 
 gested the reporter. 
 
 " A little more than that, was the reply, 
 in a manner to suggest that it was very much 
 more indeed. 
 
 " A hundred million? 
 
 " i That may be a trifle nearer, replied the 
 prince, gravely. You will be able to form 
 more definite ideas, I think, when a little 
 time has passed. 
 
 " * Can you give any idea of how long it 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 147 
 
 will take you to refit the Dyemandust man 
 sion? he was next asked. 
 
 " About two months/ was the response. 
 
 " * How is it possible to accomplish such a 
 task in two months? inquired the reporter. 
 
 " i Everything is possible/ said the prince, 
 smiling, l if one does not mind the incidentals. 
 If I wished it done in two weeks, it could be 
 managed. I am preparing now to issue invi 
 tations for an opening ball, to take place two 
 months from date, and so, you see, there will 
 be no possibility of delay/ 
 
 " Here Prince Hagen cut short the inter 
 view, explaining that he had an engagement. 
 Concerning his plans, no more could be 
 learned, for he keeps his affairs well hidden. 
 Up to a late hour last night, all efforts to 
 discover who were his agents in the transac 
 tion, or where his fortune is invested, have 
 proved of no avail." 
 
 New York Evening Ghost, January IJth. 
 
 " From Newport comes a rumour, creating 
 not a little excitement in society, that Prince 
 Hagen has been secretly making vast pur 
 chases of real estate, and intends to remove 
 several of Newport s landmarks to build a 
 
148 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 palatial mansion, eclipsing anything there 
 known. The rumour could not as yet be con 
 firmed, but," etc., etc. 
 
 New York Whirled, February 1st. 
 
 " Society was electrified yesterday by the 
 tidings that the old Dyemandust mansion, 
 which was purchased a few weeks ago by 
 Prince Hagen, was complete in its new deco 
 rations, and would be shown to a few friends 
 and to the representatives of the press. This 
 last favour was courteously granted by the 
 prince because of the tremendous public in 
 terest which his purchase of the place, and 
 the reports concerning his plans with it, have 
 awakened. Prince Hagen announced, when 
 the transaction took place, that he meant to 
 refit entirely the palatial mansion for his own 
 use, and that he would accomplish the task in 
 the extraordinarily short time of six weeks, 
 in time for a grand opening ball, about which 
 rumours have meantime been busy. Since 
 then, public curiosity has been upon the qui 
 vive, and has daily been fed with new items 
 of interest, etc., etc. 
 
 " It was reported that vast contracts had 
 been made with various firms for the fitting 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 149 
 
 up of the home with a splendour hitherto un 
 known and undreamt of in New York; that 
 all the available resources of the city, in the 
 way of luxury and beauty, were being drawn 
 upon ; that an army of upholsterers and deco 
 rators were at work within the house ; that the 
 jewelry-stores and art collections of the city 
 were to be ransacked and despoiled. Bit by 
 bit, the public has learned the truth about 
 these matters, and heard stories which were 
 more incredible still. The Hagen mansion 
 was surrounded all day by a curious crowd, 
 and a platoon of police had to guard the door. 
 At night, mysterious covered vans brought 
 loads of mysterious covered articles, said to 
 be treasures from Prince Hagen s kingdom. 
 What served still more to inflame the curiosity 
 of all was the fact that no one could guess 
 where this mythical kingdom was, that all 
 efforts to learn even how the treasures had 
 reached this country had been in vain. 
 Throughout it all, Prince Hagen kept si 
 lence, smiling benignly upon curious inquir 
 ers, and going quickly on with his vast 
 preparations. 
 
 " And yesterday, for the first time, the 
 world was to see this fairy palace! It was 
 
150 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 small wonder that society was wrought up 
 to a fever heat, and the principal news in 
 all of this morning s papers will be accounts 
 of the Hagen home. 
 
 " It is to be said at the outset that the sight 
 of this extraordinary mansion does not disap 
 point even the most excited anticipations; 
 that, on the contrary, the actuality so far ex 
 ceeds anything that any one can have con 
 ceived, that the sight of it leaves the beholder 
 simply dumb with awe. 
 
 " The wonder of the house may be summed 
 up in one word, where it came from no 
 man knows; perhaps none ever will know; 
 so much of it one did not believe to exist in 
 this world, and surely never expected to see 
 i.n his lifetime; but it is gold gold gold! 
 The walls gleamed with it, the floor shone 
 with it, the furniture, vases, tapestry, stair 
 ways gold, gold, gold! 
 
 " Wherever Prince Hagen s kingdom may 
 be, it is certainly some place that has never 
 been visited by civilised man; such unthink 
 able masses of gold exceed in reality the wild 
 est dreams of the * Arabian Nights. An 
 idea of the whole magnificent place could be 
 given in a few words, for one has only to 
 
PRINCE HA GEN 151 
 
 imagine a huge building furnished from roof 
 to cellar with the gleaming precious metal, 
 and with every other circumstance arranged 
 for the better display of its glow, the deep, 
 rich colours of velvets and silks, the blood- 
 red and snowy white of priceless marbles, the 
 thousand hues of the rarest flowers, and the 
 dazzling gleam of countless masses of gems. 
 
 " The most extraordinary feature of the 
 whole mansion, the one which meets the at 
 tention everywhere and strikes the beholder 
 with wonder, is the seemingly limitless num 
 ber of carved and beaten vessels of gold which 
 the prince possesses; it seems certain these 
 objects cannot have been bought in New 
 York. Prince Hagen has such quantities of 
 them that he seems scarcely to know what to 
 do with them all. They line the walls and 
 they cover the tables and mantels ; one might 
 weary of the sight were it not for the fact 
 of their wonderful designs, and for the in 
 finite skill and beauty of their workmanship, 
 which makes of them a source of endless ad 
 miration and delight. 
 
 " The very first glimpse of the interior of 
 the mansion strikes the beholder dumb; for 
 once past the iron gates and the great folding 
 
152 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 doors, a hallway strikes the eye beyond any 
 description in its riotous splendour; here are 
 marbles and gems and pictures which would 
 take hours to describe; but above all and 
 beyond all, the masses of gold golden chairs 
 and balustrades and mantels, and huge ves 
 sels of the solid metal. The whole ceiling 
 of this room is a mass of electric lights, and 
 the effect at night must be simply gorgeous. 
 At the head of the broad stairways of the 
 palace one can call it nothing else stands 
 a huge vase of solid gold, fully ten feet high, 
 and of weight and value quite inconceivable. 
 Prince Hagen referred to this as l the Coro 
 nation Cup/ an heirloom by a famous gold 
 smith of centuries ago. He vouchsafed, how 
 ever, no further information, but stood by 
 with a calm smile, while those present gazed 
 in consternation at the priceless treasure. 
 
 " Afterward, Prince Hagen escorted the 
 party, which consisted of about a score of 
 guests, besides the Whirled reporter, through 
 the entire building, revealing wonder after 
 wonder with princely unconcern. The entire 
 first floor is in preparation to be opened as a 
 ballroom and parlours on the night of his 
 grand entertainment; the apartments on the 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 153 
 
 second floor have been prepared to serve as 
 reception and supper-rooms. Prince Hagen 
 would give no information about the coming 
 ball at present." 
 
 New York Chimes. "All the News that the 
 People Want to Read! February jd. So 
 ciety Notes. 
 
 " Season under full headway. Until Ash 
 Wednesday the round of dinners and dances 
 will be incessant. 
 
 " Society is at the moment completely occu 
 pied with the grand costume-ball which is to 
 take place at the palatial mansion of Prince 
 Hagen on the night of February loth. With 
 the aid of his numerous friends, it is expected 
 that it will be made one of those magnificent 
 entertainments which occur but seldom in a 
 lifetime. To organise a fete such as this is 
 a difficult matter, but Prince Hagen antici 
 pates no defeat. This is not to be a fancy- 
 dress ball, as the host desires expressly that 
 the costumes should be only such as were worn 
 in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth 
 centuries. Water-sprites, gipsies, Cinderellas, 
 Queens-of-the-night, and strolling minstrels 
 will be out of order. The conventional dress 
 
i 5 4 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 suit will not be welcome. The men must also 
 wear court costumes of the period. 
 
 " Invitations for this splendid fete were 
 issued yesterday; the best society will attend 
 in a body, it is said. Many people wonder 
 at Prince Hagen s audacity in beginning his 
 attempt to scale the social ladder with so elab 
 orate an affair; for if society failed to respond 
 to his invitation, his position would indeed 
 be desperate. 
 
 " But Prince Hagen probably has reasons 
 of his own for feeling safe; he must have 
 been sufficiently assured that his entree would 
 not be opposed. Perhaps, too, he counts upon 
 the eclat which recent reports concerning his 
 newly fitted palace have given him; truly, 
 it is difficult to imagine society rejecting so 
 magnificent an entertainment. From all ac 
 counts, Prince Hagen s mansion must be sim 
 ply dazzling in its splendour; and it is 
 whispered that the sums he is expending upon 
 the coming fete are unthinkable. 
 
 " Costumes for the ball have doubtless been 
 ordered in advance from Paris by most of 
 our prominent society people. The time is 
 shorter than is usually allowed for such elab 
 orate entertainments. Nothing quite of this 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 155 
 
 sort has been done in the metropolis for a 
 decade. It is safe to say that it will have a 
 place in history. 
 
 " Few of the details have been announced 
 as yet, but the apartments will be decorated 
 with rare tapestries, and the lavish splendour 
 of the host may be relied upon to present a 
 gorgeous scene. Costumers and perruquiers 
 will be on hand to arrange the costumes and 
 wigs of the arriving guests. All the attend 
 ants will wear the livery of Louis Quinze. 
 The mansion will be a very palace of olden 
 time." 
 
 New York Hurled, February Ilth. 
 "THE HAGEN MANSION. 
 
 HOW THE BALLROOM AND OTHER APARTMENTS 
 APPEARED. 
 
 " The entrance was of the Chateau de Viau, 
 although Louis le Grand was missing, and 
 Americans of the twentieth century made up 
 the courtiers. Gobelin covered the walls. 
 Those spaces which the ancient tapestries did 
 not warm with colour were alight with golden 
 panels or with mirrors, and over their surface 
 hung the rarest of orchids. Blossoms of 
 
156 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 waxen bridal roses, mixed with the roses of 
 la France, were tangled with great festoons 
 of American Beauties. Thus the rooms dis 
 closed themselves to the guests upon their first 
 entrance. The wonderful golden vases stood 
 on either side of the broad passage, and the 
 guests proceeded between heavy curtains of 
 gold and crimson satin to the hallway, which 
 led to the dressing-room by a great winding 
 staircase. Between the vases were clustered 
 electric lights, the glow from them being par 
 tially dimmed by the varnished leaves of the 
 Virginia creeper. Nodding American Beauty 
 roses, entwined with clematis, set off the red 
 velvet balustrade. In the centre of the salon 
 Prince Hagen awaited his guests, the maskers 
 passing between most elaborate decorations of 
 flowers. The fragrance of the roses was 
 nearly overpowering, added to the growing 
 warmth of the room. From one of the land 
 ings of the stairway the guests had glimpses 
 of the ballroom. 
 
 " A GORGEOUS DISPLAY OF GOLD. 
 
 " Everywhere the brilliance of gold daz 
 zled the eye. The marvellous vases shone, 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 157 
 
 half-concealed by Antoinette wreaths of la 
 France roses; also everywhere were great 
 bunches of bridal roses, with a background 
 of the dark-green Virginia creeper. Further 
 points in the colour scheme were the white 
 and gold of the mural decoration, and of the 
 furniture of the Grand Monarque. From the 
 salon opened an immense apartment the 
 ballroom, elegant in its proportions and won 
 drous in its decorations of gold. Priceless 
 works of art in the precious metal lined the 
 broad balcony which looks down upon the 
 floor. The effect of the golden mirrors was 
 made doubly potent by the screens of Vir 
 ginia creeper, and of purple orchids, which 
 seemed scarcely out of place in the tropical 
 atmosphere. Great wreaths of la France 
 roses decorated the mirrors, arranged under 
 neath the clusters of electric lights. The cen 
 tre of the floor was arranged for the quadrille 
 d honneur, its dividing lines being broad silk 
 ribbons. 
 
 " OPENING OF THE BALL. 
 
 " After Prince Hagen had welcomed the 
 guests, the quadrille d honneur was danced, 
 Prince Hagen being at the head, his partner 
 
158 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 being Mrs. Miner-Gold. Prince Hagen s 
 costume was almost too magnificent for de 
 scription, being trimmed with precious stones 
 of inconceivable splendour and size. It was 
 a Louis Quatorze robe of state, of purple vel 
 vet, the corselet being entirely of gold, woven 
 as chain-armour, and embroidered with a 
 wreath made of enormous diamonds. 
 
 " Mrs. Miner-Gold wore the same costume 
 she had made for the famous Dyemandust 
 dress ball of 1863; it was a Marie Stuart 
 robe of red velvet, the black brocade collar 
 being covered with magnificent lace valued 
 at $15,000 a square inch. Her jewels were 
 diamonds, the stomacher, necklace, and head 
 ornaments being entirely of these jewels. 
 
 " The ball was not formally opened until 
 all the guests had been announced, and had 
 paid their respects to the host; then Prince 
 Hagen left his position and joined the par 
 ticipants of the three opening quadrilles, who 
 awaited him. The quadrilles were danced as 
 follows," etc., etc., for two pages of the paper. 
 
 New York Hurled, February I^fth. 
 
 " Prince Hagen s costume ball is now a 
 thing of the past. It will live in history as 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 159 
 
 one of the most magnificent entertainments 
 which has ever been given in this metropolis. 
 " This result was obtained not merely by 
 an enormous outlay of money; it was due 
 more especially to a fastidious regard for 
 every smallest detail, and to the exquisite 
 taste of the host things yet more essential 
 to a really grand entertainment. A happy in 
 spiration it proved that of limiting the 
 costumes to the most lavish period of history; 
 to this was due the stateliness of the affair. 
 Society has dreamed about and talked about 
 nothing for weeks but this fete. Every ex 
 pectation having now been realised and every 
 hope gratified, the ball will for ever be treas 
 ured in the memory of New York s elite." 
 
 New York Whirled, February iyth. 
 
 " Evidently it is Prince Hagen s intention 
 to capture metropolitan society by storm. 
 Not content with last week s magnificent ball, 
 which completely stunned society by its splen 
 dour, comes the announcement of a grand 
 bal masque, which is to be given very shortly, 
 and which is to eclipse the former achieve 
 ment in elaborateness and expense. Appar 
 ently society does not know just what to make 
 
160 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 of this deluge of regal entertainments. If 
 Prince Hagen continues to bombard the elite 
 all winter in such fashion, he will end by 
 drowning out all competition and in becoming 
 official host to the city." 
 
