`` What a trump that girl is , '' he said aloud . `` Clever , too ! '' and he began casting . He got a trout every cast , great big ones , over a pound , and soon he had a basketful . But he began to feel rather bored . `` There 's not much fun taking them , '' he said , `` when they are so silly . '' At that very moment he noticed that the fly was off his cast , and Jaqueline was sitting at the oars . `` You see , Ricardo , '' she said , `` I was right after all . There is not much pleasure in sport that is easy and certain . Now , apply this moral to dragon-killing with magic instruments . It may be useful when one is obliged to defend oneself , but surely a prince ought not to give his whole time to nothing else ! '' Dick had no answer ready , so he only grumbled : `` You 're always preaching at me , Jack ; everybody always is . I seem to have been born just to be preached at . '' Some people are ; and it does grow rather tedious in the long run . But perhaps what Jaqueline said may have made some impression on Ricardo , for he stuck to his books for weeks , and was got into decimal fractions and Euclid . All this , of course , pleased the king very much , and he began to entertain hopes of Ricardo 's becoming a wise and learned prince , and a credit to his illustrious family . Things were not always to go smoothly , far from it ; and it was poor Jaqueline who fell into trouble next . She had been very ready to lecture Dick , as we saw , and took a good deal of credit to herself for his steadiness . But one day King Prigio happened to meet Jaqueline 's maid , Rosina , on the stairs ; and as Rosina was a pretty girl , and the king was always kind to his dependents , he stopped to have a chat with her . `` Why , Rosina , what a pretty little silver cross you are wearing , '' he said , and he lifted a curious ornament which hung from a chain on Rosina 's neck .
It consisted of seven drops of silver , set like this : -LCB- The drops : p72.jpg -RCB- `` May I look XXXXX it ? ''
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