‘Isn’t there a third thing, Erinaceus?’ said the Princess, looking down.
‘There is, but you must speak that, not I.’
‘Oh,’ said the Princess, a little disappointed, ‘then you knew that I loved you?’
‘Hedge-pigs are very wise little beasts,’ said Erinaceus, ‘but I only knew that when you told it me.’
‘I—told you?’
‘When you kissed my little pointed face, Princess,’ said Erinaceus, ‘I knew then.’
‘My goodness gracious me,’ said the King.
‘Quite so,’ said Benevola, ‘and I wouldn’t ask any one to the wedding.’
‘Except you, dear,’ said the Queen.
‘Well, as I happened to be passing … there’s no time like the present,’ said Benevola briskly. ‘Suppose you give orders for the wedding bells to be rung now, at once!’