 Town Slopics, February IQth. 
 
 " Hagen, Hagen, Hagen! There is no one 
 in the world but Hagen! One hears so much 
 about him that one would weary of it beyond 
 utterance, were it not for the fact that Hagen 
 is the most entertaining person in the world. 
 One hears about Hagen all day at the clubs; 
 they talk about Hagen instead of listening to 
 the opera; they forget to eat their dinners for 
 talking about Hagen. Here is one of the 
 latest good things that everybody is telling. 
 
 " Prince Hagen recently strolled in about 
 luncheon hour to one of the restaurants much 
 frequented by the best society. 
 
 " After eating, he ordered a peach. Great 
 consternation among the authorities! No 
 peaches in the house; no peaches in the city! 
 The head waiter tries to explain; Hagen 
 looks at him in wonder, and merely says, I 
 ordered a peach/ and goes on reading a 
 paper, reading about himself, by the way. 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 161 
 
 Thereafter beaucoup de recherche, and, at 
 last, a peach. Then the bill comes ; the cost of 
 that peach is five dollars; and Hagen smiles. 
 
 " * Is there only one peach in New York? 
 he asks. 
 
 " No/ replies the waiter, mildly. i But 
 there is only one Prince Hagen/ 
 
 " And thereafter he orders a peach every 
 day." 
 
 New York Hurled, February 2Oth. 
 
 " An interesting vessel was sighted off the 
 Hook at seven o clock yesterday morning. 
 A few weeks ago, there appeared in this 
 paper an exclusive account of the purchase, 
 by the brilliant society leader, Prince Hagen, 
 of a pair of Arabian horses at a fabulous 
 price; these steeds were said to have a pedi 
 gree of centuries, the entire line having been 
 the property of the royal stables of the Shah 
 of Persia. It was reported that Prince Hagen 
 had bought them for an unimaginable sum, 
 having in fact offered for them any price that 
 might be asked. Immediately afterward, it 
 was reported that he had purchased a yacht 
 for the express purpose of bringing these won 
 derful creatures to New York. The vessel s 
 
i62 PRINCE. HA GEN 
 
 arrival was reported yesterday, and the an 
 nouncement was made that the horses were 
 well. Prince Hagen, when seen by a Hurled 
 reporter, said as follows," etc., etc. 
 
 " A Hurled reporter secured exclusive per 
 mission to board the yacht, which is a large 
 vessel, and inspect the pair of steeds. They 
 are magnificent animals, chestnut in colour, 
 and with manes of a wondrous silky gloss. 
 It is Prince Hagen s intention to drive them 
 himself, and his appearance will certainly 
 create a sensation, public curiosity having 
 been roused to an intense pitch by the news. 
 With the horses came a native Persian keeper 
 with several assistants. In an interview, the 
 former gave the reporter the history of the 
 steeds," etc., etc. 
 
 Ne<w York Chinaman, February 22d. 
 "SAVED FROM STARVATION! 
 
 A FAMILY, EVICTED IN SNOW, RESCUED BY 
 BENEFACTOR. NAME OF RICH MAN A SE 
 CRET. HUSBAND DEAD, CHILDREN DYING. 
 HELPLESS MRS. MURPHY SAVED AT LAST. 
 
 " From the crowded tenements of Mul 
 berry Street comes a story so full of romance 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 163 
 
 that it reads like a fairy-tale, a story of a 
 ghastly struggle against poverty, of accident, 
 disease, and death ; of cruel execution of 
 heartless laws; of a family of five half-naked 
 children and a bedridden mother turned out 
 into the bitter January night; of the chance 
 passing of a man of fortune; of pity and 
 princely generosity; and then comfort and 
 happiness for the wretched family. 
 
 " Mrs. John Murphy is the wife of a poor 
 but honest labourer living at 927! Mulberry 
 Street; they have, or rather had, seven small 
 children. Last fall Murphy was injured by a 
 premature blast s exploding, from the effects 
 of which he subsequently died. Then fol 
 lows a pitiful story of a helpless struggle 
 against penury, etc., etc. . . . Last week two 
 of the children died from this disease, and 
 Mrs. Murphy herself, etc. . . . They were 
 then living in a wretched garret at the address 
 mentioned. The children were almost with 
 out clothing, and had been without fire 
 throughout all the dreadful severity, etc. . . . 
 
 " Then comes the most revolting incident 
 of this story. The landlord of this wretched 
 tenement called, insisting, etc., etc. . . . The 
 wretched family turned out into the snow by 
 
1 64 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 the relentless hand of the law, etc., etc. At 
 this moment comes the angel of rescue, etc. 
 ... a carriage rolling past, the owner looked 
 out, and descended, etc. The unfortunate 
 family, almost hysterical with gratitude, etc., 
 etc. Wrote a few words astonished woman 
 -check for a thousand dollars benefactor 
 vanished thanksgiving, tears, etc., etc. 
 
 " Late in the evening the mother was found 
 by a reporter for the Chinaman, surrounded 
 by a host of eager friends, and receiving their 
 congratulations upon her wonderful good for 
 tune. Then came the most interesting devel 
 opment of all; for though Mrs. Murphy, in 
 an interview, gave volubly all the particulars 
 of the story told above, she refused steadfastly 
 to tell the name of her benefactor, or even to 
 describe him, giving as her reason that he had 
 extracted from her a solemn promise to keep 
 the matter a secret. 
 
 " No argument could shake Mrs. Murphy s 
 determined resolution to respect this request, 
 and it is probable, therefore, that the name of 
 this noble-hearted man may never be known," 
 etc., etc., etc. 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 165 
 
 New York Evening Journey, February 22d. 
 
 " Unexpected light has been thrown upon 
 the dramatic incident reported in this morn 
 ing s paper, of the gift, by some rich man, of 
 a thousand dollars to a family of starving 
 tenement-house unfortunates. The name of 
 the unknown benefactor, who so nobly strove 
 to keep himself unknown, has been discov 
 ered, and, as usual, it is the enterprise of the 
 Journey which has obtained for the public 
 this interesting bit of information. The Jour 
 ney reporters bent all their faculties to the 
 work of probing the mystery, and, after sev 
 eral hours work, they have at last succeeded 
 triumphantly; the news, of course, appears 
 exclusively in this paper. 
 
 " The means employed were very simple. 
 Mrs. John Murphy, who was the recipient 
 of the handsome present, still refusing to make 
 known the identity of her benefactor, and 
 none of the witnesses of the incident being 
 able to do so, a Journey reporter casually 
 threw out a hint that the check might not be 
 good, and then, after leaving, set to work to 
 watch the house. It was only a few minutes 
 
i66 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 more before Mrs. Murphy came out in great 
 haste. 
 
 " The reporter followed her, and, at the 
 first store where she attempted to cash the 
 check, he succeeded afterward in discovering 
 what he sought. The announcement of the 
 name of the rich man is quite certain to cre 
 ate a sensation in circles high and low. It 
 is none other than the former Tammany in 
 vestigator and present social phenomenon, 
 Prince Hagen," etc., etc., etc. 
 
 New York Evening Journey, February 22d 
 (6 O Clock Edition.) 
 
 " Prince Hagen, in an interview with a 
 Journey reporter, at his magnificent mansion 
 on Fifth Avenue, said as follows: 
 
 " * It is true that I gave poor Mrs. Murphy 
 a check last night, but the incident is not 
 worthy of all the attention it appears to be 
 exciting. I did no more than any one would 
 have done under the circumstances. Natu 
 rally, being a man of means, I felt it my duty 
 to do with it what good occasion affords me. 
 I wish that the papers would stop talking 
 about it. Of course, however, I duly appre 
 ciate the energy of the Journey^ which I 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 167 
 
 always read, as I consider it by far the live 
 liest newspaper published in New York, " 
 etc., etc. 
 
 New York Moon, February 23d. 
 (" If you see it in the moon, it s there.") 
 
 " He was compelled to submit to not a little 
 slanderous abuse at the hands of those sedi 
 tious persons who were trying to put the gov 
 ernment of the country into the hands of the 
 party of dissatisfaction and dishonesty, and 
 who accused him freely of being himself a 
 monopolist, and interested but in the preserv 
 ing of his own money. Than such an incident 
 as this nothing could be more welcome, show 
 ing, as it does, the real character of the man, 
 and indicating what truth there is in the 
 balderdash about the heartlessness of the mon 
 eyed classes. Matters such as these are con 
 veniently forgotten by the demagogic agitator. 
 Doubtless nothing was further from Prince 
 Hagen s intentions, but such an incident ought 
 to go far toward bringing him the respect 
 of the American people," etc., etc. 
 
i68 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 Town Slopics, March $th. 
 
 " He cannot have meant it so, but certainly 
 the rescuing of Mrs. John Murphy, 927^ 
 Mulberry Street, was an inspiration. 
 
 " New York society has been talking about 
 nothing else for a week, not without some 
 laughter, but still with due appreciation of 
 the picturesque and the sublime. There was 
 a large clique of people who hated Prince 
 Hagen heartily, accusing him of vulgar and 
 plebeian ostentation; now he has become a 
 hero, and the mouths of all detractors are 
 stopped; and all because he gave Mrs. Mur 
 phy a thousand dollars and gave it in a 
 check! Since the days of Haroun al Raschid 
 and of Eugene Sue, the world has pined for a 
 prince to go about in disguise, and relieve 
 misfortune with draughts on his bank ac 
 count; and now, we in New York have 
 one, and all our own! Certainly, we must 
 take him to our hearts; and let no one for 
 ever more dare ask if he be not an ex-pirate 
 or an alchemist." 
 
 New York Evening Telephone, March 6th. 
 
 " Prince Hagen gave a dinner last night 
 
 to a few select guests at his palatial mansion 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 169 
 
 on Fifth Avenue. The event was one of con 
 siderable importance, for it marks a new step 
 in the meteoric career of this foreign noble 
 man; the guests invited were the very cream 
 of New York society, and to have assembled 
 them would have been a triumph for any one. 
 The list of those present is as follows, etc. 
 
 " The Hagen mansion was decorated with 
 its usual splendour; the halls and stairways 
 were banked with countless masses of rare 
 orchids, to obtain which Prince Hagen is said 
 to have exhausted the supply of the Eastern 
 States; at the close of the festivities, they 
 were found plucked and strewn in an endless 
 carpeting of colour beneath the feet of the 
 departing guests. 
 
 " The huge carven vessels of gold, which 
 have attracted such universal admiration, 
 gleamed as usual beneath the dazzling illu 
 mination, etc., etc. The banquet-hall was 
 musical with the play of countless fountains 
 and the strains of soft music from a distant 
 orchestra. The banquet was the most magnif 
 icent that society may ever witness, except 
 the princely prodigal should himself elect 
 to surpass it. 
 
 " The menu was as follows, etc., etc. 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 " After this dinner, which was concluded 
 long after midnight, the guests were con 
 ducted to a concert-room, where a musical 
 programme was superbly rendered. The 
 decorations of this concert-room exceeded 
 anything that pen can describe, etc., etc. 
 
 " The orchestra was a large one, but was 
 composed of the best-known performers in 
 this country, and under the command of the 
 celebrated Herr Windenschlager. The solo 
 ists were none other than Madame Paganini 
 and Signer Paddi, of the Blau Opera Com 
 pany; the appearance of the former was cause 
 for universal astonishment, she having never 
 accepted a private engagement before. It 
 was whispered that she had received the. 
 fabulous sum of fifty thousand dollars for this 
 occasion. The programme was as follows, 
 etc., etc. 
 
 " This varied and highly interesting pro 
 gramme was listened to with rapt attention by 
 the assembled guests, and was rendered with 
 rare excellence by all the performers. The 
 orchestra, under Herr Windenschlager, cov 
 ered itself with glory; the players had evi 
 dently rehearsed with extraordinary care, 
 and it is not too much to say that this concert 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 171 
 
 will be remembered as one of the musical 
 events of the season, an event as notable in 
 music as was the entertainment in social life. 
 The movement from the Beethoven Sym 
 phony was given a masterly interpretation; 
 but beyond any doubt the chef-d &uvre of the 
 evening was the Strauss waltz, which was 
 played with splendid spirit and vigour. The 
 audience applauded enthusiastically, and 
 Herr Windenschlager gave as an encore the 
 wonderful Largo of Handel. In the selec 
 tion from the Stabat Mater, Madame Paga- 
 nini found the best opportunity for displaying 
 her gorgeous voice. Signor Paddi showed all 
 of the wonderful vocal skill which has made 
 him so famous. As encore, he sang, with 
 trembling pathos, A Prayer, by Rienzi. 
 Madame Paganini sang also Samuel John 
 son s Drink to me solely with thine eyes, 1 
 and an aria from Der Freischiitz, l Liza, 
 Liza, Fromme Weise. 
 
 " After the concert, a supper was served, 
 the menu being as follows," etc., etc., etc. 
 
 It was not so very long after this last event 
 that I chanced to be walking up Fifth Ave 
 nue, and to pass the mansion of Prince Hagen. 
 
172 PRINCE H A G EN 
 
 I am not a society person never went to a 
 ball or a dinner in my life and I had recon 
 ciled myself to the thought of following the 
 career of my friend from the distance. I was 
 thinking of this when I chanced suddenly to 
 notice his magnificent equipage, with the 
 Persian horses and two unimaginably stately 
 footmen. I assumed that he was going for a 
 drive; and sure enough, just as I passed the 
 gate, he came out. He saw me instantly, and 
 called to me. 
 
 " My Idealist! " he exclaimed, catching me 
 by the hand. " Why have I not seen you? " 
 
 " I feared you were too busy," I said, hes 
 itatingly, " and too - 
 
 " Oh, I understand," laughed Hagen; " but 
 there never was a man with less of the pride 
 of wealth than I. Come, take a drive with 
 me. I was going into the park, and I m all 
 alone." 
 
 After a little hesitation I consented. I own 
 that I was curious to hear more about him. 
 We sprang into the carriage, which by this 
 time had become the object of admiration of 
 a small assemblage; it rattled off up the 
 avenue, the horses making a magnificent 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 173 
 
 show, and Prince Hagen bowing to all the 
 notabilities, and telling me their names. 
 
