'Ah! my mother once washed one of the King's silk stockings--the left one,' murmured Raymond; 'and the Appanage of Royalty said that some day, perhaps, he would give me his yellow cap----' 'And golden crown,' continued Rosamund, not noticing the interruption. 'You silly boy! they would obey the crown, not you, though you might happen to be wearing it. If you think it would be yourself they cared for, just go to London as you are now and order them about! But if I were you I'd rather be truly loved by one--person than be obeyed by one hundred thousand.' 'But if you were I, Rosamund, you'd be a man; and men are different.' 'So it seems.' 'What a noise that churn makes! Rosamund, I've felt all my life long that I was destined to be great. Why else did my mother wash the King's stocking; or the Appanage of Royalty promise me the cap?' 'You've been dreaming, you silly boy!' 'But can a dream that I've been dreaming all my life fail to come true? I don't say that to sit on a throne and rule a kingdom would be the happiest lot in the world; but, just as an experience, it would be good fun; and if one is predestined to it, you know----Besides----' 'Well, your majesty--besides what?' 'Well, for instance, how would you like to be a queen?' Rosamund stopped churning, wiped her hands on her apron, and tossed up her pretty chin with a saucy air. 'A queen, indeed! I beg to inform you, Master Raymond, that I am a queen already, and I have reigned longer and more despotically than ever you will, I fancy. Pray, has the Queen of England any subjects more devoted to her than my Osmund and Dorimund and Phillimund and Sigismund and Armand, and twenty others, are to me? Honeymead is my kingdom, and I do really reign, because my power is in myself; and fifty giants to march before me, and a hundred dwarfs to carry my train, wouldn't make me a bit more of a queen than I am now. So--thank you for nothing, Master Raymond!' Raymond sat erect, with a great deal more animation in his look than he had yet shown. 'Listen to me, Rosamund,' he cried. 'It is true you are Queen of Honeymead. But what is Honeymead compared with London? And why should not you be as much a queen in London as you are here? You would be none the worse for a crown, and dwarfs and giants, though you might not need them: because no man could look at you and not be your faithful subject ever afterwards. And--Rosamund----' He hesitated, and his cheeks were quite red. Rosamund glanced up at him and thought, 'How handsome he is!' 'Rosamund, I ask you this: if I become king will you sit beside me on the throne, and rule over Great Britain, France, and Ireland?' Rosamund looked very grave. 'Do you mean to ask me to be your wife, Raymond?' she asked. 'I would have asked you long before, dearest Rosamund, but I waited hoping to be able to offer you a kingdom along with my love.' 'Well, it is a very kind offer,' said she, with a little smile and a sigh, 'and I thank you. But I must say no.'