"Well, well, what was it you were going to say about the prince? I have driven away the fiend," she added.

The fiend was the name they had given her jealousy.

" What did you begin to tell me about the prince? Why did you find it so tiresome?" "Oh, it was intolerable!" he said, trying to pick up the thread of his interrupted thought.

" He does not improve on closer acquaintance.