PRINCE RICARDO. 163

“And you really possess those talismans ?”’
said the prince.

“Certainly I do. You see how short a
time I took in coming to your call from
Pantouflia.”’

‘**And has Holy Church,” asked the Duke of
York, with anxiety, “given her sanction and
her blessing to those instruments of an art,
usually, in her wisdom, forbidden ?”’

“Oh, never mind Holy Church, Harry!”
said Prince Charles. ‘‘ This is buszwess. Besides,
the English are Protestants.”

“‘T pray for their conversion daily,” said the
Duke of York.

‘‘ The end justifies the means, you know,”
answered Prince Charles. ‘‘All’s fair in love
and war.”

‘‘T should think so,” said Ricardo, ‘‘ especially
against those brutes of Electors; they give
trouble at home sometimes.”

“You, too, are plagued with an Elector?”
asked Prince Charles.

‘“‘ An Elector? thousands of them!” answered
Dick, who never could understand anything
about politics.

Prince Charles looked puzzled, but requested
Dick to explain his great plan.

They sat down on the grass, and Ricardo
showed them how he meant to manage it, just
as he had told Jaqueline. As he said, nothing
could be simpler.