Edgar Jepson

“ He shall relieve me of my provincial work,” the prince declared in a tone of great satisfaction.
“It will be good practice for him, your highness,” said Bletsoe.
“There's my visit to Ledford the day after to-morrow. I forget what I'm going to open. I don't want to travel to Ledford in June, or see its hardy citizens perspiring freely. You know how frightfully hot a town gets whenever I open anything in it. I'm sure, too, that it's the kind of work that appeals to John Stuart's sterling worth.” ”

“ As the prince's valet, Bletsoe was able to be on hand to keep a watchful, studying eye on him at lunch and to note several slight improvements that might be made in his table manners. He did not like the gusto with which John Stuart took his soup, since a good appetite is a human weakness that royal personages seldom permit themselves to reveal at public banquets, and he was a little alarmed by the uncompromising vigor with which his charge punished the wines and the liqueurs of the corporation ”

“ John Stuart started for Ledford in the high spirits of a man who has really come into his own. Both Sir Horace and Bletsoe went with him, and he was affable to both of them in a large, royal way. It was unusual for Bletsoe to travel in the same compartment with the prince. But the prince had bidden him travel in the same compartment with John Stuart lest Sir Horace should upset him by too many final, flustering instructions. ”