Page:Bill the minder.djvu/96

THE TRIPLETS grief-stricken uncle before the King, who had in the meantime arrived upon the shore. Bill explained the difficult position in which the poor young things found themselves; but, wise as he undoubtedly was, the King for some time could make nothing whatever of it. He called all his officers and soldiers round him, and they formed one great semicircle, of which he was the centre; the triplets were then placed before him, and he at once proceeded to question them.

'Have you,' said he, addressing the first triplet, 'any idea as to which of the three of you you really are?'

'None whatever,' answered the child.

He then repeated the same question to the other triplets, and received the same answer.

'Come now,' continued the King, in a cheerful voice, 'does any one of you feel at all like a duchess?'

'We don't know how a duchess should feel,' they all replied.

The King here frowned severely and ground his teeth.

Now, one of you must be telling an untruth,' said he, 'for one of you, as you say, is the Duchess, and must know exactly how she feels, which must be how a duchess feels. Come now, which of you is she?' And the quick-tempered monarch knit his brows into the most terrible folds. 'Unless that one is one of her own sisters and not the Duchess,' he roared, 'she ought to be ashamed of her deceit, and severely 60