"Do you believe that?" shrilled King Theodore, again turning to face his Queen.
"No," snapped the Queen, shutting her lips very tight. "How could I?"
"Then, if the clouds rolled away, would they be mist?" roared Notta, before they could continue their disagreeing. He bounced four feet into the air and pointed playfully at the King.
"I wouldn't miss 'em," replied the King sullenly. "Do you think that's funny?" Again he turned to the Queen, who shook her head emphatically.
"Well, I think it's funny!" said Bob, jumping out of his chair. He looked indignantly from the King to the Queen.
"Then why don't you laugh?" asked the King accusingly. Poor Bob couldn't explain that laughing was a hard matter for an orphan, so he sat down rather suddenly, while Notta began looking all around as if he were hunting something. He searched on each step of the King's throne, then he looked into his Majesty's lap and, finally, running around to the back peered under Theodore's collar.
"What's the matter?" asked his Majesty irritably. "What are you looking for now?"
"My joke," sighed the clown, "I'm looking for my poor little joke. It was lost on you. When I asked, 'If the clouds rolled away, would they be mist,' you should have said it's according to the way you spell 'em—see?"
"No," said Theodore, sternly, "I don't,
"I only see you are a dunce;