"I am not sure about your physics, Mr. Smith," said the doctor. "If she had no gravity, no amount of muscular propulsion could have given her any momentum. And again, if she had no gravity, she must inevitably have ascended beyond the regions of the atmosphere." "Bottle your philosophy, Harry, with the rest of your physics," said the clergyman, laughing. "Don't you see that she must have had some weight, only it wasn't worth mentioning, being no greater than the ordinary weight of the atmosphere. Besides, you know very well that a law of nature could not be destroyed. Therefore, it was only witchcraft, you know; and the laws of that remain to be discovered--at least so far as my knowledge goes.--Mr. Smith, you have gone in for a fairy-tale; and if I were you, I would claim the immunities of Fairyland." "So I do," I responded fiercely, and went on. * * * * * "CHAPTER VII.--TRY METAPHYSICS. "After a long avoidance of the painful subject, the king and queen resolved to hold a counsel of three upon it; and so they sent for the princess. In she came, sliding and flitting and gliding from one piece of furniture to another, and put herself at last in an armchair, in a sitting posture. Whether she could be said _to sit_, seeing she received no support from the seat of the chair, I do not pretend to determine. "'My dear child,' said the king, 'you must be aware that you are not exactly like other people.' "'Oh, you dear funny papa! I have got a nose and two eyes and all the rest. So have you. So has mamma.' "'Now be serious, my dear, for once,' said the queen. "'No, thank you, mamma; I had rather not.' "'Would you not like to be able to walk like other people?' said the king. "'No indeed, I should think not. You only crawl. You are such slow coaches!' "'How do you feel, my child?' he resumed, after a pause of discomfiture. "'Quite well, thank you.' "'I mean, what do you feel like?' "'Like nothing at all, that I know of.' "'You must feel like something.' "'I feel like a princess with such a funny papa, and such a dear pet of a queen-mamma!' "'Now really!' began the queen; but the princess interrupted her. "'Oh! yes,' she added, 'I remember. I have a curious feeling sometimes, as if I were the only person that had any sense in the whole world.' "She had been trying to behave herself with dignity; but now she burst into a violent fit of laughter, threw herself backwards over the chair, and went rolling about the floor in an ecstasy of enjoyment. The king picked her up easier than one does a down quilt, and replaced her in her former relation to the chair. The exact preposition expressing the relation I do not happen to know. "'Is there nothing you wish for?' resumed the king, who had learned by this time that it was quite useless to be angry with her. "'O you dear papa!--yes,' answered she. "'What is it, my darling?' "'I have been longing for it--oh, such a time! Ever since last night.'