hen
they're not wide enough in this hot weather," said Erebus in the tone
of superiority that was beginning to sound galling.

"I think if you took off your hat and jacket, you'd be cooler still,"
said the Terror rather quickly.

The princess hesitated a moment; then obediently she took off her hat
and jacket, and breathed another soft sigh of pleasure. She had quite
lost her air of discomfort and boredom. Her eyes were shining
brightly; and her pale cheeks were a little flushed with the excitement
of her situation.

It is by no means improbable that the Twins, as well-brought-up
children, were aware that it is not etiquette to speak to royal
personages unless they first speak to you. If they were, they did not
let that knowledge stand in the way of the gratification of their
healthy curiosity. It may be they felt that in the free green wood the
etiquette of courts was out of place. At any rate they did not let it
trammel them; and since their healthy curiosity was of the liveliest
kind they submitted the princess to searching, even exhaustive,
interrogation about the life of a royal child at a German court.

They questioned her about the hour she rose, the breakfast she ate, the
lessons she learned, the walks she took, the lunch she ate, the games
she played, her afternoon occupations, her dolls, her pets, her tea,
her occupations after tea, her dinner, her occupations after dinner,
the hour she went to bed.

There seemed nothing impertinent in their curiosity to the princess; it
was only natural that every detail of the life of a person of her
importance should be of the greatest interest to less fortunate
mortals. She was not even annoyed by their carelessness of etiquette
in not waiting to be spoken to before they asked a question. Indeed
she enjoyed answering their questions very much, for it was seldom that
any one displayed such a genuine interest in her; it was seldom,
indeed, that she found herself on intimate human terms with any of her
fellow creatures. She had neither brothers nor sisters; and she had
never had any really sympathetic playmates. The children of
Cassel-Nassau were always awed and stiff in her society; their minds
were harassed by the fear lest they should be guilty of some appalling
breach of etiquette. The manner of the Twins, therefore, was a
pleasant change for her. They were polite, but quite unconstrained;
and the obsequious people by whom she had always been surrounded h