Page 43 - The Gluckman Occasonal Number Nine

Bartlett shook his head, and the princess noticed how pleasantly
his hair curled just over his collar.
“No, Your Majesty: I have none of those qualifications. But I do
have the answer to your question.”
“Then out with it, and don’t try my patience with long-winded
double-talk and pseudo-intellectual mumbo-jumbo.”
“Certainly. The Rainbow Necklace can mean only this: that you
are very rich, very powerful, and very eccentric. Anyone marrying
your daughter would have to recognize the overwhelming importance
of those facts of life. And I do.”
I do, too, mouthed the princess silently, as all eyes turned toward
King Conundra. The crowd was hushed, waiting for the awful
sentence to be passed on this foolhardy adventurer.