Page:Foggerty.djvu/289

Rh "Why, there was a lady in that case, too"—

"Stop!" said the Queen.

"I was in love with her, and gave her some handsome presents."

"Will you stop when I tell you?" said the Queen. "Your conversation is shocking."

"Shall I go?" said the Prince.

"No—let me see. Do you ever tell stories?"

"I'm afraid I do, sometimes. I did yesterday."

"Tell us all about it," said the fairies eagerly, for they were dreadfully shocked.

"Well," said the Prince, "there was a lady in that case."

"There seems to be a lady in every case," said the Queen.

"There generally is," said the Prince. "There is no complication of human events in which a woman is not implicated. Such, at least, is my experience."

"How old are you?" said the Queen.

"Twenty-two. How old are you?"

"Never mind," said the Queen. "Where were you born?"

"I was born in Bulgaria. There was a lady in that case, too."

"Of course, you absurd creature! Do you love your fellow-creatures as you are taught to do?"

"About half of them."

"Which half?—Stop, I know. I'm ashamed of you."

And the fairies were so horrified that they could not take their eyes off his wicked handsome face.

"I think you are hard on me, and hard on the world,"