"
"True, sir; but I humbly conceive that it would be pessimi
exempli----"
"You are right; I will marry myself," said Duke Deodonato.
"But, sir, three weeks! The hand of a princess cannot be
requested and granted in----"
"Then find me somebody else," said Deodonato; "and pray leave me.
I would be alone;" and Duke Deodonato waved his hand to the door.
Outside the door the President said to the Doctor:
"I could wish, sir, that you had not convinced his Highness."
"My lord," rejoined the Doctor, "truth is my only preoccupation."
"Sir," said the President, "are you married?"
"My lord," answered the Doctor, "I am not."
"I thought not," said the President, as he folded up the decree
and put it in his pocket.
It is useless to deny that Duke Deodonato's decree caused
considerable disturbance in the Duchy. In the first place,
the Crown lawyers raised a puzzle of law. Did the word "man" as
used in the decree, include "woman"? The President shook his
head, and referred the question to his Highness.
"It seems immaterial," observed the Duke. "If a man marries, a
woman marries."
"Ex vi terminorum," assented the Doctor.
"But, sir," said the President, "there are more women than men in
the Duchy."
Duke Deodonato threw down his pen.
"This is very provoking," said he. "Why was it allowed? I'm
sure it happened before _I_ came to the throne."
The Doctor was about to point out that it could hardly have been
guarded against, when the President (who was a better courtier)
anticipated him.
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