 " You would feel very much honoured," he 
 said, laughing, " if you were not an Idealist. 
 Do you know that, if the papers noted the 
 fact that you were driving with me, you would 
 become a literary celebrity in an hour? " 
 
 " Fortunately no one knows me," I said, 
 " so pray keep the secret." And Prince Ha 
 gen laughed. I heard him still chuckling the 
 word " Idealist " to himself occasionally, and 
 seeming to derive from it a great deal of 
 amusement. 
 
 " We must exchange ideas again on the 
 great questions of life," he said, after a time, 
 looking at me quizzically. " There is quite 
 a deal of new data to consider." 
 
 " There is one thing I have noticed, at any 
 rate," responded I, " the test of society that 
 you once proposed to me you can no longer 
 claim you are making. You said that every 
 one should know what you thought; but now 
 you make pretences. You must know that 
 you do." 
 
 " Yes," he said, reflectively, " I know it. 
 Did you ever know any one to make them 
 better? " 
 
174 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 " I don t believe I ever did," I said; " but 
 why is it? " 
 
 " I do it," he answered, " because pretences 
 are the one thing I have learned from society, 
 the one lesson in the art of life I found I 
 had yet to learn." 
 
 " I am glad your visit profited you some 
 thing," I said, gravely. 
 
 " It profited me that," said Hagen, " for I 
 tell you, pretences are an invention so sublime 
 that, when I think of what society does with 
 them, I am simply dumb with awe." 
 
 "How do you mean?" I asked, with in 
 terest. 
 
 Prince Hagen was thoughtful for a mo 
 ment. " You know," he said, " when I first 
 met you, your talk about virtue was a thing 
 absolutely incomprehensible to me ; it seemed 
 something quite- apart from life, a fantastic 
 creation of your own mind; but now that I 
 have come to understand it, I have a deep 
 respect for it, a deeper one than I can tell 
 you. These pretences of mine you speak of 
 are not hypocrisy at all; I believe in them; 
 I have come to see that it is they alone which 
 make possible the system in which we live," 
 
 " Explain yourself," I said, 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 175 
 
 " In the first place," said he, " I found this 
 civilisation of yours simply appalling in its 
 vastness. When I first saw the countless mil 
 lions of your people, the unthinkable masses 
 of wealth you had piled up, the cities you had 
 built, it seemed to me almost a madness 
 it seemed to me a huge bubble that must burst; 
 when I perceived that it was real, that its 
 values were not mere fancies, but stakes for 
 which a man might play, I tell you I was 
 drunk with it. You will, therefore, under 
 stand my interest in finding out how it was 
 done, and my respect for the means when I 
 discovered them." 
 
 "And they are?" I said, inquiringly. 
 
 " The means," he answered, " are pre 
 
 tences." 
 
 He paused; I waited in silence until he 
 chose to continue. 
 
 " For instance," he began, suddenly, " look 
 at Nibelheim. They have down there what 
 they call a society, but it is like a society of 
 wild animals. No man dares expose his 
 wealth, no man dares enjoy it; all his forces 
 are spent in guarding it in terror. And every 
 half-century some poor devil gets old and 
 weak, and they fall upon him and divide the 
 
176 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 spoil. They live like rabbits in a burrow; 
 there is no splendour, no beauty, no educa 
 tion in their lives. And all that is because 
 they have no morality, because brute force is 
 the law of their being." 
 
 That sounded like a discourse of my own; 
 I was perplexed. " And pray," I asked, " are 
 you going to reform the Nibelungs? " 
 
 " One of the first of my plans that I hope 
 to carry out," he answered, gravely, " is the 
 introducing of Christianity into Nibelheim. 
 I could never live there happily until the 
 people were made moral." 
 
 I started. 
 
 " Life," said Prince Hagen, " is the sur 
 vival of the strong. I care not if it be in a 
 jungle, or in a city, it is a warfare of each 
 against all; but in the former case the means 
 is brute force, and in the latter it is power of 
 mind. And do you not see that the ingenious 
 device which brings this about, which makes 
 possible cities and railroads and books and 
 beauty, the force which makes the savage 
 animal a docile slave of the man who can out 
 wit him, is this Morality, this absolutely 
 sublimest invention, this most daring con- 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 177 
 
 ception that ever flashed across the mind of 
 man?" 
 
 " Oh ! " I said, taking a long breath. 
 
 " Just think of it," went on Prince Hagen, 
 " just see it, this society of yours! There are 
 in this city, I suppose, one thousand rich men, 
 and one million poor men, whose business it 
 is to do what the rich command. And the 
 rich men live in these palaces you see about 
 you, and absolutely everything in the world 
 they want they have; and for your poor you 
 build great stacks of boxes, each big enough 
 to hold his body, and admitting air enough 
 to keep him alive. Because these wretches 
 are hideous and filthy, you crowd them away 
 from your sight into quarters where they 
 swarm like vermin in a carcass, and there 
 you let them feed upon what garbage they 
 can pick up, until they die and rot in the 
 ground. And the number of those creatures 
 is a thousand to your one, and the best that is 
 might be theirs if they would take it; but 
 there is Morality! And the poorest of them 
 would starve and die in his tracks before he 
 would touch a bit of bread that was not his 
 own, and he struts about and boasts of it, 
 and calls it his virtue! And so the rich 
 
178 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 man may have what he will, in perfect 
 peace and indifference! By heaven, if that 
 be not a wondrous achievement, I, at least, 
 have never seen one in my life." 
 
 I was silent in thought. " Then you be 
 lieve," I asked, finally, " that this morality 
 was invented by the rich for their own advan- 
 tage? " 
 
 " I don t know how it came to exist," was 
 the reply; " it seems too deeply rooted to be 
 an invention; it seems to be a congenital dis 
 
 ease." 
 
 " Some people," I said, gravely, " have 
 believed that it was implanted in men by a 
 God." 
 
 " Perhaps," said Hagen, " or perhaps by 
 a devil. Men might have lived in holes like 
 woodchucks, and been fat and happy, but now 
 they have morality, and toil and die for some 
 other man s delight." 
 
 " And you believe that the rich all think 
 thus of the matter? " I asked. 
 
 " The rich never think at all," said Hagen. 
 " What business have the rich with thinking? 
 They simply take things as they are and enjoy 
 them. What I do say is that such is the funda 
 mental principle upon which all the world 
 
PRINCE H A G E N 179 
 
 acts. I say that you make a universal cove 
 nant, all but the criminals, of honesty, love, 
 and unselfishness; that you then set to work 
 to beat and hoodwink each other with the 
 ferocity and remorselessness of the hyena; 
 and that the covenant is then taken to mean 
 that those who lose will not resort to vio 
 lence. I say that if you look at society, any 
 phase of it, that is what you will see; I say 
 that the capitalist seeks to outwit the working 
 man, the storekeeper to outwit his customer, 
 the lawyer to outwit his client that every 
 thing living outwits or is outwitted that, in 
 short, the very essence of the word business 
 is that; and yet so much is the importance of 
 the other principle felt, so much is the use of 
 morality understood, that you may seek where 
 you will, among the vilest, and you will find 
 all due pretence. I say, for instance, and I 
 know what I am talking abojut in this case, 
 that there is not in the jungles of Africa to 
 day a herd of wild beasts as essentially preda 
 tory, and as ruthless, as Tammany Hall; 
 there is not a man who belongs to it who does 
 not live by blackmail and corruption, or who 
 has any thought in the world except to fasten 
 his claws on what he can; and yet to hear it 
 
i8o PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 talk, you would think it was a philanthropic 
 society. The head of it is the most virtuous 
 of all, and declares that no one can ever prove 
 that he took a dishonest dollar a great 
 tribute to his management; he chose not to 
 state the other truth, that he could not prove 
 he ever took an honest one. And as I tell 
 you, I have yet to find the part of this big 
 earth where the same proceeding does not 
 prevail." 
 
 " You have certainly perceived," I pro 
 tested, " that Tammany is not considered 
 respectable." 
 
 "Oh, respectability!" laughed the other. 
 "Of course; its leader is simply a half- 
 varnished thug; but that is not in the least 
 because he is selfish, but because he is vulgar, 
 because he has to make his money by fooling 
 the masses, and by blackmailing the shady 
 members of society. If you want respecta 
 bility, there is Mr. Weazel, who is consider 
 ably more virtuous, a gentleman and a 
 member of a church. The business of one 
 is done in the tenement-houses, while that of 
 the other is with men of substance. I am not 
 at liberty to say just now what I think of Mr. 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 181 
 
 Weazel, but he and I understand each other 
 very well." 
 
 Prince Hagen paused a moment, and then 
 added, reflectively: " That distinction I have 
 just made is, I think, the essence of the word 
 vulgarity; the difference between the Jew- 
 trader and any of these society ladies who bow 
 to me, is not in the least that there is less of 
 money-getting or less of the sham I speak of. 
 It is simply that one haggles for a few cents, 
 and the other scatters largesses of banquets 
 and balls." 
 
 And just then my companion raised his hat 
 to an elegant personage who whirled by. 
 "That was my friend Mrs. Miner-Gold," 
 said he, " a lady of great consequence, as you 
 know." And then he cracked his whip, and 
 we rolled out into sight of the park. 
 
 " You know," he added, smiling, " that 
 vulgarity is just why I left politics ; some of 
 it is inevitable in a republic. A kingdom is 
 a far more pleasant arrangement, but for the 
 fact that you may not happen to be king." 
 
 He laughed; I, meanwhile, was thinking 
 deeply. Finally he went on : " You know, 
 I should think you could see how absurd is 
 all the fuss you make about this struggling, 
 
i82 PRINCE. H A GEN 
 
 when it is the very essence and soul of life. 
 Is it not a plain law that most men have to 
 work? And surely it is easy enough for any 
 body to see that there are ten times as many 
 people in the world as the world can comfort 
 ably support. It is like a barrel full of rats 
 there is only a certain number that can keep 
 on top, and the rest must sweat for it till 
 they die. All that a man can do, that I see, is 
 to take care that he comes out on top." 
 
 " And it does not ever trouble you about the 
 rest? " I asked, with a shudder. 
 
 " No, of course not; why should it? It is 
 just the spice of danger that gives zest to the 
 combat. Does that seem so dreadful to you? " 
 
 " It does," I said, " it is not a pleasant 
 description of being rich." 
 
 " Oh," said Hagen, " don t imagine that the 
 rich folks think of it so. They simply find 
 themselves on top, and they stay there and 
 enjoy the view; they never see the rats 
 underneath, so why should they fret about 
 them? I happen to have seen it all, and so 
 perhaps that makes you think me a little 
 
 worse." 
 
 " Assuredly," I said. " It makes me think 
 you a fiend." 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 183 
 
 He looked at me in amusement. " Well," 
 he replied, "perhaps I am; but I manage 
 to cut a pretty good figure, don t you think? 
 I am an eminently respectable person." (He 
 raised his hat.) "That was the great Mrs. 
 Dyemandust who just went by," And my 
 companion laughed again and then relapsed 
 into silence. I watched him. 
 
 " You know," he said, finally, " I still won 
 der at your blindness. Put aside what I say, 
 that is of no consequence; only see what I 
 do, and tell me how my life is different from 
 any of the people I meet. I have money, and 
 I invest it cleverly and make an income; I 
 spend that in getting pleasure and prestige. 
 I murder no man, I break no laws, I stoop to 
 no dishonesty; I simply ask no favours and 
 show no mercy, which is business. It 
 happens, of course, that I have thought more 
 than others and am not a dupe; that I am 
 virtuous because I see the use of it, and not 
 from blind tradition. I have seen that if you 
 once do away with morality, if you once let all 
 men know that selfishness is the law of life, the 
 mob will rise, and then any one of your ser 
 vants is your master. But why do you think 
 I d be any better if I were really a dupe of my 
 
184 PRINCE H A G E N 
 
 pretences and still lived on like a fiend, 
 and like every one else? " 
 
 I did not answer, and Prince Hagen con 
 tinued, after a pause: 
 
 " As a matter of fact, you know," he said, 
 " a man is at a disadvantage just in so far as 
 he is a dupe of morality, just in so far as he is 
 moved by prejudice and not by wisdom. It 
 is the plain truth that the strongest will 
 always rule, and that morality makes their 
 rule enjoyable. It is only in a high civilisa 
 tion that great wealth and luxury can exist; 
 and a man who sees this plainly can drive at 
 his goal as straight as an arrow, can be 
 stopped by nothing, can be neither affected 
 by passion nor blinded by delusion. Take 
 me, for instance; I love nothing, and I hate 
 nothing. I never lose my temper you sat 
 there and called me a fiend, and still you 
 amuse me as much as ever; and that is the rea 
 son that I stand where I am, and the reason 
 that I shall be master of this world of yours 
 before I stop. To put it in a word, I can 
 think, and I have seen the truth; to have 
 done that is to be no longer a slave of men, 
 but a god. Look at all the religions, for in 
 stance, and all the political parties; they serve 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 185 
 
 the purpose I have explained, they fool the 
 mob. But what have they to do with me? 
 It s just like the worthy Tammany gentleman 
 we spoke of; he goes to England and owns 
 thoroughbreds; and the poor devils who stay 
 at home, he lets each one of them wear a 
 badge, and call himself a regular Democrat, 
 and hurrah all night for the victory! That is 
 the kind of thing you call morality and devo 
 tion." 
 
 There was one time when I was happy 
 listening to Prince Hagen, and that was when 
 he got after Tammany. But he did not con 
 tinue the subject. For awhile we threaded 
 our way in silence through the crowded car 
 riages, stared at by every one, and bowed to 
 by all the notabilities. Then at last my com 
 panion began speaking once more. 
 
 " I have observed," he declared, " one way 
 in which a man can see pretty clearly what 
 are the real motives of humanity; that is by 
 watching a nation. I don t know just why 
 it is, but virtue seems not yet to have spread 
 that far; nations have no morality, and hence 
 no shams, and we can therefore learn the 
 whole truth from them. And while we are 
 using illustrations, a perfect type of a nation 
 
i86 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 is its representative, a war-ship; did you ever 
 really think about a war-ship? A war-ship 
 is a thing which no one can possibly misun 
 derstand; it is a thing that is built to say, 
 ( Do as I command, or be hurled out of exist 
 ence. There is a people that you hate, or 
 that will not give you three feet of territory 
 that you demand; and straightway you get 
 out your war-ships, and you pound, and you 
 rend, and you tear, and you smash, cities 
 and buildings, human flesh and human souls, 
 men, women, and children, just as much as 
 ever you need to accomplish your purpose; 
 nor does it make the slightest difference how 
 trivial the purpose may be. I could show you 
 where millions were killed for a harlot s 
 whim. To mention a thought of mercy, or 
 even of justice, in connection with nations, 
 big or little, is to raise a laugh anywhere. 
 Europe to-day is one huge cage full of wild 
 animals that glare at each other and snarl. 
 And the sentiment of the nation is, of course, 
 the sentiment of the men who compose it, and 
 a perfect resume of civilisation stripped 
 naked." 
 
