Edgar Jepson

“ That's settled,” said the prince cheerfully, and he smiled. “You'll put yourself in the hands of Sir Horace and Bletsoe. Sir Horace will teach you etiquette and Bletsoe—er—er—deportment.”
“I'll work, your highness,” John Stuart promised. “I can work. And I've a singularly retentive memory.”
“Lucky fellow! I haven't,” said the prince. “By the way, Sir Horace will also teach you the correct smile. You will learn to relax the muscles of your face a little more. You will show him how, Sir Horace?” ”

“ The royal families of Europe and their faithful counselors alike are stirred to the depth of their beings when the Stuart blood, which runs but thinly in most royal veins, suddenly displays itself in its full richness in some exceptional prince or princess. ”

“ It's the work I'm thinking of, the hard work of acquiring so many new accomplishments.”
“But I have no accomplishments!” cried the prince in a horror-stricken tone. “I've always avoided accomplishments. You can't call fencing an accomplishment.”
“But there'll be the matter of etiquette,” John Stuart went on with unbending sternness, and again he gazed around with challenging eyes. “I'm a plain man——”
“Oh, don't say that! It reflects on me,” protested the prince in a pained voice.
“I'm a plain man, your highness,” insisted John Stuart, “the son of plain parents. ”

“ Fortunate men never meet them.”
“Yes, yes, they must have. But it occurred to me that it would be an immense advantage if we could utilize that extraordinary likeness so as to spare your highness some of the fatigues incident to your exalted station—a function like this morning's levee, now,” said Sir Horace.
“But it was an idea!” murmured the prince with an astonished air.
Bletsoe looked at Sir Horace with a sudden expression of disquiet.
“Yes; I thought that if he could be hired to take your place on occasion, it would be very useful. I felt it so strongly that I spoke to him.” ”

“ The prince's uniform of a colonel of dragoons, in which he had been attending that morning's levee and out of which Bletsoe had just helped him, lay across a chair in the corner. The prince was clad in shirt, a collar, and the trousers of the new suit he was bent on wearing that afternoon. His feet were bare. His toilet had come to a standstill because, out of the fifty ties and pairs of socks heaped on the bed, they had been unable to find a tie and a pair of socks that matched perfectly the new suit. ”

“ His small green eyes and small, nose, which ended as a pink button mushroom, made but a poor show in so much round face. His parted lips and upcurving eyebrows gave him a perpetually startled air. He was portly and waddled. ”

“ Sir Horace looked at John Stuart somewhat doubtfully.
“I'll try, highness,” he said. “But I—er—have a theory that tact is—er—that the tactful man, like the poet, is born, not made.”
“Perhaps—perhaps,” said the prince. “Bletsoe will show you the rooms you will occupy here, Mr. Stuart. But most of the time you will occupy my suite at the palace, I hope. You had better come to Sir Horace's house, 71b Hans Crescent, at half past ten to-morrow morning. I suppose you can arrange with your insurance company to leave at once, for your salary will begin as soon as all your time is at my disposal.” ”

“ The prince spoke with half-closed eyes, because he did not wish the bright light of mischief shining in them to give his faithful equerry the alarm. “I had better see the young man and discuss the matter with him myself.” ”