第10章

So did the Queen like playing cards; so did the King go to sleep at church, and eat and drink too much; and, if Giglio owed a trifle for tarts, who owed him two hundred and seventeen thousand millions nine hundred and eighty-seven thousand four hundred and thirty-nine pounds, thirteen shillings, and sixpence halfpenny, Ishould like to know? Detractors and tale-bearers (in my humble opinion) had much better look at HOME.All this backbiting and slandering had effect upon Princess Angelica, who began to look coldly on her cousin, then to laugh at him and scorn him for being so stupid, then to sneer at him for having vulgar associates; and at Court balls, dinners, and so forth, to treat him so unkindly that poor Giglio became quite ill, took to his bed, and sent for the doctor.

His Majesty King Valoroso, as we have seen, had his own reasons for disliking his nephew; and as for those innocent readers who ask why?--I beg (with the permission of their dear parents) to refer them to Shakespeare's pages, where they will read why King John disliked Prince Arthur.With the Queen, his royal but weak-minded aunt, when Giglio was out of sight he was out of mind.While she had her whist and her evening parties, she cared for little else.

I dare say TWO VILLAINS, who shall be nameless, wished Doctor Pildrafto, the Court Physician, had killed Giglio right out, but he only bled and physicked him so severely that the Prince was kept to his room for several months, and grew as thin as a post.

Whilst he was lying sick in this way, there came to the Court of Paflagonia a famous painter, whose name was Tomaso Lorenzo, and who was Painter in Ordinary to the King of Crim Tartary, Paflagonia's neighbour.Tomaso Lorenzo painted all the Court, who were delighted with his works; for even Countess Gruffanuff looked young and Glumboso good-humoured in his pictures.'He flatters very much,' some people said.'Nay!' says Princess Angelica, 'I am above flattery, and I think he did not make my picture handsome enough.I can't bear to hear a man of genius unjustly cried down, and I hope my dear papa will make Lorenzo a knight of his Order of the Cucumber.'

The Princess Angelica, although the courtiers vowed Her Royal Highness could draw so BEAUTIFULLY that the idea of her taking lessons was absurd, yet chose to have Lorenzo for a teacher, and it was wonderful, AS LONG AS SHE PAINTED IN HIS STUDIO, what beautiful pictures she made! Some of the performances were engraved for the Book of Beauty: others were sold for enormous sums at Charity Bazaars.She wrote the SIGNATURES under the drawings, no doubt, but I think I know who-did the pictures--this artful painter, who had come with other designs on Angelica than merely to teach her to draw.

One day, Lorenzo showed the Princess a portrait of a young man in armour, with fair hair and the loveliest blue eyes, and an expression at once melancholy and interesting.

'Dear Signor Lorenzo, who is this?' asked the Princess.

"I never saw anyone so handsome,' says Countess Gruffanuff (the old humbug).

'That,' said the painter, 'that, Madam, is the portrait of my august young master, his Royal Highness Bulbo, Crown Prince of Crim Tartary, Duke of Acroceraunia, Marquis of Poluphloisboio, and Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Pumpkin.That is the order of the Pumpkin glittering on his manly breast, and received by His Royal Highness from his august father, His Majesty King PADELLA I., for his gallantry at the battle of Rimbombamento, when he slew with his own princely hand the King of Ograria and two hundred and eleven giants of the two hundred and eighteen who formed the King's bodyguard.The remainder were destroyed by the brave Crim Tartar army after an obstinate combat, in which the Crim Tartars suffered severely.'

What a Prince! thought Angelica: so brave--so calm-looking--so young--what a hero!

'He is as accomplished as he is brave,' continued the Court Painter.'He knows all languages perfectly: sings deliciously:

plays every instrument: composes operas which have been acted a thousand nights running at the Imperial Theatre of Crim Tartary, and danced in a ballet there before the King and Queen; in which he looked so beautiful, that his cousin, the lovely daughter of the King of Circassia, died for love of him.'

'Why did he not marry the poor Princess?' asked Angelica, with a sigh.

'Because they were FIRST COUSINS, Madam, and the clergy forbid these unions,' said the Painter.'And, besides, the young Prince had given his royal heart ELSEWHERE.'

'And to whom?' asked Her Royal Highness.

'I am not at liberty to mention the Princess's name,' answered the Painter.

'But you may tell me the first letter of it,' gasped out the Princess.

'That Your Royal Highness is at liberty to guess,' said Lorenzo.

'Does it begin with a Z?' asked Angelica.

The Painter said it wasn't a Z; then she tried a Y; then an X;then a W, and went so backwards through almost the whole alphabet.

When she came to D, and it wasn't D, she grew very excited; when she came to C, and it wasn't C, she was still more nervous; when she came to B, AND IT WASN'T B, 'O dearest Gruffanuff,' she said, 'lend me your smelling-bottle!' and, hiding her head in the Countess's shoulder, she faintly whispered, 'Ah, Signor, can it be A?'

'It was A; and though I may not, by my Royal Master's orders, tell Your Royal Highness the Princess's name, whom he fondly, madly, devotedly, rapturously loves, I may show you her portrait,' says this slyboots: and leading the Princess up to a gilt frame, he drew a curtain which was before it.

O goodness! the frame contained A LOOKING-GLASS! and Angelica saw her own face!