 " There is a sentiment," I suggested, 
 weakly, I own, " called patriotism " 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 187 
 
 Prince Hagen laughed. " My country 
 right or wrong! he said. "And what is 
 a man s country but a macrocosm of himself? 
 What is France but a magnified Frenchman; 
 what is its glory but a sublimation of his 
 own diseased conceit? Patriotism! Has each 
 one of your nations a separate God? " 
 
 I answered nothing; Prince Hagen laughed 
 again. 
 
 " I don t blame you," he said. " Pretences, 
 pretences! You do not like to see this self 
 of yours naked; everything must be veiled, 
 and made beautiful and pleasant. I think 
 quite the most wonderful thing about this 
 society of yours, next to its existing at all, 
 is the way in which the ugliness doesn t show. 
 Every man of you gratifies his lust whenever 
 he pleases; but your women are all serene, 
 and your books are all decorous. You con 
 verse of the holiness of love and the divineness 
 of the sex, and, if one did not know of the foul 
 sties where you pen your human flesh, he 
 might really think that you were men of stern 
 ness and truth. And see the wives of your 
 rich men! Down in Nibelheim, when we 
 wish things done, we drive the people to it 
 with our whips; but your society woman, if 
 
i88 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 she lashes any one, even with her tongue, she 
 does it in her boudoir. But is any master in 
 Nibelheim better served than she? She has 
 a thousand at her beck and call, to prepare her 
 gowns, and her banquets, and her mansions, 
 and she never stirs a finger! All this, you 
 know, is what I find the wonder of your civ 
 ilisation. Before it there was an age of mili 
 tarism, when the master was the robber-baron 
 who trained himself in brute strength, and 
 killed those who did not obey him. But now 
 we have industrialism; this blessed morality 
 has done away with force, and we barons 
 train our brains, and command men by the 
 power of our wealth, which means to say 
 that, instead of killing them, we starve them 
 to obedience. And only see how wonderfully 
 it works! For I find myself lord as never 
 was an Alexander; I can hand down my 
 empire to my children, something which no 
 Alexander could do. And I have no music 
 and no body-guard, but I tell you, sir, what I 
 want done is done, and done quickly, and 
 there is no man who dares defy my will." 
 
 He paused. " It is not quite as bad as that," 
 I ventured, mildly. 
 
 " Oh, I know what you mean! " laughed he. 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 189 
 
 " You say that a man is free to work where he 
 will. But that is only your bad economics; if 
 I command the labour of society, I command 
 the labour of every man in society. Of course, 
 I don t deny that a body can go off in the 
 wilderness, like you, and live off birds eggs 
 and fish; but what I do say is, that if you 
 want to live in society, it is I you must pay 
 for the privilege; for the food is mine, and 
 the clothing is mine, and, if you want it, you 
 must serve me. A man calls himself an artist, 
 and prattles about his sublime ideals; but if 
 he paints a picture, it is I who buy it, and I 
 put it in one of my hall bedrooms. He calls 
 himself a musician, and labours for art; but 
 he comes to my house and plays when I bid 
 him. He writes his books, and he wears out 
 his soul in making them beautiful; but if he 
 doesn t make them to suit the rich people, 
 where is he? " 
 
 Prince Hagen paused again; he had gotten 
 down to personal matters. " Where is he?" 
 he repeated, vehemently; and I answered, 
 " About where I am now." 
 
 Then I added: "At least, however, I can 
 be sure no rich person will ever get much 
 pleasure from my writings I " 
 
190 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 " Don t boast," smiled the other; " we like 
 to see sometimes how jealous people are." 
 
 There was a silence, in which I inwardly 
 resolved to attempt no more retorts; then 
 my companion went on. " Don t suppose," 
 said he, " that I m denying that any individual 
 may get free ; you might, for instance, if you 
 weren t so obstreperous, write a clever book, 
 and become a capitalist yourself. But what 
 I do say is that the vast mass of men obey their 
 masters; I say that the very lawmakers obey 
 them, if they want money to be elected again. 
 If they do not obey, we have only to bribe the 
 voters to choose others; for nothing in the 
 world is easier than to bribe any man to cheat 
 society, and therefore himself. You see this 
 new power of which I am speaking has your 
 civilisation riveted in chains of steel; there 
 is only one way you can overthrow it, and 
 that is to overthrow society; the reason being 
 that the foundation-stone of the social system 
 is this beautiful morality, this right of every 
 man to keep all that he can get." 
 
 Prince Hagen must have felt that I shud 
 dered at those last words of his; he laughed. 
 " There is not the slightest need of thinking 
 it dreadful," he remarked, " for what I am 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 191 
 
 laying down is really the fundamental princi 
 ple of life, that the weak are the natural 
 prey of the strong; there is no power on God s 
 earth that can prevent that. Once it was the 
 law of the galleys, and now it is the law of 
 the sweat-shop, that the victims are given just 
 food and shelter enough to keep them alive, 
 in exchange for the labour of every instant 
 they can stand and see." And then he paused 
 for a moment, and gazed at me smiling. 
 
 " There is one way of escape," he went on, 
 finally, " one way of overcoming these strong 
 men and preventing their rule; that is by 
 having one stronger yet. First there were 
 the barons, and then there was a king; and, 
 if you watch, I can promise you that you shall 
 see history repeat itself. I am going to set 
 out, you know, to be a capitalist of the capi 
 talists." 
 
 I looked at him with interest. " You are 
 going in for finances?" I asked. 
 
 He laughed. " What did you expect? " he 
 inquired. " Do you suppose that I am going 
 to content myself with this society imbecility? 
 Do you imagine I have no higher aims in the 
 world than being stared at by wax dolls? " 
 
192 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 " You are just amusing yourself, then? " I 
 demanded. 
 
 " Partly," said Prince Hagen, laughing, 
 " and partly I want to look around me and 
 get myself established. I don t want to be 
 regarded as a public nuisance, you know, 
 when I do get to work; I must be a respected 
 member of society. I shall have to endow a 
 few colleges, so that the newspapers won t 
 call me names. And besides that, of course, 
 there is the real reason that I am getting 
 my funds together, cashing in my chips, so 
 to speak. I have to be very careful about 
 that." 
 
 "How do you mean?" I inquired. 
 
 " If you have ever thought about it," re 
 plied my companion, " you know that wealth 
 stands for services rendered. All these capi 
 talists that we are talking about have done 
 something for society, or pretended to, and 
 have been paid for it; or, if they did not, some 
 one else did it for them. Mr. Snob, let us 
 say, plays at being a gentleman, and considers 
 that his own country isn t good enough for 
 him to inhabit; but his grandfather carried a 
 peddler s pack, you know, and made the 
 
PRINCE H A G E N 193 
 
 money. Do you understand what I am driv 
 ing at? " 
 
 " I am not sure," I replied, " that I do." 
 
 " Well," said the other, " ask yourself what 
 I have done. It simply happens, by chance, 
 you see, that I have a store of what society, 
 in its ignorance, has made its standard of 
 value; and of course, therefore, I have to 
 move very quietly while I m getting rid of 
 it. It is likely there is a great deal more gold 
 in Nibelheim than there is on the whole 
 earth s surface to-day; and, if that was once 
 known, why the price of gold would simply 
 go down like lead." 
 
 " Sure enough," I said, not without won 
 der; then afterward I added: " But tell me, 
 hasn t it ever occurred to you that I might 
 tell on you? " 
 
 "You?" laughed Prince Hagen, beaming 
 on me. " Bless my soul, no." 
 
 " But why not? " 
 
 " Who would pay any attention to you, you 
 goose? The story is obviously impossible, in 
 the first place; and then, who are you? I 
 have not been in the world as long as I have 
 without observing how much attention it pays 
 to its authors." 
 
i 9 4 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 I answered nothing; after awhile my com 
 panion added, with a genial laugh, " No, I m 
 not afraid of telling my plans to you. I d 
 even advise you to invest in railroad stock, 
 my good friend, only I know you have no 
 money." 
 
 " You intend to go in for railroads?" I 
 asked, not heeding his jest. 
 
 " I intend to go in for everything," an 
 swered Hagen. " Why should I care what it 
 is? Perhaps it would be difficult for me to 
 make you realise my plans, because your im 
 agination is timid ; but I can merely tell you 
 that, when I once start in at business, I mean 
 simply to buy everything that s for sale. 
 There is but one thing that keeps a man from 
 being master of this society of yours, and do 
 ing just what he pleases with it; and that is 
 competition. When I set out, it will be with 
 the simple intention of putting an end to com 
 petition. You look puzzled, as I tell you 
 that; and no doubt it seems to you a wild 
 fancy. But what can be the meaning of all 
 this specialising and incorporating, except 
 that the world needs not many masters, but 
 one master? All that is wanted, you know, 
 is money; any man who had the brains and 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 195 
 
 the nerve, and whose financial power was un 
 limited, might do to-day just what I mean to 
 do make a close corporation of this planet 
 might make himself lord and master of 
 the whole system of society, and charge for 
 his services just exactly whatever he chose. 
 I think of that, you know, when I meet all 
 these strutting turkeys who come to my par 
 ties. It is only that that makes it possible 
 to bear them, that I know I can twist their 
 necks whenever I wish, and let them know to 
 whom the barn-yard belongs." 
 
 Prince Hagen cracked his whip, and his 
 eyes flashed. I watched him for some time 
 in silence. " But you are sure you can do it? " 
 I asked at last. " You have made no mistake 
 in your plans? " 
 
 "Mistake?" asked he. "Shall I not be 
 beating them at their own game? Do not 
 these people glory in their commercial era? 
 Is it not they themselves who have declared 
 that wealth shall be the power in the world? 
 How is it that they make men serve them, 
 except just as I have told you, by the power 
 of starvation? They allow men just enough 
 to keep them alive and able to work; and why 
 should not I do the same thing in my turn? 
 
196 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 I am perfectly safe, you know; they cannot 
 break the rules of the game; if they take 
 my wealth from me by force, they pull the 
 corner-stone out of the system they have built, 
 and crush themselves as well as me. Is not 
 that all clear as day? " 
 
 " But," I objected, " it is not true that you 
 have all the wealth." 
 
 Prince Hagen laughed grimly. " I have 
 so nearly all," he replied, " that the rest is 
 not worth mentioning. I have thousands of 
 those little Nibelung creatures digging away, 
 and willing to dig for ever; and there is down 
 in Nibelheim already the gold that they have 
 stored up in the Lord only knows how many 
 thousands of years." 
 
 " But it is not all yours, Prince Hagen," 
 I put in. He laughed. " I ll attend to that 
 by and bye," he said, and his eyes shone. 
 
 He touched the wonderful horses with his 
 whip, and the carriage swept out of the park 
 and began threading the labyrinth of vehicles 
 on Fifth Avenue. "We are almost home 
 now," he said. " There is no time for me to 
 tell you all my plans. But you are not an 
 imaginative person. You would not believe 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 197 
 
 me, anyway. You must wait and see how 
 things happen." 
 
 I did not say anything; I watched my com 
 panion s mouth twitching, as he guided the 
 horses. " Just think," he exclaimed, breaking 
 at last into laughter, " only a few months ago 
 I was a schoolboy, and you were trying to 
 make an Idealist out of me! And telling me 
 that I could rise in the world only by my 
 virtue! Wasn t it funny?" 
 
 Again I did not reply; he went on grimly: 
 " I am rising not altogether badly, on the 
 whole. By the way, there ll be some news 
 in this afternoon s papers that I fancy may 
 interest you. Have you seen it? " 
 
 " No," I said. " What is it? " 
 
 " Read it and see," he replied, smiling. 
 " It s a long story, and there s no time now." 
 
 We were then just approaching the " pala 
 tial mansion; " as the horses drew up, attend 
 ants came out, and a crowd began gathering 
 in an instant. Prince Hagen sprang from the 
 wagon without appearing to notice the excite 
 ment. 
 
 " You must come in and see me some day," 
 he said, pleasantly. " Perhaps you might like 
 to see some of my playthings." 
 
198 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 " I will come," I replied, as he turned to 
 ascend the great stone steps. And then as he 
 vanished, I hurried down the street, stared 
 at by the crowd. From the first newsboy I 
 met I bought a paper, and on the front page 
 I read this : 
 
 " PRINCE HAGEN ENGAGED! 
 
 ANNOUNCEMENT OF HIS BETROTHAL TO MISS 
 GOLDEN KIDD. 
 
 TREMENDOUS EXCITEMENT IN SOCIETY! 
 
 " An announcement was made this morn 
 ing, which completely electrified social cir 
 cles in New York, that Prince Hagen, the 
 now world-famous millionaire and society 
 leader, was engaged to marry Miss Golden 
 Kidd, daughter of the late Captain Kidd. 
 This announcement was made by the Kidd 
 family, but no details could be obtained from 
 either of the parties concerned, except that 
 the statement was positive and authentic. The 
 news came as an entire surprise to every one 
 in society. It is considered the most im- 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 199 
 
 portant of the social season, capping as it 
 does the climax of the meteoric career of the 
 dazzling Prince Hagen," etc., etc., etc. 
 
 And I thought that it capped the climax, 
 too. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE reader must be so good as to imagine 
 that a couple of months have passed since the 
 announcement which closed the last chapter. 
 I give two more newspaper articles concern 
 ing Prince Hagen. The first of them was 
 under the heading of "Finance;" it was a 
 very long and weighty article, filled with 
 many technical terms which I did not under 
 stand. The gist of it was as follows: 
 
 Panicky and unsettled conditions prevailed 
 generally to-day; the mysterious rumours of 
 a bull movement, which have been agitating 
 Wall Street for a week, gained in force. The 
 steady rise in prices of all kinds continued 
 throughout the morning, and toward after 
 noon increased to a startling extent. Specific 
 quotations are tabulated below; on an aver 
 age, quotations showed a gain of five points 
 at the hour of closing last night, and general 
 alarm and anxiety prevailed. Startling de 
 velopments must be awaited to-day. 
 
