o_,
_Heaven bless the prince_!

He used to be very fond of this march, and the words--some people even
said he had made them himself. But now, somehow, he didn't much like it.
He went straight to the Duke of Stumpfelbahn, the Hereditary Master of
the Ceremonies, and asked to be introduced to the beautiful young lady.
She was the daughter of the new English Ambassador, and her name was Lady
Rosalind. But she nearly fainted when she heard who it was that wished
to dance with her, for she was not at all particularly clever; and the
prince had such a bad character for snubbing girls, and asking them
difficult questions. However, it was impossible to refuse, and so she
danced with the prince, and he danced very well. Then they sat out in
the conservatory, among the flowers, where nobody came near them; and
then they danced again, and then the Prince took her down to supper. And
all the time he never once said, "Have you read _this_?" or "Have you
read _that_?" or, "What! you never heard of Alexander the Great?" or
Julius Caesar, or Michael Angelo, or whoever it might be--horrid,
difficult questions he used to ask. That was the way he _used_ to go on:
but now he only talked to the young lady about _herself_; and she quite
left off being shy or frightened, and asked him all about his own
country, and about the Firedrake-shooting, and said how fond she was of
hunting herself. And the prince said:

"Oh, if _you_ wish it, you shall have the horns and tail of a Firedrake
to hang up in your hall, to-morrow evening!"

Then she asked if it was not very dangerous work, Firedrake hunting; and
he said it was nothing, when you knew the trick of it: and he asked her
if she would but give him a rose out of her bouquet; and, in short, he
made himself so agreeable and _unaffected_, that she thought him very
nice indeed.

For, even a clever person can be nice when he likes--above all, when he
is not thinking about himself. And now the prince was thinking of
nothing in the world but the daughter of the English ambassador, and how
to please her. He got introduced to her father too, and quite won his
heart; and, at last, he was invited to dine next day at the Embassy.

In Pantouflia, it is the custom that a ball must not end while one of the
royal family goes on dancing. _This_ ball lasted till the light came in,
and the birds were singing out of doors, and all the mothers present were
sound asleep. Then nothing would sa