“You do not choose?” said the King, after a pause--“You decline to give any explanation of your long hours of absence?--your constant visits to The Islands, and your neglect of those social duties which should keep you at Court?” “I decline to do so for the present,” replied the young man decisively; “I can see no harm in my preference for quietness rather than noise,--for scenes of nature rather than those of artificial folly. The Islands are but two hours sail from this port,--little tufts of land set in the sea, where the coral-fishers dwell. They are beautiful in their natural adornment of foliage and flower;--I go there to read--to dream--to think of life as a better, purer thing than what you call ‘society’ would make it for me; you cannot blame me for this?” The King was silent. “If it is your wish,”--went on the Prince--“that I should stay in the palace more, I will obey you. If you desire me to be seen oftener in the capital, I will endeavour to fulfil your command, though the streets stifle me. But, for God’s sake, do not make me a puppet on show before my time,--or marry me to a woman I hate, merely for the sake of heirs to a wretched Throne!” The King rose from his chair, and, walking towards the garden, threw the rest of his cigar out among the foliage, where the burning morsel shone like a stray glowworm in the green. Then he turned towards his son;--his face was grave, almost stern. “You can go, Humphry!” he said;--“I have no more to say to you at present. You talk wildly and at random, as if you were, by some means or other, voluntarily bent upon unfitting yourself for the position you are destined to occupy. You will do well, I think, to remain more in evidence at Court. You will also do well to be seen at some of the different great social functions of the day. But I shall not coerce you. Only--consider well what I have said!--and if you have a secret”--he paused, and then repeated with emphasis--“I say, if you have a secret of any kind, be advised, and confide in me before it is too late! Otherwise you may find yourself betrayed unawares! Good-night!”