 The cause of the movement was the con- 
 
 zoo 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 201 
 
 tinuous buying of half a dozen firms, who 
 seemed to be provided with inexhaustible re 
 sources, and who forced prices steadily up 
 in spite of the most strenuous efforts of a 
 strong bear party, whose offers were accepted 
 in all cases without a moment s hesitation. 
 These circumstances lent strength to the 
 strange rumour which has been terrifying 
 Wall Street for several days, that Prince 
 Hagen was about to begin operations with 
 his tremendous resources; evidence for this, 
 except the continuous purchasing of the 
 broker firms, there was none, but the rumour 
 gained currency more and more. 
 
 What would be the effect of the entrance 
 into Wall Street of Prince Hagen s untold 
 wealth, at this hour it is not easy to tell; but 
 one can easily understand the alarm which 
 the report excited, etc., etc. 
 
 So much for one, and now the other: 
 
 "ALL THINGS READY FOR THE 
 WEDDING. 
 
 MISS KIDD WILL BECOME PRINCESS HAGEN IN 
 A VERITABLE FAIRYLAND. 
 
 HARD TO GET ROSES ENOUGH. 
 
202 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 " The Kidd residence was entirely given 
 up last night to the transforming genius of 
 the florist, and long after the family had re 
 tired, the half-hundred men employed for 
 the purpose were busy putting the finishing 
 touches to the magnificent decorations which 
 will help render memorable the wedding of 
 the daughter of the house. Through all the 
 wealth of floral display, the rose will pre 
 dominate, and, indeed, be queen. The coun 
 try has been ransacked from Boston to Cali 
 fornia for roses, and still there were not 
 enough last night. 
 
 " It is estimated that fully fifty thousand 
 flowers will be used in beautifying the house, 
 including American Beauty roses, lilies of the 
 valley, Japan lilies, orchids, and bridesmaids. 
 In addition there will be employed seventy 
 thousand strings of smilax, sixty-eight thou 
 sand yards of asparagus vines, and ropes of 
 asparagus vine will fall from the ceiling of 
 the square rotunda in the centre of the man 
 sion to the first floor, so as to form a canopy. 
 
 " The family spent a quiet and compara 
 tively uneventful Sunday. In the morning 
 the bridesmaids and some of the ushers who 
 called were allowed to view the magnifi- 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 203 
 
 cent wedding presents, which were displayed 
 in the library. The presents will also be on 
 exhibition after the ceremony. 
 
 " WONDERFUL DECORATIONS. 
 
 " The ceremony will take place at two 
 o clock, directly in front of the long pier- 
 glass in the music-room, which is the south 
 eastern corner of the mansion. The glass 
 will be concealed by a screen of imperial pur 
 ple tapestry, embroidered with a very quaint 
 pattern in silver. This tapestry will be car 
 ried up to a few inches below the ceiling, 
 and fall in a canopy over the raised dais upon 
 which Archbishop Sullivan will stand in 
 performing the ceremony. 
 
 " Along the sides of the tapestry will run 
 ropes of smilax and lilies of the valley, which 
 will form a covered walk, or aisle, extending 
 from the foot of the dais to the staircase. 
 The aisle will be marked out through the 
 music-room by strands of purple satin ribbon, 
 supported at intervals by the stalks of flower 
 ing plants. 
 
204 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 a THE BRIDAL PARTY. 
 
 "The bridal procession will be headed by 
 the ushers, who, as they reach the dais, will 
 arrange themselves on one side. The brides 
 maids will take up a position immediately in 
 front of the ushers, and then Miss Kidd will 
 advance to the dais, where her brother will 
 place her hand in that of the prince, and then 
 step to the rear. The members of the family 
 will follow. The wedding breakfast will be 
 served after the ceremony, in the music and 
 dining rooms, at small tables. 
 
 " As Miss Kidd is pronouncing the words 
 which will make her the "Princess Hagen, 
 nearly twenty thousand poor children will sit 
 down to a feast which is to be provided by 
 the prince," etc., etc. 
 
 At last the wedding-day came. That day 
 I was walking up Fifth Avenue, without any 
 particular purpose, and I chanced to walk by 
 the great Hagen home; everybody stared at 
 it as they passed, as if trying to see beyond 
 the heavy curtains in the windows. All New 
 York was talking about the marriage of the 
 afternoon. 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 205 
 
 It was then early in the morning, and I 
 chanced, as I went by, to recollect Prince 
 Hagen s invitation to call; an irresistible 
 impulse seized me to go in and have a look 
 at his world-famed treasures, and to congrat 
 ulate him upon his good fortune. I tried to 
 argue myself out of the desire with the state 
 ment that it was too late; but I knew that 
 Prince Hagen was not the one to have his 
 equanimity ruffled, even a few hours before 
 his marriage. 
 
 " He may not be so glad to see me," I 
 mused, " as now when he s a bachelor. I am 
 going." 
 
 And so I turned, not without a certain 
 amount of pride at being the only one of that 
 wondering crowd who dared ascend those 
 imposing steps. The servant who opened the 
 door for me stared a trifle, and made me 
 wonder, uncomfortably, if my costume were 
 possibly not up to the standard; but he took 
 my card, and I sat down to wait. 
 
 I have already quoted a description of the 
 entrance-hallway of the Hagen mansion; my 
 business at present is with the owner himself. 
 In a few minutes the servant returned and 
 escorted me to a wondrous reception-room, 
 
206 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 glowing with jewelled gold, where I per 
 ceived its owner, clad simply in black, reclin 
 ing in a golden chair. He rose with a smile 
 to greet me. " I was wondering if you ever 
 meant to come," he said. 
 
 " I am a little afraid of all this splendour," 
 I answered, smiling in turn, and taking the 
 seat offered me; " and then I feared that 
 since your engagement you might be busy." 
 
 " Oh, no," he said, " I am always glad to 
 see my Idealist. And how is the world treat 
 ing you? " 
 
 " It seems to be treating you very well," I 
 said, dodging the question; "I suppose this 
 is a very happy day with you? " 
 
 " I suppose so," said Prince Hagen, mildly. 
 
 " And how do you like being in love? " I 
 asked. 
 
 He gave a slight start. " Who in the devil 
 suggested that to you? " he inquired. 
 
 " But you are going to be married to-day," 
 I said. 
 
 " Ah, yes," he answered, twiddling his 
 fingers, " that I know." 
 
 He sat for a moment watching me, and 
 smiling. "You are not in love?" I asked, 
 finally. 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 207 
 
 " Let us not talk nonsense," said he. 
 
 " But tell me why you are marrying," I de 
 manded. " You surely do not need money." 
 
 " Oh, no," he said, " but it s the proper 
 thing to do, and I want to establish myself. 
 It gives me a little more prestige, you know, 
 and also it draws attention from my financial 
 coup. The latter is on now, by the way, as I 
 suppose youVe seen. Then, too, it gives me 
 business connections, so that I can proceed 
 without attracting attention; and it s a pleas 
 ant adventure, and it doesn t cost me any 
 trouble. There are many reasons, you see." 
 
 I sat for awhile watching him in silence, he 
 smiling; I think part of the reason he liked 
 to talk to me was that I was the biggest fool 
 he knew, and it amused him. 
 
 " Prince Hagen," I asked, finally, " have 
 you told your fiancee who you are? " 
 
 " Told her? " inquired he, in surprise. 
 " I have told her I am Prince Hagen." 
 
 " But does she know that you are a Nibel- 
 ung? " I insisted. 
 
 " No," he said, " of course not." 
 
 " Do you know," I said, in a low tone, 
 " I have wondered if it was not my duty to 
 tell her." 
 
2o8 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 He was taking a jewelled cigar-case from 
 his pocket. "Why don t you?" he asked, 
 without stopping. 
 
 " You think that I could not make her be 
 lieve me? " I inquired. 
 
 " I don t know," said he; " but what dif 
 ference would that make? " 
 
 " You mean that she would marry you 
 none the less? " 
 
 "Have a cigar?" said Prince Hagen; 
 and then as I declined, he slowly lighted 
 his. " My dear fellow," he said at last, be 
 tween the puffs; "you might prove to her 
 that I was the devil, with hoofs and horns, 
 and with brimstone and sulphur inside of 
 me, and still she d marry me. I might be a 
 French nobleman, the very bones in my body 
 rotten with centuries of inherited lust, a 
 cad, and a puppy, and a duellist beside, : 
 and still she d marry me! Do you not know 
 that the family has tested all these vases? " 
 
 He paused for a moment, and drank a long 
 draught of amusement while he watched me; 
 then at last he continued : " You seem not to 
 show a proper appreciation of what a super 
 eminently desirable bridegroom I am. It is 
 not merely that I am the most lavish enter- 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 209 
 
 tainer and the most talked of man in New 
 York; it is not that I am, presumably, the 
 richest man in the world; but I am a prince 
 as well! And I tell you there s no one in all 
 this world to cringe to a foreign nobleman 
 like your genuine free-born American." 
 
 Prince Hagen waited, but I did not reply. 
 " I think," he continued, " it is because they 
 are so vulgar they can t help knowing it. 
 These would-be aristocrats they are all of 
 them fresh from killing hogs, and such 
 things; and they all try to be proud, and 
 can t be anything but uncomfortable. They 
 all look down on each other, and everybody 
 looks down on them ; and so when a man of 
 real aristocracy comes from Europe, that is 
 what they are all pining for, and they lick 
 his boots, even while he kicks them; and a 
 woman will marry him, even if she has to buy 
 him a suit of clothes to make him decent 
 enough for the ceremony, and though he 
 keeps mistresses with her money before and 
 afterward. I learned that much about your 
 American society in a very few days." 
 
 I had no reply to make, and we sat for a 
 moment in silence, he puffing at his cigar; 
 then he said : " Here are some of the accounts 
 
210 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 of the great event; would you like to see 
 them?" 
 
 " I ve already read to-day s papers," I in 
 formed him. 
 
 " Ah, yes," he replied. " But I mean to 
 morrow s." 
 
 "To-morrow s!" I echoed, in wonder. 
 
 " Yes," he said, " they all send me the 
 proofs to read over, of course. You will see 
 where they have left the blanks for me to 
 fill in." 
 
 And as I gave a gasp, he handed out to me 
 a batch of long strips of paper, the ac 
 counts of half a dozen of the most prominent 
 journals. I glanced over one of them the 
 Hurled while Prince Hagen watched me 
 and laughed. 
 
 " PRINCE HAGEN MARRIED. 
 
 WEDDED TO MISS GOLDEN KIDD YESTERDAY. 
 ARCHBISHOP SULLIVAN TIED THE KNOT. 
 
 UNITED IN A PARADISE OF FLOWERS. WED 
 DING PRESENTS OF ASTOUNDING VALUE; 
 DIAMONDS AND OTHER PRECIOUS STONES. 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 211 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE FIFTH AVENUE HOME, 
 OF THE BRIDE S TROUSSEAU, AND THE BRIDES 
 MAIDS GOWNS. 
 
 " In the music-room of the bride s palatial 
 residence, Archbishop Sullivan presiding, 
 Miss Golden Kidd, daughter of the late Cap 
 tain Kidd, was married at two o clock yester 
 day afternoon, to Prince Raffaeli Alexandro- 
 vitch Boniment de Hagen. Immediately 
 after the ceremony the bride and groom left 
 the Kidd residence, taking the half-past four 
 o clock train for the South Sea Islands. The 
 prince was accompanied by his valets and 
 attendants, and the princess by her maids. 
 
 " No words could be adequate to describe 
 the scene of wonder which was presented by 
 the gorgeous mansion. Lavish decorations 
 of flowers made the place a scene of enchant 
 ment, while from hidden instruments music 
 heralded the bridal procession to the guests, 
 and a voice, famous upon two continents, 
 sang the song of welcome. Madame Paga- 
 nini, of the Italian opera, was concealed by 
 bowers of roses and rare orchids, and festoons 
 of smilax made dazzling by myriads of elec 
 tric lamps; from this point of vantage she 
 
212 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 sang the dream song from * Lohengrin to a 
 hushed and awestricken assemblage, etc., etc. 
 " Ere the song had closed, the guests had 
 placed themselves in the apartment where 
 the ceremony was to take place. As the 
 orchestra burst forth in the strains of the 
 Lohengrin wedding-march, the bridal party 
 came into sight down the flower-strewn aisle. 
 Archbishop Sullivan, attended by Fathers 
 O Donnelly and Rafferty, and Fathers Mur 
 phy and McGinnis, advanced to the raised 
 dais, with its canopy of velvet and gold. 
 
 "THE BRIDAL PARTY. 
 
 "Then came the bridal party; Prince 
 
 Hagen attended by and , who had 
 
 been waiting in the reception-room, came 
 through the suddenly opened doors and took 
 their places behind the clergymen. Likewise 
 the ushers, advancing through the room, led 
 the way up the garlanded aisle to where the 
 archbishop and his assistants stood in solemn 
 state. The procession which followed was 
 
 led by and - . After them came the 
 
 bridesmaids - - and - , dressed in black 
 astrachan trimmed with cheesecloth, and 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 213 
 
 wearing Gainsborough hats of mousseline de 
 soie, shirred with Nile-green peacock feath 
 ers, and each carrying a gigantic bouquet of 
 pink and white geraniums. The bride came 
 
 next, leaning upon the arm of . Her 
 
 great train, which was fully nineteen feet 
 long, was carried by , , , and 
 
 " The bride looked her best, but it w r as 
 evident that she was nervous. The ushers 
 took the stand upon either side of the arch 
 bishop, separating into couples. The brides 
 maids did likewise, and, handing her bouquet 
 of black-eyed Susans to her sister, the bride 
 advanced and stood at last at her future hus 
 band s side. At the same critical instant 
 Madame Paganini, accompanied by trom 
 bone and bassoon, began tremblingly to sing 
 * Oh, Promise Me. The archbishop, with 
 his mitre raised aloft, stood solemnly facing 
 the guests, Fathers O Donnelly and Murphy 
 being on his left hand with the service books, 
 and Fathers Rafferty and McGinnis being on 
 the right. As soon as the notes of the wonder 
 ful music had subsided, the archbishop began 
 
 the service. stepped forward and 
 
 handed to Prince Hagen the Nibelung ring, 
 
2i 4 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 which he, bending low, placed upon the trem 
 bling finger of the blushing bride. 
 
 "A NOBLE BENEDICTION. 
 
