"Dear me, you said that very emphatically."
"Did I? It must be because I am so certain about it."
"Do tell me about it, or would it awaken fond memories best forgotten?"
"I fear that I should become morbid--but there, I might as well tell you, in spite of the fact that I no longer love her; yet the recollection of our last parting makes me always sad. Perhaps you have noticed the streak of melancholy in my nature."
"Of course I have, especially to-day."
"We were torn asunder, a woman came between us----"
"Poor King!" said the Princess, shaking her head sadly. "And what did you do?"
"I rebelled, I fought, I lost my temper, refused to take my food, sobbed in my agony, cried imploringly to those who parted us. Alas, it was of no avail, I was torn by force from her loving arms and deposited in my cot; for I was only three, and my love was the nurse, who had in some way offended my mother."
"I really did not know you could be so facetious, and I think it a shame to work my feelings up to such a pitch, make me ready to weep tears of pity, and then let me down with such a jar; you really might be a modern novelist."
"Well, well, well! what a lot of nonsense we are talking; you will observe that my innate modesty prevents me from taking all the credit."