'Yes, there you are,' said the Princess thoughtfully, as if this might be a still graver and more embarrassing fact than she had yet supposed it. 'I take it there is nothing essentially impossible in my seeing you again; but it may very well be that you will never again find it so pleasant. Perhaps that's the happiness that comes but once. At any rate, you know, I am going away.'
'Oh yes, of course; every one leaves town,' Hyacinth commented, sagaciously.
'Do you, Mr. Robinson? ' asked the Princess.
'Well, I don't as a general thing. Nevertheless, it is possible that, this year, I may get two or three days at the seaside. I should like to take my old lady. I have done it before.'
'And except for that you shall be always at work?'
'Yes; but you must understand that I like my work. You must understand that it's a great blessing for a young fellow like me to have it.'
'And if you didn't have it, what would you do? Should you starve?'
'Oh, I don't think I should starve,' the young man replied, judicially.
The Princess looked a little chagrined, but after a moment she remarked, 'I wonder whether you would come to see me, in the country, somewhere.'
'Oh, dear!' Hyacinth exclaimed, catching his breath. 'You are so kind, I don't know what to do.'
'Don't be banal, please. That's what other people are. What's the use of my looking for something fresh in other walks of life, if you are going to be banal too? I ask you, would you come?'
