ind out how frisky they can be!"

"I do not know anything about kissing," he confessed, "except that it is
very wrong."

"Not _pumpkins_," said the Crown Prince. "There's no harm in that! Ask
the bishop!"

"I say, old girl," he remarked to Princess Edna, after their visitor had
taken his departure, "what on earth induced the Mater to tell that lanky
overgrown lout we should be pleased to see him any time he cared to drop
in? We shall have the beggar running in and out here like a bally
rabbit, you see if we don't!"

"Not if you intend to go on insulting him, Clarence, as you did to-day
at lunch," replied Edna coldly.

"Why, I was only ragging him. Who could help ragging such a champion mug
as that?"

"There is more--far more--in him than you are capable of seeing,
Clarence. And, even from a physical point of view, he is immeasurably
your superior."

"I admit I shouldn't have a look in with him if we were both candidates
for a Freak Show," he conceded. "On the other hand, no one can say I'm
gone at the knees."

"It's a pity, Clarence, that you're so narrow as you are!" she said.

"D'you mean round the chest or calves?" he asked. "Because I'm quite up
to the average measurements."

"I meant, so insular in your prejudices. You were almost _rude_ to the
poor Count. When he was our guest, too!"

"I expect," he said, "that if he's ever our guest again, I shall be a
bit _more_ insular. I can't stick the beggar, somehow!"

CHAPTER X

THE BLONDE BEAST

The Count was not slow to take advantage of his _permis de circuler_;
his coal-black horses and coach were soon a familiar spectacle in the
streets of Eswareinmal, where he had discovered the delights of
promiscuous shopping. He ordered a self-supplying dinner-table of the
best quality--to be paid for by monthly instalments--from the Astrologer
Royal, with whom he struck up a sort of friendship. Nor did he neglect
to avail himself of his general invitation to the Palace, where he
dropped in so frequently as almost to justify Clarence's prediction.
Queen Selina gave him occasional hints that she had not expected him
quite so often, but hints were thrown away on the Count's ingenuous
nature--he seemed to take it for granted that he was always welcome.

Princess Edna certainly never discouraged his visits. She had been
struck from the first by his great stature and powerful physique, which
were just what she imagined that Nietzsche's ideal Superman would