“Were you really alone?” the Prince enquired.
Meta nodded.
“I was all alone and I began to think that Richard would never come home. I told him I would have to talk to myself and people would think I was going mad.”
The Prince laughed.
Then he said,
“I don’t think anyone who has eyes to see or ears to hear would think you are mad. In fact you are much more intelligent than you pretend to be.”
Meta was so surprised at what he said that she almost stumbled.
His arm tightened so as to support her and she enquired a little breathlessly,
“Why do – you say that?”
“It is true,” the Prince said. “You think a great deal and you don’t speak impulsively like Nathlia.”
There seemed no answer to this and Meta thought uncomfortably that Richard would be annoyed that she had acted her part so b
