Page:The lilac fairy book (IA lilacfairybook00langiala).pdf/43
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THE FALSE PRINCE AND THE TRUE
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stood for a few minutes with his back to the room, where the company of young men remained silent. Then he came back, his face white and stern.

‘I tell you,’ he said, ‘and it is the solemn truth, that I would rather you had told me that the prince was dead, though he is my only son, than know that he