children. She is the widow of Prince Leopold (the Queen's youngest
son), so her children are a Prince and Princess: the girl is 'Alice,'
but I don't know the boy's Christian name: they call him 'Albany,'
because he is the Duke of Albany. Now that I have made friends with a
real live little Princess, I don't intend ever to _speak_ to any more
children that haven't any titles. In fact, I'm so proud, and I hold my
chin so high, that I shouldn't even _see_ you if we met! No, darlings,
you mustn't believe _that_. If I made friends with a _dozen_
Princesses, I would love you better than all of them together, even if
I had them all rolled up into a sort of child-roly-poly.
"Love to Nellie and Emsie.--Your ever loving Uncle,
"C. L. D."
X X X X X X X
And now I think that I have done all that has been in my power to present
Lewis Carroll to you in his most delightful aspect--as a friend to
children. I have not pretended in any way to write an exhaustive
life-story of the man who was so dear to me, but by the aid of the letters
and the diaries that I have been enabled to publish, and by the few
reminiscences that I have given you of Lewis Carroll as I knew him, I hope
I have done something to bring still nearer to your hearts the memory of
the greatest friend that children ever had.
Footnotes:
[1] This refers to my visit to America when, as a child, I played the
little Duke of York in "Richard III."
[2] At this point the real child's answers begin, the three or four lines
alone were written by Mr. Dodgson himself.--ED.
Transcriber's Notes:
Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_.
Underlined passages are indicated by =underline=.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Story of Lewis Carroll, by Isa Bowman