“I think three weeks afford ample space,” said Duke Deodonato.

“Three weeks, sir?”

“For every man over twenty-one years of age in this Duchy to find himself a wife.”

“Your Highness,” observed Dr. Fusbius with deference, “will consider that between an abstract proposition and a practical measure—”

“There is to the logical mind no stopping-place,” interrupted Duke Deodonato.

“But, sir,” cried the President, “imagine the consternation which this—!”

“Let it be gazetted to-night,” said Duke Deodonato.

“I would venture,” said the President, “to remind your Highness that you are yourself a bachelor.”

“Laws,” said Duke Deodonato, “do not bind the Crown unless the Crown is expressly mentioned.”

“True, sir; but I humbly conceive that it would be pessimi exempli—”