presence.”
“Oh, prithee, say no more, ’tis glorious! If that I could but clothe me in raiment like to thine, and strip my feet, and revel in the mud once, just once, with none to rebuke me or forbid, meseemeth I could forego the crown!”
“And if that I could clothe me once, sweet sir, as thou art clad — just once — ”
“Oho, would’st like it?
Then so shall it be. Doff thy rags, and don these splendours, lad! It is a brief happiness, but will be not less keen for that. We will have it while we may, and change again before any come to molest.”
A few minutes later the little Prince of Wales was garlanded with Tom’s