“No doubt! You think you have considered it. But if _you_ do not want to meditate any further upon your marriage problem, you must allow me the leisure to do so, as one who has seen more of life than you,--as one who takes things philosophically--and also--as one who was young--once;--who loved--once;--and who had his own private dreams of happiness--once!” He rested a hand on his son’s shoulder, and looked him full and fairly in the eyes. “Let me advise you, Humphry, to go abroad! Travel round the world for a year!” The Prince was silent,--but his eyes did not flinch from his father’s steady gaze. He seemed to be thinking rapidly; but his thoughts were not betrayed by any movement or expression that could denote anxiety. He was alert, calm, and perfectly self-possessed. “I have no objection,” he said at last; “A year is soon past!” “It is,” agreed the King, with a sense of relief at his ready assent; “But by the end of that time----” “Things will be precisely as they are now,” said the Prince tranquilly; “Gloria will still be my wife, and I shall still be her husband!” The King gave a gesture of annoyance. “Whatever the result,” he said, “she cannot, and will not be Crown Princess!” “She will not envy that destiny in my brother Rupert’s wife,” said Prince Humphry quietly; “Nor shall I envy my brother Rupert!” “You talk like a fool, Humphry!” said the King impatiently; “You cannot resign your Heir-Apparency to the Throne, without giving a reason;--and so making known your marriage.” “That is precisely what I wish to do,” returned the young man. “I have no intention of keeping my marriage secret. I am proud of it! Gloria is mine--the joy of my soul--the very pulse of my life! Why should I hide my heart’s light under a cloud?” His voice vibrated with tender feeling,--his handsome features were softened into finer beauty by the passion which invigorated him, and his father looking at him, thought for a moment that so might the young gods of the fabled Parnassus have appeared in the height of their symbolic power and charm. His own eyes grew melancholy, as he studied this vigorous incarnation of ardent love and passionate resolve; and a slight sigh escaped him unconsciously. “You forget!” he said slowly, “you have, up to the present deceived the girl. She does not know who you are. When she hears that you have played a part,--that you are no sailor in the service of the Crown Prince, as you have apparently represented yourself to be, but the Crown Prince himself, what will she say to you? Perhaps she will hate you for the deception, as much as she now loves you!” A shadow darkened the young Prince’s open countenance, but it soon passed away. “She will never hate me!” he said,--“For when I do tell her the truth, it will be when I have resigned all the ridiculous pomp and circumstance of my position for her sake----” “Perhaps she will not let you resign it!” said the King; “She may be as unselfish as she is beautiful!”