t wouldn't be
comfortable--would it? I don't think my papa wears his crown for a
night-cap. Does he, nursie?'

'I never asked him. I dare say he does.'

'And she's been there ever since I came here--ever so many years.'

'Anybody could have told you that,' said the nurse, who did not believe
a word Irene was saying.

'Why didn't you tell me, then?'

'There was no necessity. You could make it all up for yourself.'

'You don't believe me, then!' exclaimed the princess, astonished and
angry, as she well might be.

'Did you expect me to believe you, princess?' asked the nurse coldly.
'I know princesses are in the habit of telling make-believes, but you
are the first I ever heard of who expected to have them believed,' she
added, seeing that the child was strangely in earnest.

The princess burst into tears.

'Well, I must say,' remarked the nurse, now thoroughly vexed with her
for crying, 'it is not at all becoming in a princess to tell stories
and expect to be believed just because she is a princess.'

'But it's quite true, I tell you.'

'You've dreamt it, then, child.'

'No, I didn't dream it. I went upstairs, and I lost myself, and if I
hadn't found the beautiful lady, I should never have found myself.'

'Oh, I dare say!'

'Well, you just come up with me, and see if I'm not telling the truth.'

'Indeed I have other work to do. It's your dinnertime, and I won't
have any more such nonsense.'

The princess wiped her eyes, and her face grew so hot that they were
soon quite dry. She sat down to her dinner, but ate next to nothing.
Not to be believed does not at all agree with princesses: for a real
princess cannot tell a lie. So all the afternoon she did not speak a
word. Only when the nurse spoke to her, she answered her, for a real
princess is never rude--even when she does well to be offended.

Of course the nurse was not comfortable in her mind--not that she
suspected the least truth in Irene's story, but that she loved her
dearly, and was vexed with herself for having been cross to her. She
thought her crossness was the cause of the princess's unhappiness, and
had no idea that she was really and deeply hurt at not being believed.
But, as it became more and more plain during the evening in her every
motion and look, that, although she tried to amuse herself with her
toys, her heart was too vexed and troubled to enjoy them, her nurse's
discomfort grew and grew. When bedtime came, she undresse