about him was that he hated all women and thought that a man who married
was lost for ever."

"Did he have any children?"

"No, men who want no wives get no children. That is a part of their
punishment. And so when the owner of the store got older and older, and
began to feel tired, he didn't know to whom he should leave the store.
You may be sure that he thought it over many times, because he was
exceedingly proud of the store and wanted it to go on. The result of his
thinking was that he decided to give it to the young man whom he trusted
and liked so much."

"How did the young man look," Keith broke in.

"Something like your father, I should say. But while all this was going
on, the young man had met a princess and fallen in love with her...."

"A real princess," asked the boy with wide-open eyes.

"All princesses are real in their own opinion. And she and the young man
had promised to marry each other, and this the old man learned at last.
Then he was very, very angry and told the young man that he was a fool.
And when the young man answered that there were many of his kind, and
that he had pledged his word, the old man told him that he would not get
the store unless he promised to have nothing more to do with the
princess. But the young man loved her and would not give her up, and so,
you see--he didn't get the store. Don't you think that was nobly
done, Keith?"