107
IMAGINOTIONS
107
My niece said in her winning way that she did n't care a button for precedent, and that several great men had called attention to the fact that there could n't be a precedent for anything the first time it was done.
"I won't argue," said the King; "but I will only say, I forbid it."
"'THIS IS PREPOSTEROUS!' SAID THE DUCK IN A RAGE."
Then, to my secret amusement, my niece said very sweetly, as she toyed with a sprig of celery, that she was not fond of argument herself, and therefore would only say that she would then and there turn the king into a canvasback duck, unless he consented to the wedding.
"I defy you!" said the King.
My niece clapped her hands, and he became a canvasback duck.
