"And do you think of that tow-headed bean-pole very often, King
Jurgen?"
"That is unfair, and you wrong me, Chloris, with these unmerited suspicions. It pains me to reflect, my dear, that you esteem the tie between us so lightly you can consider me capable of breaking it even in thought."
"To talk of fairness is all very well, but it is no answer to a plain question."
Jurgen looked full at her; and he laughed. "You women are so unscrupulously practical. My dear, I have seen Queen Helen face to face. But it is you whom I love as a man customarily loves a woman."
"That is not saying much."
"No: for I endeavor to speak in consonance with my importance. You forget that I have also seen Achilles."
"But you admired Achilles! You told me so yourself."
"I admired the perfections of Achilles, but I cordially dislike the man who possesses them. Therefore I shall keep away from both the King and Queen of Pseudopolis."
"Yet you will not go into the Woods, either, Jurgen—"
"Not after what I have witnessed there," said Jurgen, with an exaggerated shudder that was not very much exaggerated.