"Oh," he stammered in confusion, "I—I wasn't aware—or else—of course. Sorry!"
"Why on earth should you be? You don't suppose I'm ashamed of having been on the stage? I should soon have got to the front if I had stayed. I was offered one of the best parts in 'The Girl from Greenland,' and I threw it up to marry Muscombe. His people know perfectly well that I sacrificed my career for his sake." (It might be added that if they did not, it was no fault of Lady Muscombe's.)
"I remember you," he said. "I used to go to the Vivacity before the Mater came to the throne."
"Ah, you haven't been a Royalty long, have you? Weren't you a Wobbly-something or other before that?"
"Wibberley-Stimpson was the family name," he corrected.
"I knew it was something like that. And when you were—one of those, what did you do with yourself?"
"I was in Finance," he replied largely. "In the City, don't you know, what?"
"Really?" she drawled. "That accounts for my not remembering you. Somehow, at the Vivacity, we didn't know any City men. All this must be rather a change for you, isn't it?"
"It was a bit, at first, but we soon got into it. Except the Guv'nor, who's never taken very kindly to it—hasn't had the training, what?"
"And you have? I see. And what does a Fairy Crown Prince have to do?"