'Well, at all events I am a King!' said Yellow-cap.
'And now,' observed Ormund, rubbing his hands and glancing at Silvia, 'since the coronation is over, what do you say to our having the wedding?'
'Yes--yes; the wedding!' echoed all the courtiers.
Silvia arranged the ribbon at her throat, looked coquettishly at King Yellow-cap, and murmured in his ear--
'What says your Majesty? There is no time like the present.'
'Wedding!' repeated King Yellow-cap, turning from one to another. 'Whose wedding?'
'Whose but your own, gracious liege!' replied the courtiers.
'Whom but Silvia, most puissant prince?' said the courtiers again.
'Silvia? Why, she is barmaid at the inn! And besides, she is engaged to marry somebody else.'
'Ah, you mean the Prince of Sprats,' remarked the ex-King. 'But that match is broken off. Since you are on the throne he is in opposition, and can only be considered a pretender; but Silvia is a princess of the blood, cousin-german of the dynasty, and Columbine into the bargain; so she can marry nobody but you.'
'That fellow who owns the donkey the Prince of Sprats?' cried Yellow-cap. 'He the son of King Ormund?'
'Prince Assimund--yes. I spoke to you of him yesterday. A little queer in the head, you know, but that is only a sign of his royalty.'
'All this may be so,' replied Yellow-cap, stroking his chin; 'but as to my marrying Silvia--that seems rather sudden.'
'Not more sudden than agreeable, if I were in your place,' observed the ex-King, with a twinkle in his eye which made the pit laugh.
'Besides,' continued Yellow-cap, 'I have an indistinct notion that once--somewhere--I loved--but, no! What with the cap and crown together I can remember nothing. And perhaps Silvia may be she, after all; she looks something like her; but yet----'
'If your Majesty will let me hang this half of a brass farthing round your neck,' interrupted Silvia, 'you will have no more doubts about the matter.' And as she spoke she held the farthing towards him, with a mischievous smile.
'But don't you care at all for Assimund?' he asked her.
'The interests of the State are supreme,' returned Silvia with a grand air.
'Well, if I must, I must,' said King Yellow-cap rather ungraciously. 'But I thought the Kings of England could do what they pleased.'