"Sure, I like him. He's a corker. Wait till you see him, Betty.
Nobody's asking you to marry him before lunch. You'll have plenty of
time to get acquainted. It beats me what you're kicking at. You give me
a pain in the neck. Be reasonable."

Betty sought for arguments to clinch her refusal.

"It's ridiculous," she said. "You talk as if you had just to wave your
hand. Why should your prince want to marry a girl he has never seen?"

"He will," said Mr. Scobell confidently.

"How do you know?"

"Because I know he's a sensible young skeesicks. That's how. See here,
Betty, you've gotten hold of wrong ideas about this place. You don't
understand the position of affairs. Your aunt didn't till I put her
wise."

"He bit my head off, my dear," murmured Miss Scobell, knitting
placidly.

"You're thinking that Mervo is an ordinary state, and that the Prince
is one of those independent, all-wool, off-with-his-darned-head rulers
like you read about in the best sellers. Well, you've got another guess
coming. If you want to know who's the big noise here, it's me--me! This
Prince guy is my hired man. See? Who sent for him? I did. Who put him
on the throne? I did. Who pays him his salary? I do, from the profits
of the Casino. Now do you understand? He knows his job. He knows which