thinking whether she should go up and see Giglio, who had been sick,
thought 'Not now. Business first; pleasure afterwards. I will go and see
dear Giglio this afternoon; and now I will drive to the jeweller's, to
look for the necklace and bracelets.' The Princess went up into her own
room, and made Betsinda, her maid, bring out all her dresses; and as for
Giglio, they forgot him as much as I forget what I had for dinner last
Tuesday twelve-month.




II. HOW KING VALOROSO GOT THE CROWN, AND PRINCE GIGLIO WENT WITHOUT

Paflagonia, ten or twenty thousand years ago, appears to have been one
of those kingdoms where the laws of succession were not settled; for
when King Savio died, leaving his brother Regent of the kingdom, and
guardian of Savio's orphan infant, this unfaithful regent took no sort
of regard of the late monarch's will; had himself proclaimed sovereign
of Paflagonia under the title of King Valoroso XXIV., had a most
splendid coronation, and ordered all the nobles of the kingdom to pay
him homage. So long as Valoroso gave them plenty of balls at Court,
plenty of money and lucrative places, the Paflagonian nobility did not
care who was king; and as for the people, in those early times, they
were equally indifferent. The Prince Giglio, by reason of his tender
age at his royal father's death, did not feel the loss of his crown and
empire. As long as he had plenty of toys and sweetmeats, a holiday
five times a week and a horse and gun to go out shooting when he grew
a little older, and, above all, the company of his darling cousin, the
King's only child, poor Giglio was perfectly contented; nor did he
envy his uncle the royal robes and sceptre, the great hot uncomfortable