“Yes—a thousand times yes!”
“Do you like me?”
This question staggered the boy, and he involuntarily half arose to his feet.
Did he like her! What a question for such a beautiful creature to ask him! And she a queen, too!
“Why, what do you mean?” he stammered, in reply.
“I mean just this: I have selected you as the man to be my future husband. It was decreed long ago that no queen who ruled the land of Hez should ever marry, unless her husband be a man who was not a native of the place. Thus far such has happened regularly, there always being a stranger to arrive here at about the right time. But this time more than one came, and out of the number I have chosen you.”
“But,” interposed Dick, who had settled back upon the divan again, and returned to his half-listless condition, “why should you choose me—a complete stranger, and entirely unknown to you?”
“Because I love you!”
“Well, you see, oh, queen, while you have long considered the question of marriage, I have never given the subject a thought until now. You must give me time to study over the question.”
“You may have as much time as you desire,” she said; “that is, if you answer one question to my satisfaction.”