Humbert is not fond of being quizzed by his sisters, and he is rather inclined to be resentful. Indeed, this little Crown Prince is a born soldier of a fighting disposition, and many a nursery quarrel does the Queen have to settle. He is ever ready to defend with great boldness his small soldiers, his guns and his swords and other favourite toys, which Mafalda and Yolanda attempt sometimes to take from him. Humbert has one amusing weakness. He is fond of the two black eyes and beautiful little face of one of his sisters’ dolls. Sometimes he wants to take possession of this doll. Unhappily, his sisters are not always disposed to let him have it.
Ordinarily Humbert is glad to assume rather a martial air, and to dress in military uniforms. But the uniform that he likes best is a smart one of a Cuirassier regiment with boots, cuirasse and helmet. The little fellow distinctly prefers the company of boys of his own age, and he enjoys the little friends that he is allowed to have, and who are the children of the Ladies at Court.
One of these little friends, a boy of five years who showed himself enthusiastic over his Princely friend, was asked if he loved him much.
“Yes, I love him very much, because he never complains when they take something belonging to him, and he never cheats,” he replied.
“And Yolanda and Mafalda, and the little Giovanna?”
“Yolanda and Mafalda, I like them also, but they always laugh at us men!”
Yolanda, who is especially beloved by all those who live closely to her, has always been a lively young girl with a frank and gay smile. Being the eldest sister, she endeavours to look in some manner the wisest and most serious, and she is at the same time the most charitable and kindly. In fact, it is known to everyone, that many times she answers the letters that the little girls of the people address to her continually, by sending to them as a gift some of her own toys, of which she willingly deprives herself.
There is in her a lovely soul, which appears in a thousand ways and especially in the unlimited affection to her parents.
An old friend of the Queen’s once asked her to show her an ancient photograph very dear to her, representing Queen Elena having Yolanda on her lap, when she was only two or three months old.
The Queen afterwards sent for Yolanda, and showed her the photograph. The little Princess, seeing her mother in the portrait, asked with suspicious anxiety who was the child she was keeping in her lap.