The Princess Virginia

"No", said the Princess. "No. I'm dashed if I do. " "My darling child!" exclaimed the Grand Duchess. "You're impossible. If any one should hear you!" "It's he who's impossible", the Princess amended. "I'm just trying to show you " "Or to shock me. You are so like your grandmother. " "That's the best compliment any one can give me, which is lucky, as it's given so often", laughed the Princess. "Dear, adorable Virginia!" She cuddled into the pink hollow of her hand the pearl framed ivory miniature of a beautiful, smiling girl, which always hung from a thin gold chain around her neck. "They shouldn't have named me after you, should they, if they hadn't wanted me to be like you?" "It was partly a question of money, dear", sighed the Grand Duchess. "If my mother hadn't left a legacy to my first daughter only on consideration that her own extremely American name of Virginia should be perpetuated " "It was a delicious way of being patriotic. I'm glad she did it. I love being the only Royal Princess with American blood in my veins and an American name on my handkerchiefs. Do you believe for an instant that if Grandmother Virginia were alive, she would let Granddaughter Virginia marry Prince Henri de Touraine?" "I don't see why not", said the Grand Duchess. "She wasn't too patriotic to marry an English Duke, and startle London as the first American Duchess.