42 I was not sorry to say goodbye to my brother and his soldier friends, although I was sad to say goodbye to the Princess. Should I tell her the truth? Was I wrong to pretend to be the King? I did not know. “Rudolf, be careful, won’t you?” the Princess said. “Be careful of what?” I asked. “I can’t say. But think what your life means to the people of Ruritania,” she said. I remembered what Rose had said about my brother Robert back in England: “He realises his position in society brings with it responsibilities.” I had always wanted to have a quiet life, but I suddenly realised how many responsibilities I now had here in Ruritania. How on earth had I got myself into such a situation? *** Over the next few weeks, I am pleased to say that no one seemed to notice I was not the real King of Ruritania. Because I looked so like the King, it was much easier for me to pretend to be him than to pretend to me by neighbour at home, for example. I learnt a lot about how a country is run, but I made mistakes, sometimes big ones. I became very good at pretending I had forgotten rules or people that I had met, and I hoped my growing popularity with the people of Ruritania would help them to forgive my occasional bad decisions. One day, Sapt came into my room. “Here’s a letter for you,” he said. “From the writing, I think it’s from a woman. I also have some important news.” “What is it?” I asked. “We now know that the King’s at the Castle of Zenda,” he said. “How do you know this?” “We asked where the rest of the Six Men were, and found out that they