290 Ten Years of oiiy Life. 



balls, and practising Spanish dances and the hornpipe ; but, 

 besides this, we had to attend to other social duties outside of 

 Coblentz. Having received an invitation from the Governor 

 of Mayence, the Prince of Holstein, we went there on the 15th, 

 and stayed at the house of Major Von Bloch, an old friend of 

 Felix's. The ball was splendid ; I danced every set and many 

 extra tours. 



The Prince of Holstein was much liked, though he was very 

 strict. When we drove next day to the station, and he accom- 

 panied me, he saw in the street a soldier who was the worse 

 for liquor. The Prince called out at once a thundering ' Halt ! ' 

 and had him arrested, threatening him with all kinds of pun- 

 ishment. Taking pity on the poor fellow, I said to the angry 

 General, in my bad German, ' Durchlaucht, sei Du ein gutes 

 Mensch, und lass das arm Kerl laufen ! ' which amused him so 

 much that he laughed, and in this good humour the man got 

 off with a reprimand. 



On the 19th the fancy ball at Mrs. von C 's took place. 



The costumes in general were not nice at all, and our Spanish 

 quadrille went off very indifferently. I danced with Mr. von 



C , who danced the fandango more like a polish bear than 



a Spaniard, and seemed to have a particular spite against my 

 toes. 



We had laid down a rule amongst ourselves in reference to 

 the balls and evening parties given by us ; which was very 

 sensible, as many amongst us were not rich. According to this 

 regulation, not more than two dishes of meat were to be given, 



and only red and white table wine. Mr. Von C , however, 



who was a wealthy man, asserted that a fancy ball was an ex- 

 ceptional case, and gave a sumptuous supper and an immense 

 quantity of champagne, which caused some remarks from 



General Herwarth. These remarks anno}ed Mr. von C 



so much, that he in his vexation got very drunk and went off 

 to his bed, by which I had the advantage of getting rid of him 

 as a partner for the cotillion, which 1 danced then with our 

 new Colonel, Count Waldersee, who was a far superior dancer 

 and man. 



The fancy ball at General Herwarth's took place on the 

 23rd. We were all in a great flutter, for our sailor dresses from 

 Bonn did not arrive until very late in the afternoon. The 

 ball was very crowded, and dancing was rather difficult. Be- 



