"I'm afraid - I ran away, sir."

"Why?"

Prince Ferdinand William Otto considered. It was rather an awful
moment. "I don't exactly know. I just thought I would."

You see, it was really extremely difficult. To say that he was
tired of things as they were would sound ungrateful. Would,
indeed, be most impolite. And then, exactly why had he run away?

"Suppose," said the King, "you draw up a chair and tell me about
it. We'd better talk it over, I think."

His Royal Highness drew up a chair, and sat on it. His feet not
reaching the floor, he hooked them around the chair-rung. This
was permissible because, first, the King could not see them from
his bed. Second, it kept his knees from shaking.

"Probably you are aware," said the King, "that you have alarmed a
great many people."

"I'm sorry, sir. I didn't think - "

"A prince's duty is to think."

"Although," observed His Royal Highness, "I don't really believe
Miss Braithwaite fainted. She may have thought she fainted, but
her eyelids moved."