"Now then, George," smiled Francesca, "what is it?"

Averting his eyes from her scantily clad form, he mumbled, "Oh, ah . . . I've come to rescue you, don't y'know. Kill the giant, carry you home in triumph, and all that. Has to be done, Mother says. Can't have giants mucking about, abducting maidens and that sort of thing. Won't do, you see.

A shadow of annoyance passed over Francesca's angelic face. Then she smiled again.

"Well, that's very chivalrous of you, George," she said, "but scarcely practical. You're not strong enough to kill a giant . . . and besides, I don't want to be rescued."

"You don't what?" cried the prince.

"I don't want to be rescued. I'm really quite happy here."

The prince couldn't believe his ears.

"But the brute must treat you horribly!" he wailed. "How can you bear itthe humiliation, the maltreatment, the vile and shameful . . . !" He shuddered, unable to continue.

"I admit it took getting used to, George," said Francesca, "but now I've acquired a taste for it, and life as your bride would seem, if you'll pardon me, a little dull.”

She glanced down and adjusted the scrap of wedding gown which barely covered her.

"Well, "frowned the prince, "if you really want to stick it out, I don't suppose..." Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of the tower door being thrown open. They heard heavy foosteps on the stairs.

"Quick. George, that's him!" whispered Francesca urgently. "Now run along home while you can, there's a good lad!"

At the first sound of the giant's approach, the prince had begun to quake in terror. Now he leaped for the window. but the great sword his mother had buckled round him became entangled with his legs and he fell to the floor in a pitiful heap. At that moment the giant entered the chamber. Spying the cowering prince, he snatched him up by the nape of his neck and bellowed:

"Who is this little jackanapes?"

"Oh, he's just a voung chap I used to know," Francesca replied. "He means no harm. Do you, George?"

The prince begged for mercy. "Please. sir, let me go," he implored, "and I promise I'll never bother you again!"

The giant studied his new captive from under shaggy brows. Then he cuffed him with the back of his hand and knocked him over the table. He collared him again and gave him a mighty kick. The luckless prince bounced off the wall and fell to the floor. Certain his hour had come, he crawled under the bed and began to pray. The giant hauled him out, flung him face-down across the bed, and held him there squirming like a bug.

"Oh dear!" cried Francesca, wringing her hands. "Don't kill George! He's really a very nice boy."

But the giant had other plans. He pulled the prince's pantaloons down to his knees and proceeded to ravish him just as he had Francesca. He abused the howling lad for an hour, while Francesca stood in a corner biting her lips. To augment his cruel pleasure, he dealt the prince resounding smacks on his bare buttocks.

Long before the end of his ordeal. the prince's pleas for mercy became cries of pleasure. He sighed like a girl and begged for harder blows. Spasms of pleas-