"I would not slight so great an honor as a letter from my king," she said
demurely.
"No, no," returned his Majesty, laughing. "Our most devoted subject would
not slight her king's message. I believe you did it intentionally."
"In which case your Majesty will leave no more notes for me in public,"
answered Frances. And the king's choice lay between taking offence and
looking upon the affair as a jest. He was too far gone in love to take
offence, so he chose to laugh.
On another occasion, at the queen's ball, the king asked Frances to walk
out to the garden with him.
"It is dark, your Majesty, and I fear the dark," she replied. "Let us
walk there in the daytime, so that every one may see how graciously my
king honors me."
He could not coax her out, so he said: "Very well, my prudish Miss
Solomon. Have your way and break my heart."
"To do either would please me," she retorted. "I like to have my own way,
and there are few women who would not be delighted to break a handsome
king's heart."
Frances having captured the king, every other man at court was her
admirer. She could have had her choice of a husband from among the
noblest and richest men of the land, but she showed no one especial
favor. If one imagined that she smiled with marked graciousness on him,
he soon learned that others were equally fortunate, and after a time
each accepted his smile from her and took it for granted that his failure
to receive greater favor was because of the king's success.
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