"Nursie, dear, everybody can't be as beautiful as every other body, you know. You are _very_ nice-looking, but if you had been as beautiful as my grandmother--" "Bother your grandmother!" said the nurse. "Nurse, that's very rude. You are not fit to be spoken to--till you can behave better." The princess turned away once more, and again the nurse was ashamed of herself. "I'm sure I beg your pardon, princess," she said, though still in an offended tone. But the princess let the tone pass, and heeded only the words. "You won't say it again, I am sure," she answered, once more turning toward her nurse. "I was only going to say that if you had been twice as nice-looking as you are, some king or other would have married you, and then what would have become of me?" "You are an angel!" repeated the nurse, again embracing her. "Now," insisted Irene, "you _will_ come and see my grandmother--won't you?" "I will go with you anywhere you like, my cherub," she answered; and in two minutes the weary little princess was fast asleep. CHAPTER V THE PRINCESS LETS WELL ALONE WHEN she woke the next morning, the first thing she heard was the rain still falling. Indeed, this day was so like the last, that it would have been difficult to tell where was the use of it. The first thing she thought of, however, was not the rain, but the lady in the tower; and the first question that occupied her thoughts was whether she should not ask the nurse to fulfill her promise this very morning, and go with her to find her grandmother as soon as she had had her breakfast. But she came to the conclusion that perhaps the lady would not be pleased if she took anyone to see her without first asking leave; especially as it was pretty evident, seeing she lived on pigeons' eggs, and cooked them herself, that she did not want the household to know she was there. So the princess resolved to take the first opportunity of running up alone and asking whether she might bring her nurse. She believed the fact that she could not otherwise convince her she was telling the truth, would have much weight with her grandmother. The princess and her nurse were the best of friends all dressing time, and the princess in consequence ate an enormous little breakfast. "I wonder, Lootie"--that was her pet-name for her nurse--"what pigeons' eggs taste like?" she said, as she was eating her egg--not quite a common one, for they always picked out the pinky ones for her. "We'll get you a pigeon's egg, and you shall judge for yourself," said the nurse. "Oh, no, no!" returned Irene, suddenly reflecting they might disturb the old lady in getting it, and that even if they did not, she would have one less in consequence. "What a strange creature you are," said the nurse--"first to want a thing and then to refuse it!" But she did not say it crossly, and the princess never minded any remarks that were not unfriendly.