‘You will now come to my uncle and tell him you will stay, plizz?’ begged Gussy, who seemed to think they might change their minds. ‘And I have to ask him something. You must help me with it.’
He dragged them off to his uncle’s room. They all bowed politely. ‘Well, Aloysius,’ said the King, looking amused. ‘Have you persuaded your friends to put up with you and stay for the rest of the holidays?’
‘They will stay,’ said Gussy. ‘And, sir, I have something else to beg of you-to BEG of you, sir. These boys, they will tell you it is very, very important. You will grant it to me, sir?’
‘I might, as I feel quite pleased with you at the moment,’ said his uncle, smiling. ‘But tell me what it is first.’
‘It is my hair,’ said Gussy. ‘I want it short-snip, snip-like Philip’s and Jack’s. I will not look like a girl, I WILL NOT!’
‘You’re not supposed to wear it short, Aloysius,’ said his uncle, ‘but I know how you feel. I felt the same when I was a Prince and went to school in England. Very well-you shall have it cut short!’
Gussy’s face was a study. Nothing in the world could have pleased him more. ‘I go tomorrow,’ he said. ‘I go tomorrow at seven o’clock in the morning. Ha-it will be so short that never will a ribbon sit on it again!’
‘Thank you for asking us to stay, Your Majesty,’ said Jack, speaking for all the others. ‘We shall love it, and it’s nice of Gussy to want us.’
‘Fussy-Gussy!’ cried Kiki, saying quite the wrong thing. ‘Fussy-Gussy! Your Majesty! Majesty, Majesty! Send for the doctor, blow your nose.’
‘Kiki!’ said Jack, shocked.
Kiki looked at the King. She raised her crest to its fullest height, and gave a little bow. ‘Your Majesty!’ she said. ‘God save the King!’
THE END