"That is merely silly."
"My authority is her Royal Highness."
"Fancy the Crown Princess of Illyria running off with a man like Fitz!"
"There is reason to suppose that he makes her happy."
"Why, one day she will be Queen of Illyria!"
"She may be or she may not."
"Well, I can't believe it anyway! There is no proof."
"There is no proof beyond herself. And I confess that to me she carries conviction."
For an instant Mrs. Arbuthnot knitted her brows in the process of thought. She then concurred with a perplexed little sigh.
"But how dreadfully awkward it will be," she said in a kind of rapture, "for poor dear Mary Catesby!"