 " In his address, before pronouncing the 
 benediction, the archbishop spoke as follows, 
 stooping and seeming to speak only for the 
 wedded pair. He warned them that in this 
 world everything is arranged by an overrul 
 ing and all-powerful Providence; this should 
 be an hour of deepest humility and awe to 
 them. With the possession of high position, 
 of wealth, and of social prestige, went also 
 most grave and solemn responsibility. Turn 
 ing to Prince Hagen, the archbishop pointed 
 out to him that what he had had an oppor 
 tunity to see of American customs and ways 
 should be an experience of deep effect upon 
 all his after life. The Almighty would as 
 suredly not rest content with less than the full 
 measure of beneficent effort on his part, in 
 return for the wealth and opportunities with 
 which he had been favoured. The responses 
 of Prince Hagen were uttered in a clear, dis 
 tinct tone. The bride s voic# shook, but she 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 215 
 
 spoke with touching dignity, which was noted 
 by the hearers," etc., etc., etc. 
 
 I stopped there; I did not care to peruse 
 the three or four columns of this kind of thing 
 that followed. Neither did I care to pursue 
 further with my companion the subject of his 
 marriage; for several minutes we sat in si 
 lence, he gazing in front of him meditatively. 
 At last, when the silence was growing awk 
 ward, I brought up another subject. 
 
 " I notice things in the papers about your 
 financial advance," I said; " the battle is ap 
 parently on." 
 
 " It is," said he, smiling suddenly. " I 
 began a week ago, the same day that I got 
 the last of my treasures up from Nibelheim." 
 
 "Gracious heavens!" I gasped, staring at 
 him. " You mean that you have emptied that 
 huge cave of gold?" 
 
 " I do," said he, calmly. 
 
 "And how much did it come to?" 
 
 Prince Hagen slowly closed one eye, but 
 said nothing. 
 
 " And is it all invested yet? " I asked. 
 
 " Not the thousandth part of it," was his 
 reply. " I am putting in a few millions each 
 
216 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 day," he added afterward. " There is no 
 hurry, you know." 
 
 " You are creating tremendous excitement," 
 I said; " the papers seem to be full of the 
 Wall Street rumours." 
 
 "It is nothing as yet," he said; "wait 
 awhile. Prices will be double what they are 
 now in a few days." 
 
 " And then you ll stop and let them settle, 
 I suppose? " I remarked. 
 
 "No," said he, "why should I?" 
 
 " Do you not care to buy as cheaply as you 
 can?" 
 
 "Yes, of course," was the answer; " if the 
 market gets panicky, I shall stop and wait 
 for the air to clear. But I cannot help per 
 manently raising prices at each move; I am 
 constantly unloading masses of gold on the 
 world, and its value must therefore fall. My 
 best plan, it seems to me, is to sell quickly, 
 before the world catches on to the trick, so 
 to speak before the balance has time to 
 adjust itself." 
 
 I gave up the argument, for I am not a 
 political economist; my companion smiled 
 benignly. " I may have to quit from time to 
 time," he went on ; " the first chance I get I 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 217 
 
 am going to take a trip. I was going to hunt 
 you up and see if you wouldn t like to go with 
 
 me." 
 
 " Where to?" I asked, in some wonder. 
 
 " I m going back to Nibelheim," he re 
 plied. 
 
 He saw that I was interested. " I will tell 
 you all about it," he said. " I believe I told 
 you once before that I intended to civilise the 
 place." 
 
 " You said something about it," I re 
 sponded, " but pray explain." 
 
 Prince Hagen sat for a moment, smoking 
 meditatively, his eyes fixed upon me. " Tell 
 me," he asked at last, " suppose you were to 
 be given an opportunity to reform Nibelheim, 
 to teach those blind, wretched creatures to 
 love beauty and virtue ; would you like to do 
 it?" 
 
 " It would depend," I said, " upon what 
 was your reason for inviting me." 
 
 " My reason? " said the other. " What has 
 that to do with it? Virtue is virtue, is it not? 
 no matter what I think of it." 
 
 " Yes, very certainly," I said. 
 
 "And virtue is its own reward?" he 
 queried, gravely. 
 
218 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 " Perhaps so," I replied. 
 
 " I think myself that is why it is so scarce," 
 said Prince Hagen. Afterward he went on in 
 a more serious tone. 
 
 "Listen to me now," he said; "I am in 
 dead earnest. I should not make any condi 
 tions with you, and you would not have any 
 thing to fear from me. You believe in all 
 your idealisms, even though they smash the 
 ship; so why not go ahead and teach them 
 in Nibelheim? You surely must consider it a 
 shame that those helpless creatures live there 
 in the bowels of the earth, and know nothing 
 better to do than to dig gold all their lives. Is 
 is possible that you would refuse to teach 
 them to look to things higher? Would you 
 not like, for instance, to begin at the begin 
 ning to clean out their homes, to teach them 
 to love fresh air, and to build beautiful 
 houses? Would you not like to send their 
 children to school, and have them taught to 
 read? Would you not like to make them 
 learn to love music and poetry, to introduce 
 the study of literature there? Would you not 
 like to have your own books published and 
 read by the Nibelungs? Can it be that your 
 heart would not be stirred by the possibility 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 219 
 
 of inspiring a whole new race with your lofty 
 aspirations with being actually able to gov 
 ern them, and teach them, and make them 
 whatever you chose? " 
 
 The argument was very subtle; but I did 
 not reply. 
 
 " Let us put the whole thing in a nutshell," 
 said the other, suddenly. " Understand, in 
 the first place, that I am quite serious, and 
 that, if you do not go, I shall only have to 
 offer the chance to some one else. Down 
 there is a whole race of creatures who dwell 
 like animals in a burrow; they lived a thou 
 sand years ago just as they are living now, 
 and they will live almost certainly in the 
 same way a thousand years to come. Their 
 lives are absolutely without meaning or use; 
 they care nothing about beauty; they think 
 nothing about growth; no one of them has 
 any thought but of his own wretched, deluded 
 self. And yet these people have minds, they 
 might be made to see; they have souls, they 
 might be taught to worship; they have not 
 only their physical strength, which might be 
 of use, but they have vast stores of wealth 
 which might become a power for good. You 
 have seen all these things yourself, and you 
 
220 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 know that I speak the truth ; and when I tell 
 you that I mean to devote myself to the civ 
 ilising and developing of these people, and 
 that I ask for your help, can you refuse to 
 give it? Supposing that I once convinced 
 you that my determination was real, that the 
 civilisation I wanted was real civilisation, 
 that as teacher of the moralities I would rec 
 ognise your authority entirely, and give you 
 a free hand to do just what you saw fit, would 
 you not feel that to come with me was your 
 solemn duty? " 
 
 " You have perhaps your own reasons for 
 wanting this civilising done?" I suggested. 
 
 " I am not doing any shamming," replied 
 Prince Hagen; " obviously I have my own 
 reasons; but what has that to do with it? 
 You and I hold different views as to the na 
 ture and use of virtue; but we are certainly 
 of entirely one mind in our agreement as to 
 its importance. And you seem to me to hold 
 your view with perfect knowledge of the facts 
 of the world about you ; you see that the conse 
 quences of your trying to be unselfish are that 
 you get left on all the good things of life; 
 and still you swear by unselfishness. You cry 
 aloud to all men that they must do right 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 221 
 
 though the heavens fall. Do you mean that? 
 Or is your preaching all a sham? are you 
 really in your heart afraid to follow your doc 
 trine? Let us grant for the sake of argument 
 that the consequence of educating and elevat 
 ing the Nibelungs, of teaching them to love 
 beauty and virtue, would be that they were 
 deprived of all the stores of wealth they have, 
 and were forced to labour at getting more for 
 a wicked capitalist like me, would it not still 
 be true, according to your view of life, that 
 it would be better the change should take 
 place?" 
 
 " Yes," I said, " it undoubtedly would." 
 
 " Ah," said Prince Hagen, quickly, " then 
 you will come and uplift them?" 
 
 " No," I answered, " I very certainly shall 
 not." 
 
 " And why not? " he demanded. 
 
 " I have very weighty reasons," I re 
 sponded, gravely, " for doubting the perfecti 
 bility of the Nibelungs." 
 
 The other looked at me; I chose to appear 
 very deep, and so I did not smile. There was 
 a long silence, so long that Prince Hagen s 
 cigar went out; and then finally he observed, 
 
222 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 earnestly: "That is the one clever thing I 
 have ever heard you say in my life." 
 
 Again there was a pause; I did not choose 
 to risk my reputation by a second venture. 
 But after my host had relighted his cigar and 
 recovered his ease, I said: 
 
 " Count me out of your scheme, Prince 
 Hagen, for I have too many other plans. But 
 tell me something about it; what do you mean 
 to do?" 
 
 " IVe been thinking it over," he answered, 
 " and I think the best way that I can manage 
 what I want is to take a few priests down 
 to Nibelheim, and introduce the Catholic re 
 ligion. Catholicism goes best with monarchy, 
 you know; if you only let the priests have the 
 souls, you may do whatever you like with the 
 bodies." 
 
 " Pray, how do you know so much about 
 it? " I asked, smiling slightly. 
 
 "I?" echoed the other. "Did you not 
 know I am a Catholic? " 
 
 "For Heaven s sake, no!" I exclaimed; 
 " I was wondering about your wedding ar 
 rangements. Since when is this? " 
 
 " Since I joined Tammany Hall," was the 
 answer. " I never do things half-way. And 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 223 
 
 I had a good father explain the system to me. 
 He said that I would get immortality if I 
 believed in it; I think that I should have de 
 served it." 
 
 Prince Hagen paused for a moment and 
 puffed in silence; then suddenly he re 
 marked : " Do you know that it is a very won 
 derful idea, that immortality? D,id you 
 ever think about it? " 
 
 " Yes," I said, " a little." 
 
 " I tell you, the man who got that up was a 
 world-genius," observed the other. "When 
 I saw how it worked, it was something almost 
 too much for me to believe, and still I find 
 myself wondering if it can last. For you 
 know if you can once get a man believing in 
 immortality, there is no more left for you to 
 desire; you can take everything in the world 
 he owns you can skin him alive if it pleases 
 you and he will bear it all with perfect 
 good humour. I tell you what, I lie awake at 
 nights and dream about the chances of getting 
 the Nibelungs to believe in immortality; I 
 don t think I can manage it, but it is a stake 
 worth playing for. I say the phrases over to 
 myself you know them all * It is better 
 to give than to receive i Lay not up for 
 
224 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 yourselves treasures on earth ( Take no 
 heed, saying what shall ye eat! As a matter 
 of fact, I fancy the Nibelungs will prove 
 pretty tough at reforming, but it is worth any 
 amount of labour. Suppose I could ever get 
 them to the self-renouncing point! Just 
 fancy the self-renunciation of a man with a 
 seventy-mile tunnel full of gold!" 
 
 Prince Hagen s eyes danced; his face was 
 a study. I watched him wonderingly. " Why 
 do you go to all that bother? " I demanded, 
 suddenly. " If you want the gold, why don t 
 you simply kill the Nibelungs and take it? " 
 
 " I have thought of that," he replied; " I 
 might easily manage it all with a single re 
 volver. But why should I kill the geese that 
 lay me golden eggs? I want not only the gold 
 they have, but the gold that they will dig 
 through the centuries that are to come, for I 
 know that the resources of Nibelheim, if they 
 could only be properly developed, would be 
 simply infinite. So I have made up my mind 
 to civilise the people and develop their souls." 
 
 " Explain to me just how you expect to get 
 their gold," I said. 
 
 " I expect to get it just as I get it in New 
 York," was the response. " At present they 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 225 
 
 hide their wealth in holes ; I mean to broaden 
 their minds, and establish a system of credit. 
 I mean to teach them ideals of usefulness and 
 service, to establish the arts and sciences, to 
 introduce machinery and all the modern im 
 provements that tend to increase the central 
 isation of power; I shall be master just 
 as I am here because I am the strongest, 
 and because I am not a dupe." 
 
 " I see," I said ; " but all this will take a 
 long time." 
 
 " Yes," said he, " I know; it is the whole 
 course of history to be lived over again. But 
 there will be no mistakes and no groping in 
 this case, for I know the way, and I am king. 
 It will be a sort of benevolent despotism 
 the ideal form of government, as I believe." 
 
 " And you are sure there is no chance of 
 your plans failing? " 
 
 "Failing!" he laughed. " You should 
 have seen how they have worked so far." 
 
 " You have begun applying them? " 
 
 " I have been down to Nibelheim twice 
 since the death of dear grandpa," said the 
 prince. " The first time, as you imagine, 
 there was tremendous excitement, for all Ni 
 belheim knew what a bad person I had been, 
 
226 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 and stood in deadly terror of my return. 
 They had a few hopes, of course, for Alberich 
 had spread the news of my journey to the 
 world to be reformed; but I fancy most of 
 them thought they were doomed. I got them 
 all together and told them the truth that 
 I had become wise and virtuous, that I meant 
 to respect every man s property, and that I 
 meant to consecrate my whole endeavour to 
 the developing of the resources of my native 
 land. And then you should have witnessed 
 the scene! They went half wild with rejoic 
 ing; they fell down on their knees and 
 thanked me with tears in their eyes; I played 
 the Pater Patrice in a fashion to take away 
 your breath. And afterward I went on to 
 explain to them that I had discovered very 
 many wonderful things up on the earth; that 
 I was going to make a law forbidding any of 
 them to go there, because it was so dangerous, 
 but that I myself was going to brave all the 
 perils for their sakes. I said that there were 
 many wonderful things known to the earth- 
 men which I meant to teach them; first of 
 all, I told them about a wonderful animal 
 that was called a steam-drill, and that ate fire, 
 and dug out gold with swiftness beyond any- 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 227 
 
 thing they could imagine. I said that I was 
 going to empty all my royal treasure caves, 
 and take my fortune and some of theirs to the 
 earth to buy a few thousand of those wonder 
 ful creatures; and I promised them that I 
 would give them to the Nibelungs to use, and 
 they might have twice as much gold as they 
 would have dug with their hands, provided 
 they would give me the balance. Of course 
 they agreed to it with shouts of delight, and 
 the contracts were signed then and there. 
 They helped me get out all my gold, and I 
 took them down the steam-drills, and showed 
 them how to manage them; so before very 
 long I expect to have quite a snug little in 
 
 come." 
 
 Prince Hagen paused and knocked the 
 ashes from his cigar. " What do you think 
 about that? " he asked. 
 
 " I wish you joy," I said. 
 
 " You still don t think you d like to come 
 help?" he inquired, mildly. 
 
 " No," I said, " I don t think so." 
 
 "You might be high priest to all Nibel- 
 heim," said Hagen; "it would be a paying 
 position." 
 
228 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 "No; I m sorry, but I have other things 
 to do." 
 
