"Yes, he is here," she said, frowning a little.
"He can't stay long from Strelsau, it seems," I observed, smiling. "Well, we are all glad to see him. The nearer he is the better."
The princess glanced at me with a gleam of amusement in her eyes.
"Why, cousin? Is it that you can——"
"See better what he's doing? Perhaps," said I. "And why are you glad?"
"I didn't say I was glad," she answered.
"Some people say so for you."
"There are many insolent people," she said, with delightful haughtiness.
"Possibly you mean that I am one?"
"Your Majesty could not be," she said, courtesying in feigned deference, but adding, mischievously, after a pause: "Unless, that is——"
"Well, unless what?"
"Unless you tell me that I mind a snap of my fingers where the Duke of Strelsau is."
Really I wished that I had been the king.
"You don't care where Cousin Michael——"
