"Steal, then, if you prefer. I forgot we were to use plain terms."
"Very true," said I. "Proceed."
"Do you think that I, who have been the Heir Presumptive since the instant of my birth, almost, will calmly step aside and permit you to take my place?"
I looked at him, indifferently, and made no answer.
"Do you fancy, for an instant," he went on, "that the people of Valeria would have a foreigner for King?"
I shrugged my shoulders.
"And even if old Frederick were to become so infatuated with you that he would restore you to Hugo's place in the Line of Succession, do you imagine, that the House of Nobles would hesitate to annul it the instant he died?"
From the written words, one might well infer that he spoke loudly and in open anger; whereas, in fact, his face was smiling and his voice was even more soft than usual. It behooved me to meet him in kind.
"As you seem to have been doing my thinking, cousin, perhaps you have also thought out my answers. If you have, I shall be glad to hear them; it will save me the labor of thinking them out for myself."
His smile broadened. "The only labor I can promise to save you, cousin, is that of being King."