 " It all comes to the same thing in the 
 end," he observed. " I had as soon you stayed 
 here to strengthen your own people in their 
 moral ideas. There is a time of trouble com 
 ing, you know, when I get my hands on things. 
 I promise you the world will be managed dif 
 ferently from the way it is just now. When 
 there is no more competition, men will have 
 to work for what they can get; and then there 
 will be no more extravagant and empty dis 
 play on the part of the rich, I can assure you. 
 If I do not turn their Fifth Avenue mansions 
 into lodging-houses, it will be because my 
 plans miscarry." 
 
 " You will leave just one for yourself? " I 
 inquired. 
 
 " Oh, no," he said, easily, " I have decided 
 to build my mansion in Central Park." 
 
 " Perhaps," I suggested, " you have not 
 always remembered that you live in a re 
 public." 
 
 " I live in a country," was the answer, 
 " where the power that rules is money; where 
 the man who has money may have whatever 
 else he will." 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 229 
 
 " I have some doubts of it," replied I ; 
 "you may find public opinion troublesome; 
 you may be hampered by the law." 
 
 " I will bribe the voters," was the response. 
 
 " But if the opposition becomes too 
 strong? " 
 
 " Then I will buy the legislators," answered 
 Hagen, and laughed. 
 
 " That is all very well," I exclaimed, im 
 patiently; "but if you intend to subject all 
 civilisation to your will, and to make all men 
 your slaves, you will waken in the end a power 
 of rage that nothing can withstand. You will 
 suddenly find laws passed to deprive you of 
 your wealth all at once." 
 
 " Ah, yes," laughed my companion, " in 
 that case I will call for assistance upon you." 
 
 "Upon me!" I gasped. 
 
 " Upon you, of course, and upon all other 
 moralists upon all who believe in public 
 honesty, and in the sanctity of property; upon 
 all who respect the deep fact of morality, 
 that it is better to suffer any evil than to soil 
 one s conscience; upon all decent people; in 
 short, upon all who have learned God s com 
 mand, Thou shalt not steal! " 
 
 I said nothing; Prince Hagen smoked. 
 
230 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 " Understand me," he continued, after a 
 time ; " I am no fool, I have seen all the conse 
 quences of my actions. I know just what must 
 be when my work is completed, when all 
 wealth, all power, all command is in the 
 hands of one selfish man, and all the rest of 
 men are his slaves, compelled to toil night 
 and day for his pleasure, and receive a bare 
 existence in return. I know that they must 
 watch me in my splendour with hungry eyes; 
 and I know that they can be held back from 
 it all by nothing in the world but one thing 
 -their conscience! And if I dare set to 
 work to bring about such a state of affairs, it 
 is only because I have come to believe that 
 morality has been so strong a habit with men 
 that they will stand the strain. I see the same 
 thing about me now, you know, everywhere 
 in the world. Am I not living in a palace 
 now? And down on Hester Street are there 
 not ten thousand people crowded into a 
 smaller space? And yet do they ever dream 
 that it must not be just so? Wait until the 
 time comes, and watch how I make the fight! 
 If it does not prove a thrilling spectacle, it 
 will not be my fault, I promise. You must, 
 of course, not expect me to speak as a cynic, 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 231 
 
 as I do now; I shall be virtuous and indig 
 nant; I shall say that the interests of the 
 working classes must be trusted to those to 
 whom God, in his infinite wisdom, has given 
 control of the property interests of the coun 
 try. I shall have right and justice on my side ; 
 I shall stand sublime upon my pinnacle of 
 virtue, crying that the first man who lays 
 hands upon my power is a thief, and that the 
 government which sanctions him stands self- 
 perjured before the judgment throne of 
 heaven. I shall call all the sanctity of relig 
 ion to my aid, and all the dreadful majesty 
 of justice. And do you think that I shall not 
 find honest men to stand by principle that 
 no prophet will arise to thunder against those 
 who appeal to violence and fraud? Who 
 knows but you might be that prophet your 
 self? You would recognise the fact, would 
 you not, that the employing of violence 
 against me, or the robbing of me with the 
 aid of ballots, would mean a denial of the 
 moral law, and the proclamation of a reign 
 of anarchy and crime? " 
 
 I did not attempt any response to this elo 
 quent appeal ; I was striving to conceal some 
 little agitation. 
 
232 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 "You do think that my case is hopeless?" 
 asked Prince Hagen, with feigned anxiety. 
 
 " Not entirely," I said. 
 
 " And if I fail," he continued, " if I bring 
 down this flimsy Phantasm Structure of a 
 civilisation about my ears if I reduce soci 
 ety once more to a Rousseau ( state-of-nature, 
 what difference will that make? Shall I not 
 be Prince Hagen? And Nibelheim will per 
 haps be more preferable as a dwelling-place 
 by that time, anyway; what do you think?" 
 
 It was hard for me to realise, somehow, 
 that all these things were actual possibilities 
 nay, that they were even then beginning 
 to be. I was staring at him, and he smiling, 
 as he watched the look of perplexity on my 
 face. He was reclining in his chair, his arms 
 outstretched wide; his whole presence at that 
 moment seemed to me to be so much that of 
 a demon that I shuddered. 
 
 " At any rate," he said, his eyes gleaming, 
 " there is one thing very certain, that wher 
 ever I am, here or in Nibelheim, I shall al 
 ways be a prince; whatever there is to rule 
 I shall rule, and rule it alone. I am getting 
 to feel my wings in these days, and to know 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 233 
 
 my power; and, if any man thinks he can 
 match it, let him only come and try!" 
 
 And he laughed; he had gotten up sud 
 denly from his chair, and was standing before 
 me ; then, as he continued to gaze at my face 
 of anxiety and wonder, he put his arms on his 
 hips, and bent over and began to shake with 
 laughter. 
 
 "Idealist!" he chuckled. "Ha, ha, ha! 
 Idealist! Tell me, have you nothing at all to 
 say about it? " 
 
 I had nothing at all. 
 
 " And you will write your sublimities still 
 with never a doubt? " he inquired. " And 
 be just as altruistic and enthusiastic and gen 
 erally seraphic? I ought not, as a matter of 
 fact, to tell you all these things, for they shake 
 your faith; and you have the makings of a 
 moralist in you, I think; you might influence 
 many people to love meekness and unselfish 
 ness. I must cherish and encourage every 
 influence of that sort I can find, you know." 
 
 There was a long pause after that; I sat 
 with my eyes fixed upon the Nibelung, and 
 he with his mocking laugh returned the gaze. 
 I had never attempted to answer his argu- 
 
234 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 ments before, but just then, as I sat there, a 
 striking thought came to my mind. 
 
 " Prince Hagen," I said, suddenly, " would 
 you like me to tell you one of those instances 
 of virtue such as you are seeking? " 
 
 " Yes," he answered, " by all means. Go 
 ahead." 
 
 " It happened many hundred years ago," I 
 said, " but its influence is none the less potent 
 for that, and you might find it useful in case 
 of need. It was one of those men whom you 
 call moralists, one who believed with all his 
 soul that this morality came from God, and 
 that it was more precious than many king 
 doms. He gave all his life to teaching it, to 
 practising love and meekness; and in the end 
 he allowed himself to be crucified, that he 
 might attest his faith in his message." 
 
 " Such instances are very curious," ob 
 served Prince Hagen, as I paused. " I have 
 heard of them." 
 
 " This man founded a great religion," I 
 said; "you have heard of him, too." 
 
 " Ah, yes," was the reply, " but why do you 
 tell me about him now? " 
 
 " I was going to tell you one of the sayings 
 that tradition puts into his mouth," I an- 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 235 
 
 swered. " It is a little story, a very curious 
 one, and one that I am certain you would 
 find useful in your attempts to impress upon 
 other men the fact of the vanity of riches." 
 
 " Ah," said Prince Hagen, "that is good; 
 let us hear it." 
 
 I sat for a few moments gazing at him; 
 then I said: 
 
 " l The ground of a certain rich man 
 brought forth plentifully: 
 
 " And he thought within himself, saying, 
 What shall I do, because I have no room 
 where to bestow my fruits? 
 
 " And he said, This will I do: I will 
 pull down my barns and build greater; and 
 there will I bestow all my fruits and my 
 goods. 
 
 " And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou 
 hast much goods laid up for many years; 
 take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 
 
 " * But God said unto him, Thou fool, this 
 night thy soul shall be required of thee: then 
 whose shall those things be, which thou hast 
 provided? " 
 
 And I stopped; Prince Hagen stood still, 
 staring at me. 
 
236 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 " Is it not an interesting story? " I asked, 
 gravely. 
 
 " Yes," he answered, " very." And then he 
 stretched his arms, and forced a laugh. " It 
 makes me thankful that I am a Nibelung," 
 he said, " and have thousands of years to live." 
 
 " Are you very certain that you have so 
 many? " I inquired. 
 
 " Fairly," he responded, laughing. 
 
 " Have you never thought that perhaps, 
 while you are crushing all civilisation with 
 gold, some fanatic might take the law into 
 his own hands? Have you never thought that 
 even now some unexpected sickness, some 
 accident " 
 
 "Oh, come, come!" exclaimed he, impa 
 tiently, " you are talking nonsense! " 
 
 And I stopped; he seemed a little angry. 
 A moment later he took out his jewelled 
 watch and glanced at it; I took the hint. 
 
 "It must be getting late," I said, rising; 
 " it must be near the hour of your wedding." 
 
 " Yes," he replied, " it is." 
 
 " Forgive me for taking your time," I put 
 in. 
 
 " Oh, that s all right," he said, condescend 
 ingly; " I could spare it." 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 237 
 
 " And forgive me for disturbing your 
 peace of mind; I regret - 
 
 Prince Hagen waved his hand. " It is 
 nothing," he said; and then, laughing with 
 his usual carelessness, he escorted me to the 
 door of the apartment and opened it. 
 
 A tall attendant stood there, and took me 
 under his charge. " Good morning," said the 
 host, as I started; and then he added to the 
 servant, " The carriage in ten minutes." 
 
 Afterward I heard him close the door, and 
 I followed the man down the broad hallway. 
 I had much to think of, but I could not for 
 bear to gaze about me at the wondrous place, 
 at the magnificent tapestries and paintings, 
 the floors of rare and wondrous marbles, the 
 long rows of jewelled vases of gold, gleaming 
 in the sunlight. So I passed down the great 
 staircase, and to the hall below, which shone 
 like a vision from the Arabian Nights; I 
 paused for a moment to gaze at the marvellous 
 Coronation Cup, with its groups of sea- 
 nymphs and Tritons supporting a jewelled 
 crown; and then I passed on to the grated 
 door, and so out into the street. I heard the 
 barriers clang behind me, and I took a deep 
 breath of the fresh air. 
 
238 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 The way was blocked tight with a staring 
 crowd, but I forced myself through and went 
 on down the avenue. I felt pretty much as a 
 man in a dream; for I had not yet realised 
 the fearful things that Hagen had told me; 
 it seemed a nightmare, a phantasy of my own 
 brain. I whispered to myself again and 
 again : " Can it be true that this man will 
 master all society that he will turn all the 
 vast machinery of human progress to his de 
 mon s use?" I thought of what he had al 
 ready done, and I shuddered; the form of 
 him loomed up before me, like some giant 
 spectre overshadowing my soul. 
 
 "It is a ghastly thing!" I whispered. 
 " What can one do against this power of evil? 
 Must the world always be at the mercy of the 
 wild beast of selfishness? must high and 
 sacred things be always the prey of brute 
 force and cunning? " 
 
 In general, I do not torture myself with 
 images of evil ; but just then they were forced 
 upon me, and my being writhed at this sight 
 of black injustice enthroned and defiant. 
 " What can be done? " I exclaimed to myself. 
 " What can be done? This man is master of 
 everything, or will be; and who can over- 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 239 
 
 throw him? I, and others, who are labouring 
 for art and beauty, have scarce bread enough 
 to put in our mouths; and the wealth of men, 
 the labour of millions, that might be of sacred 
 use, must go for the glory of this wretch! He 
 stands there upon the pinnacle of his power, 
 and mocks at all opposition ; is there nothing 
 left for faith to do but cry out in despair and 
 rage? Of what use is it that a man strives 
 for the high gifts of the soul, when all the 
 world is filled with the wonder of such things 
 as these when Hagen and Hagen s power 
 and Hagen s glory are the talk of all, the ideal 
 of all?" 
 
 And so I went on, not heeding where I 
 walked, or what passed about me; my soul 
 was swallowed up in bitterness and hate, a 
 mood that I suppose all true men must some 
 times know. I saw nothing to do but live 
 apart like a Timon, and let the world worship 
 its own idols, and be of the devil quite alto 
 gether as it chose. I thought of the press 
 I thought of the politicians I thought of 
 the " elite " and their inanities and it 
 seemed as if God s fair earth had all at once 
 become a carnival of apes. 
 
 " Let him master them," I muttered, " and 
 
240 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 let them serve him, just as he says they shall. 
 What difference will it make? He is a devil; 
 but is he any worse than the people who gape 
 at him and toady to him? He happens to be 
 the victor of the moment in this miserable 
 jangle of vanities. He stands now at the sum 
 mit of his triumph, knowing that he is secure, 
 and mocking at man and at God " 
 
 And then suddenly I came out of my rev 
 erie with a start; I was still on the busy 
 avenue, amid the noise of eager crowds and 
 hurrying vehicles ; but my attention had been 
 suddenly caught by a loud shout that rang 
 above them all. I stared for a moment, taken 
 at a loss; and then, as the cries grew more 
 frequent, I saw that people were pointing up 
 the street in the direction from which I had 
 come. I turned, and then gazed, transfixed 
 with sudden alarm. 
 
 Some four or five blocks up the avenue 
 there was a commotion apparent among the 
 crowded vehicles; they were scattering to 
 right and left in confusion, amid cries of 
 warning from the throng of people. A mo 
 ment later I saw a carriage come through 
 the space thus opened, drawn by two horses 
 that were galloping like the wind. It was 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 241 
 
 evident in a second that they were running 
 away; and pandemonium reigned. Coach 
 men turned their teams into side streets, shout 
 ing as they lashed their horses; others drove 
 upon the sidewalks, while the crowd scattered 
 in every direction, men leaping over railings, 
 and women and children seeking refuge upon 
 the steps of dwellings. 
 
 There was a horse in the middle of the 
 street that had taken alarm and become un 
 manageable; I rushed with several others to 
 seize the bridle and force it to one side, the 
 cries in the meantime becoming more and 
 more a bedlam. A policeman flashed by me 
 on a bicycle, riding at full speed and sending 
 a warning shout ahead. And in the mean 
 time the team of runaways came nearer and 
 nearer, until I could hear the rattle of their 
 hoofs upon the pavement. 
 
