“Whatever for, father?”
“For your understudy here, of course.”
The king’s expression just then indicated that he did not consider that his son was a lightning calculator.
“Don’t you get the idea, Ernie?”
“I think I begin to,” said the prince; “and, father, I don’t like it.”
The king shrugged well-nourished shoulders.
“It’s the only way,” he said. “We can’t risk even the appearance of slighting that touchy old hippopotamus.”
“Hippopotamus, father? I was not aware——”
“Oh, I mean that venerable muffin, the Emperor of Zabonia,” cut in the king with a trace of impatience.
“But, father,” said the prince, and his eyes showed that he was shocked, “he is a king!”