o keep my crown on as it is!"

"You can hold it on with one hand, can't you? You simply _must_ bow if
you don't want to be unpopular! So must _you_, children. Keep _on_ with
it!"

"Give us a rest, Mater," said Prince Clarence, after they had been
nodding like Chinese mandarins for some minutes. "My neck's beginning to
wilt already!"

Queen Selina herself was not sorry to stop. "It's certainly very
fatiguing at first," she admitted; "we must practise it together in
private.... Was that old Mrs. Fogleplug's dove-chariot that passed us
just now? I'm afraid I shall have to put her in her place. She's rather
inclined to forget herself--not only addressed me as 'my dear,' but
actually attempted to kiss me after the Coronation!"

"So she did _me_!" said the Princess Royal, "but I hope I showed that I
thought she was taking a liberty."

"She's a very worthy, well-meaning old creature, no doubt," remarked the
Queen; "still, a Fairy Godmother in these days is really _rather_--I
shall have to get her to retire--on a pension."

"She'll stick on," said Prince Clarence, "you see if she don't. Means to
boss the whole show."

"I shall soon let her see that I intend to be mistress in my own
Kingdom," said the Queen. "I could wish, I must say, that it was just a
little more up to date! Everything so dreadfully behind the times! I
haven't seen a shop yet with a plate-glass front, and not a single
pillar-box!"

"Poor sort of place for Suffragettes, what?" observed Clarence.

"Frivolity apart, Clarence," remarked the Queen, "I can see already that
there is much to be done here before the country can be called really
civilised. We must set ourselves to raise the standard by introducing
modern ideas--enlighten people's minds, and all the rest of it. And you
must do _your_ share, Sidney, as I shall do mine."

"Certainly," said the King; "I'm agreeable. All for progress myself.
Always have been.... I fancy that must be our Palace up there. A truly
palatial residence--replete, I've no doubt, with every convenience we
can require."

The State Coach, after making a leisurely circuit of the two sides of
the principal square, was now beginning the ascent of the steep zigzag
road to the Palace, which stood on the terraced height of the plateau
that commanded the city. The party in the coach caught glimpses of its
massive but ornate towers with fantastic spires and turrets, and its
great arched and columned wings of rose-tinted marble. A