keep yours, and by giving me your hand to
make me the happiest of men.'

'I will be frank with you,' replied the princess. 'I have not yet made
up my mind on the point, and I am afraid I shall never be able to take
the decision you desire.'

'You astonish me, madam,' said Ricky of the Tuft.

'I can well believe it,' said the princess, 'and undoubtedly, if I had
to deal with a clown, or a man who lacked good sense, I should feel
myself very awkwardly situated. "A princess must keep her word," he
would say, "and you must marry me because you promised to!" But I am
speaking to a man of the world, of the greatest good sense, and I am
sure that he will listen to reason. As you are aware, I could not make
up my mind to marry you even when I was entirely without sense; how can
you expect that to-day, possessing the intelligence you bestowed on me,
which makes me still more difficult to please than formerly, I should
take a decision which I could not take then? If you wished so much to
marry me, you were very wrong to relieve me of my stupidity, and to let
me see more clearly than I did.'

'If a man who lacked good sense,' replied Ricky of the Tuft, 'would be
justified, as you have just said, in reproaching you for breaking your
word, why do you expect, madam, that I should act differently where the
happiness of my whole life is at stake? Is it reasonable that people who
have sense should be treated worse than those who have none? Would you
maintain that for a moment--you, who so markedly have sense, and desired
so ardently to have it? But, pardon me, let us get to the facts. With
the exception of my ugliness, is there anything about me which
displeases you? Are you dissatisfied with my breeding, my brains, my
disposition, or my manners?'

'In no way,' replied the princess; 'I like exceedingly all that you have
displayed of the qualities you mention.'

'In that case,' said Ricky of the Tuft, 'happiness will be mine, for it
lies in your power to make me the most attractive of men.'

'How can that be done?' asked the princess.

[Illustration: _Ricky of the Tuft_]

'It will happen of itself,' replied Ricky of the Tuft, 'if you love me
well enough to wish that it be so. To remove your doubts, madam, let me
tell you that the same fairy who on the day of my birth bestowed upon
me the power of endowing with intelligence the woman of my choice, gave
to you also the power of endowing with beauty the man whom you should
love,