"My dear son, you have had the usual coming-of-age presents--silver cigar-case and match-box; a handsome set of brushes, with your initials on the back; a Gladstone bag, also richly initialled; the complete works of d.i.c.kens and Thackeray; a Swan fountain-pen mounted in gold; and the heartfelt blessing of your father and mother. But there is still one more present for you."
"You are too good, mamma," said the Prince, fingering the nasturtium-coloured silks.
"Don"t fidget," said the Queen, "and listen to me. When you were a baby a fairy, who was your G.o.dmother, gave you a most valuable present--a Charmed Life. As long as you keep it safely, nothing can harm you."
"How delightful!" said the Prince. "Why, mamma, you might have let me go to sea when I wanted to. It would have been quite safe."
"Yes, my dear," said the Queen, "but it"s best to be careful. I have taken care of your life all these years, but now you are old enough to take care of it for yourself. Let me advise you to keep it in a safe place. You should never carry valuables about on your person."
And then she handed the Charmed Life over to him, and he took it and kissed her, and thanked her for the pretty present, and went away and hid it. He took a brick out of the wall of the villa, and hid his Life behind it. The bricks in the walls of these Queen Anne villas generally come out quite easily.
Now, the father of the Prince had been King of Bohemia, so, of course, the Prince was called Florizel, which is their family name; but when the King went into business he went in as Rex Bloomsbury, and his great patent Lightning Lift Company called itself R. Bloomsbury and Co., so that the Prince was known as F. Bloomsbury, which was as near as the King dared go to "Florizel, Prince of Bohemia." His mother, I am sorry to say, called him Florrie till he was quite grown up.
Now, the King of the country where Florizel lived was a very go-ahead sort of man, and as soon as he heard that there were such things as lifts--which was not for a long time, because no one ever lets a King know anything if it can be helped--he ordered one of the very, very best for his palace. Next day a card was brought in by one of the palace footmen. It had on it: "Mr. F. Bloomsbury, R. Bloomsbury and Co."
"Show him in," said the King.
"Good-morning, sire," said Florizel, bowing with that perfect grace which is proper to Princes.
"Good-morning, young man," said the King. "About this lift, now."
"Yes, sire. May I ask how much your Majesty is prepared to----"
"Oh, never mind price," said the King; "it all comes out of the taxes."
"I should think, then, that Cla.s.s A ... our special Argentinella design--white satin cushions, woodwork overlaid with ivory and inset with pearls, opals, and silver."
"Gold," said the King shortly.
"Not with pearls and ivory," said Florizel firmly. He had excellent taste. "The gold pattern--we call it the Anriradia--is inlaid with sapphires, emeralds, and black diamonds."
"I"ll have the gold pattern," said the King; "but you might run up a little special lift for the Princess"s apartments. I dare say she"d like that Argentinella pattern--"Simple and girlish," I see it says in your circular."
So Florizel booked the order, and the gold and sapphire and emerald lift was made and fixed, and all the Court was so delighted that it spent its whole time in going up and down in the lift, and there had to be new blue satin cushions within a week.
Then the Prince superintended the fixing of the Princess"s lift--the Argentinella design--and the Princess Candida herself came to look on at the works; and she and Florizel met, and their eyes met, and their hands met, because his caught hers, and dragged her back just in time to save her from being crushed by a heavy steel bar that was being lowered into its place.
"Why, you"ve saved my life," said the Princess.
But Florizel could say nothing. His heart was beating too fast, and it seemed to be beating in his throat, and not in its proper place behind his waistcoat.
"Who are you?" said the Princess.
"I"m an engineer," said the Prince.
"Oh dear!" said the Princess, "I thought you were a Prince. I"m sure you look more like a Prince than any Prince _I"ve_ ever seen."
"I wish I was a Prince," said Florizel; "but I never wished it till three minutes ago."
The Princess smiled, and then she frowned, and then she went away.
Florizel went straight back to the office, where his father, Mr. Rex Bloomsbury, was busy at his knee-hole writing-table.
He spent the morning at the office, and the afternoon in the workshop.
"Father," he said, "I don"t know what ever will become of me. I wish I was a Prince!"
The King and Queen of Bohemia had never let their son know that he was a Prince; for what is the use of being a Prince if there"s never going to be a kingdom for you?
Now, the King, who was called R. Bloomsbury, Esq., looked at his son over his spectacles and said:
"Why?"
"Because I"ve been and gone and fallen head over ears in love with the Princess Candida."
The father rubbed his nose thoughtfully with his fountain pen.
"Humph!" he said; "you"ve fixed your choice high."
"Choice!" cried the Prince distractedly. "There wasn"t much choice about it. She just looked at me, and there I was, don"t you know? I didn"t _want_ to fall in love like this. Oh, father, it hurts most awfully!
What ever shall I do?"
After a long pause, full of thought, his father replied:
"Bear it, I suppose."
"But I _can"t_ bear it--at least, not unless I can see her every day.
Nothing else in the world matters in the least."
"Dear me!" said his father.
"Couldn"t I disguise myself as a Prince, and try to make her like me a little?"
"The disguise you suggest is quite beyond our means at present."
"Then I"ll disguise myself as a lift attendant," said Florizel.
And what is more, he did it. His father did not interfere. He believed in letting young people manage their own love affairs.
So that when the lift was finished, and the Princess and her ladies crowded round to make the first ascent in it, there was Florizel dressed in white satin knee-breeches, and coat with mother-o"-pearl b.u.t.tons. He had silver buckles to his shoes, and a tiny opal breast-pin on the lappet of his coat, where the white flower goes at weddings.
When the Princess saw him she said:
"Now, none of you girls are to go in the lift at all, mind! It"s _my_ lift. You can use the other one, or go up the mother-of-pearl staircase, as usual."
Then she stepped into the lift, and the silver doors clicked, and the lift went up, just carrying her and him.
She had put on a white silky gown, to match the new lift, and she, too, had silver buckles on her shoes, and a string of pearls round her throat, and a silver chain set with opals in her dark hair; and she had a bunch of jasmine flowers at her neck. As the lift went out of sight the youngest lady-in-waiting whispered: