ady, so he only grumbled:

"You're always preaching at me, Jack; everybody always is. I seem to
have been born just to be preached at."

Some people are; and it does grow rather tedious in the long run. But
perhaps what Jaqueline said may have made some impression on Ricardo, for
he stuck to his books for weeks, and was got into decimal fractions and
Euclid.

All this, of course, pleased the king very much, and he began to
entertain hopes of Ricardo's becoming a wise and learned prince, and a
credit to his illustrious family.

Things were not always to go smoothly, far from it; and it was poor
Jaqueline who fell into trouble next. She had been very ready to lecture
Dick, as we saw, and took a good deal of credit to herself for his
steadiness. But one day King Prigio happened to meet Jaqueline's maid,
Rosina, on the stairs; and as Rosina was a pretty girl, and the king was
always kind to his dependents, he stopped to have a chat with her.

"Why, Rosina, what a pretty little silver cross you are wearing," he
said, and he lifted a curious ornament which hung from a chain on
Rosina's neck. It consisted of seven drops of silver, set like this:

{The drops: p72.jpg}

"May I look at it?" his Majesty asked, and Rosina, all in a flutter,
took it off and gave if to him. "H'm!" said the king. "Very curious and
pretty! May I ask you where you got this, Rosina?"

{"H'm!" said the king. "Very curious and pretty!": p73.jpg}

Now Rosina generally had her answer ready, and I am very sorry to say
that she did not always speak the truth when she could think of anything
better. On this occasion she was anxious to think of something better,
for fear of getting Jaqueline into a scrape about the chemical experiment
in her bedroom. But Rosina was fluttered, as we said, by the royal
kindness, and she could think of nothing but to curtsy, and say:

"Please, your Majesty, the princess gave me the drops."

"Very interesting," said the king. "There is a little white moon shining
in each of them! I wonder if they shine in the dark?"

He opened the door of a cupboard which had no windows, where the
housemaid kept her mops and brooms, and shut himself in. Yes, there was
no mistake; the darkness was quite lighted up with the sheen of the seven
little moons in the silver. The king looked rather grave.

"If you can trust me with this cross till to-morrow, Rosina, I should
like to have it examined and analysed. This is no co