‘Yes, it’s all right now, but you wouldn’t have said it was all right if you had been carried like me.’
‘But you should feel yourself highly honoured and not injured. Why, you stupid fellow, it was a goddess who was carrying you like the heroes of Homer.’
‘A goddess!’ said the Prince, laughing. ‘Why, you must have been the goddess, Ernalie, and you’re quite——’
But the Princess stopped him.
‘What’s the use of saying that if you won’t believe me? It really was a goddess; and if you would like to know her name, it was Diana.’
‘Diana!’ said the Prince. ‘Why did she carry me off like this?’
‘Because I told her to, of course.’
The Prince shook his head.
‘Come, I say, Ernalie,’ he said, ‘this is too much, you know. I suppose you want me to believe that?’