The girl ought to
marry A."
And so the girl did.
VII.
MARRIAGE BY COMPULSION.
It is a most anxious thing to be an absolute ruler," said Duke
Deodonato, "but I have made up my mind. The Doctor has convinced
me [here Dr. Fusbius, Ph. D., bowed very low] that marriage is
the best, noblest, wholesomest, and happiest of human
conditions."
"Your Highness will remember----" began the President of the
Council.
"My lord, I have made up my mind," said Duke Deodonato.
Thus speaking, the Duke took a large sheet of foolscap paper, and
wrote rapidly for a moment or two.
"There," he said, pushing the paper over to the President, "is
the decree."
"The decree, sir?"
"I think three weeks afford ample space," said Duke Deodonato.
"Three weeks, sir?"
"For every man over twenty-one years of age in this Duchy to find
himself a wife."
"Your Highness," observed Dr. Fusbius, with deference, "will
consider that between an abstract proposition and a practical
measure----"
"There is to the logical mind no stopping place," interrupted
Duke Deodonato.
"But, sir," cried the President, "imagine the consternation which
this----"
"Let it be gazetted to-night," said Duke Deodonato.
"I would venture," said the President, "to remind your Highness
that you are yourself a bachelor."
"Laws," said Duke Deodonato, "do not bind the Crown unless the
Crown is expressly mentioned.
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