 Somehow or other the crowd got the refrac 
 tory horse to one side; I gave a swift glance 
 down the broad avenue, and saw that it was 
 clear for a block or two more, and then I 
 turned to look again at the approaching 
 horses. 
 
 They made a thrilling picture; they were 
 
242 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 only about two blocks away at that moment, 
 and racing like mad ; behind them there was a 
 driving cart swaying from side to side. I saw 
 one figure in it, and I whispered in terror, 
 " God help him! " And then suddenly I bent 
 down, leaning forward and staring, my eyes 
 starting from my head. I caught at a lamp 
 post, and then all at once gave a shout that 
 rang out above all the noise and excitement. 
 I had noticed the horses, that they were chest 
 nut in colour; and then as they came a little 
 nearer I had recognised them recognised 
 it all the red driving-cart, and the black 
 figure, and the madly galloping team. They 
 were the Persian horses! It was Prince 
 Hagen ! 
 
 Men had heard my shout, and they stared 
 more wildly than ever. And meantime the 
 horses were plunging frantically on, gallop 
 ing, galloping, galloping, their hoofs beating 
 sharp thunder on the pavement. They were 
 wild horses anyway, lithe, trembling thor 
 oughbreds; and now they were stretched out 
 in fierce race, necks extended, nostrils quiv 
 ering, eyes red and staring in terror. The 
 reins were loose, flapping madly about their 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 243 
 
 legs, causing new and new exertion. It was 
 like standing by a track and watching an ex 
 press-train sweep up with ever-increasing 
 speed and rattle. The carriage swayed and 
 rocked, and the people screamed in fear; for 
 there upon the seat alone and helpless, and 
 wholly paralysed with terror sat a man, a 
 small, black-clad figure crouching upon the 
 seat, clutching the rail with convulsive grip, 
 and staring ahead with dilated eyes, Prince 
 Hagen! 
 
 My cry had been passed on, and the street 
 rang with it: " Prince Hagen! Prince Ha 
 gen!" And meanwhile nearer and nearer! 
 So long as I live I shall never forget that face 
 the face of that lord of millions and master 
 of men, whirling onward in mad race, bent 
 forward and with set teeth, his hair flying 
 backward, and his face as white as paper. 
 And so he shot by like a flash of light, the 
 horses panting and the vehicle rocking in 
 delirious nightmare dance. And an instant 
 later came a shrill scream from it, and a shout 
 from a thousand throats. A man had leaped 
 out to stop the horses, and, quick as lightning, 
 they had swerved in alarm. The crowd scat- 
 
244 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 tered on the pavement, and an instant later, 
 with a fierce, sickening crash, the carriage 
 hurled itself against a lamp-post. I saw the 
 figure on the seat shoot forward like an arrow 
 through the air, and I heard the thud, as it 
 crashed head-first against the stone corner of 
 a flight of steps. 
 
 Most of the people stood still, sick with 
 horror; but one or two bounded forward. 
 They seized the bridles of the plunging 
 horses, and I - - 1 darted wildly to where 
 Prince Hagen lay. I saw blood flowing as 
 I bent down. The man rolled over there 
 was a great gash in his forehead, but he was 
 still alive. He half raised himself, his hands 
 quivering; there was a look of frightful 
 struggle on his face, fierce pain and terror 
 battling in the grip of death. His lips moved 
 once; he clutched wildly in the air; and then 
 he gave a gasp and fell back. A gurgling 
 sound came from his throat, and a great gush 
 of blood from the open wound. One quiver 
 shook his frame, and then not a motion 
 more. I gazed once, and then turned away 
 my head. 
 
 Prince Hagen was dead I 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 245 
 
 New York Evening Whirled. 
 
 EXTRA I EXTRA ! 
 
 "HAGEN KILLED! ! 
 
 PERSIAN HORSES RAN AWAY 1 
 JUST BEFORE WEDDING! 
 FIFTH AVENUE CROWDS HOR 
 RIFIED BY ACCIDENT! 
 
 " This afternoon, at ten min 
 utes past twelve o clock, just two 
 hours before he was to have been 
 married, Prince Hagen was driv 
 ing down Fifth Avenue, when 
 his famous team of horses took 
 fright at an automobile, bolted 
 down the avenue, and finally, at 
 the corner of Fortieth Street, col 
 lided with a passing ice- wagon, 
 throwing the prince from his 
 seat, and killing him instantly. 
 The accident, which was one of 
 the most thrilling ever seen in 
 New York, was witnessed by 
 crowds of people, who thronged 
 the avenue. 
 
 "The day was to have been 
 the most eventful in Prince Ha- 
 gen s life. All preparations for 
 the great wedding had been 
 made, and all day the happy 
 bridegroom had been receiving 
 the congratulations of his friends. 
 Just before the catastrophe, he 
 had been closeted with a well- 
 known society leader, and, after 
 his friend took leave, he ordered 
 his horses, for what purpose 
 could not be learned. His leav 
 ing the house was witnessed by 
 a crowd of people, who had been 
 gathered about the building all 
 day. 
 
 " It was noticed that the Per 
 sian horses were fiercely restive; 
 
 New York Evening Journey. 
 
 EXTRA! EXTRA! 
 
 " PRINCE HAGEN DEAD ! ! 
 
 DREADFUL ACCIDENT ON FIFTH 
 
 AVENUE! PERSIAN HORSES 
 BOLTED! TRAGIC END OF A 
 WEDDING-DAY 1 
 
 " This morning, at fifteen min 
 utes to twelve o clock, almost at 
 the very hour of his greatest joy, 
 the career of Prince Hagen was 
 cut short by the running away of 
 his Persian horses. They broke 
 into a run without any apparent 
 excuse, crashed into the euro at 
 the corner of Forty-first Street, 
 overturned the carriage, and in 
 stantly killed the prince. For 
 tunately, the avenue was not 
 crowded at the time, or yet more 
 ruin must have been caused by 
 the maddened steeds. 
 
 " All preparations for the wed 
 ding, the news of which has elec 
 trified the whole country, had 
 been completed, and Prince Ha 
 gen was the envy of all on this 
 long-expected day. Not five 
 minutes before the accident, he 
 had been talking to a Journey 
 reporter, to whom he expressed 
 his joy at the coming event. He 
 then ordered his team and passed 
 out, being cheered by the crowds 
 which have surrounded his man 
 sion at all hours recently. 
 
 " The magnificent horses gave 
 no sign of any wildness, and no 
 one had the slightest warning of 
 the fearful calamity impending 
 Prince Hagen paused for a mo 
 ment to stroke the heads of tht 
 beautiful creatures, of which h* 
 
246 
 
 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 it was all the groom could do to 
 hold them. Prince Hagen, how 
 ever, showed no sign of fear, 
 but took the reins at once and 
 drove away, cheered by the 
 crowd. The team had gone 
 about ten blocks down the ave 
 nue, when an automobile whirled 
 out from a side street, causing 
 the horses to shy in fright. At 
 the same time, the reins in some 
 way became entangled, and a 
 moment later the horses broke 
 into a run. The groom at once 
 leaped to the ground, escaping 
 with a fractured collar-bone. 
 Prince Hagen, however, pluckily 
 held to the reins, endeavouring 
 with all his power to stop the 
 maddened team. 
 
 " At no time during the wild 
 ride that followed did he lose his 
 head, but guided the maddened 
 creatures on their long run down 
 the avenue. The race was 
 watched by terrified crowds; 
 the horses ran like the wind, the 
 driving-cart swaying from side to 
 side. All efforts to stop them 
 proved of no avail, and likewise 
 Prince Hagen s own brave fight 
 was in vain. At Fortieth Street, 
 an ice-wagon passed directly 
 across the avenue, and the team 
 crashed straight into it. Prince 
 Hagen was thrown, falling into 
 the middle of the street, and 
 fracturing the skull on the left 
 side. A Whirled reporter was 
 the first person to reach him ; he 
 raised himself half-way, gasping 
 My wife ! and then, with a 
 groan, he sunk back dead. 
 
 " The city is electrified by the 
 tidings of the fearful calamity. 
 The bride lies at her home pros 
 trated," etc., etc,, etc. 
 
 is said to have been passionately 
 fond. He also gave one glance 
 up the street, where stood the 
 mansion in which his blushing 
 bride was even then preparing 
 for the ceremony. 
 
 " He then mounted into the 
 carriage ; at the same instant 
 the groom had scarcely had 
 time to step to one side the 
 horses bolted fiercely away, dash 
 ing down the avenue at full 
 speed. 
 
 "The whole fearful accident 
 happened with such lightning 
 rapidity that no one had time to 
 realise it. 
 
 "Prince Hagen appeared to 
 lose his head, for he dropped 
 the reins and seemed on the 
 point of leaping to the ground. 
 He was not quick enough, how 
 ever, for the team, which was 
 now wild with terror, ran only 
 two or three blocks before the 
 tragic end came. The wagon, 
 which was flying from side to 
 side, collided suddenly with the 
 curb, overturning instantly. 
 Prince Hagen was thrown 
 against a lamp-post with fearful 
 violence, fracturing several ribs 
 and sustaining internal injuries. 
 The Journey reporter was the 
 first person to reach him, lifting 
 him from the ground. Prince 
 Hagen s last words were never 
 uttered, for a sudden rush of 
 blood choked him, and he sunk 
 back and died several minutes 
 later. 
 
 " Society is horrified by the 
 accident. The bride is said to 
 be hysterical with grief," etc., 
 etc., etc. 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 247 
 
 Grand Chorus of all Papers. 
 (Three Days Later.) 
 
 " The funeral pageant was the most mag 
 nificent and impressive that this city has ever 
 witnessed, etc. . . . The bereavement was 
 universal, etc. . . . The friends of good gov 
 ernment had not forgotten Prince Hagen s 
 services; and likewise the best of New York s 
 society turned out to honour the deceased, 
 and to mourn his untimely end, etc., etc. 
 
 " The saddest and most touching sight of all 
 was the bride and her family, all in deepest 
 mourning. The circumstance that Prince 
 Hagen had met his death at almost the very 
 hour of his wedding made the whole scene 
 fearfully impressive to all. As the sobbing 
 bride was led up the aisle, there was scarcely 
 a dry eye in the massive temple, etc. . . . The 
 low, mournful music of Chopin s funeral 
 march increased the tragic effect, etc., etc. 
 . . . After the mourners marched in solemn 
 procession, etc., etc. . . . Then was heard 
 from the choir the thrilling voice of Madame 
 Paganini, who had been engaged (it is said 
 for a tremendous sum) to sing at the wedding 
 
248 PRINCE HAGEN 
 
 three days before, etc., etc. . . . Archbishop 
 Sullivan officiated at the ceremonies that 
 followed, assisted by Fathers O Donnelly and 
 Rafferty, Fathers Murphy and McGinnis, 
 who were to have assisted at the wedding. 
 
 " In fact, every circumstance served only to 
 recall the event so tragically interrupted, and 
 to increase the awe in the hearts of those 
 present, etc., etc. 
 
 " The funeral oration was delivered by 
 Archbishop Sullivan, and was a magnifi 
 cent tribute to the virtues of the deceased, as 
 a useful and philanthropic citizen, a faithful 
 son of the Church, and a pattern to all the 
 ages of what a man of wealth should be. He 
 spoke of his public-spiritedness, and his in 
 terest in the welfare of Democracy; of his 
 private charities, and of his generous hospi 
 tality, which made him honoured of all as a 
 shining example of the liberal-mindedness 
 which characterises our society. He alluded 
 then in touching terms to the bride and her 
 tragic bereavement; and said that, if God, 
 in His unspeakable Majesty and unfathom 
 able Wisdom, had chosen to cut short so 
 bright a career, we could only bow our heads 
 before His judgment, and know how small 
 
PRINCE HAGEN 249 
 
 before His glory was all our human greatness ; 
 that all men must take this dreadful warning 
 to their hearts, and strive more than ever to 
 feel that i in the midst of life, we are in death/ 
 and that we must, at all times, be prepared to 
 render account for the great blessings which 
 Providence showers upon us. The oration 
 follows in full," etc., etc., etc. 
 
 THE END. 
 
Upton Sinclair s Greatest Book 
 
 If we investigate the existing social institutions 
 we find that every one of them fosters or protects, 
 in one way or another, the economic power of the in 
 dustrial kings to-day. It is the men who own the 
 mines, mills, railroads and factories that rule the 
 world to-day. 
 
 Gradually as new systems of production have 
 evolved during the ages, the governments, the laws, 
 the religions and the institutions of learning, and 
 later the press, have evolved also to fit the new 
 regime to foster and to protect the new economic 
 powers. 
 
 Men who secure economic control of a nation will 
 ultimately be able to dictate the form of govern 
 ment, to choose the college curriculum, to fill the 
 mouths of the clergy with teachings that shall ren 
 der docile the workers who are producing the wealth 
 of the world. They are able to harness the press so 
 that it shall run only in the paths leading to greater 
 power for themselves. 
 
Every student of sociology learns that in the evo 
 lution of Society governments have changed; new 
 laws have come and gone, with new standards of 
 morality. Churches have arisen or altered to meet 
 the needs (unconsciously perhaps) of the ruling 
 classes of the various ages. Wise men, authors, 
 poets and editors have ever sung the praises of the 
 Man in Power. 
 
 Prince Hagen is the personification of Capital 
 ism. For himself, he mocked at morality, but he 
 realized fully how the present ethical and religious 
 standards protect him and his class. The working- 
 men are many and we are few, he says. They are a 
 thousand times more powerful than we. Only their 
 religious beliefs, their moral scruples and their fear 
 of the law separate them from our wealth. 
 
 But they are "honest men," he sneers. They boast 
 of their honesty. They will touch none of our prop 
 erty. 
 
 We all know that many workingmen toil in mis 
 ery in the hope of treasures stored up in an sternal 
 heaven. 
 
 As a work showing the value of existing institu 
 tions for the protection and support of the capi 
 talist system of society, Prince Hagen is invaluable. 
 
 "Prince Hagen" was originally brought out by a 
 
very respectable Boston publisher at a high price. 
 There was far too much truth in it to suit the tastes 
 of the capitalistic buyers to whom it was offered, 
 and it was soon "out of print." 
 
 The author has now wisely decided that wage- 
 workers are the ones who will read, enjoy and cir 
 culate this book. He has therefore leased the plates 
 to our co-operative publishing house, owned and 
 controlled by wage-working revolutionists. 
 
 If YOU like the book, we want your help in circu 
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WHAT TO READ ON SOCIALISM 3 
 
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