“I hear as there is one man who be one hundred and five next birthday,” answered Frederik, “and a dozen or so be just having their hundredth!”
“It seems incredible,” remarked the King, “and we are very lucky it’s so close to us.”
“Your Majesty can say that again. Someone was saying that when one of the countries up North hears about Salem, they thought as they’d have a magic lake too to attract visitors and guess what happened?”
“What did happen?”
“They makes a great hullabaloo about it and when the people came to see it two boys were drowned!”
“That was not very magical, Frederik.”
“That’s what those people said so they gave up the idea and who could blame them.”
“Who indeed.”
The King lay in his bath for longer than he would have done otherwise as he was so annoyed with the Queen
