ou'd
lost. Now, mind what I say, Sidney, you must never attempt to play golf
again after this. I cannot have you making yourself ridiculous!"

"I think you're right, my dear," he said meekly. "In fact, I had already
decided to give it up."

Clarence clung to his Golf as long as he could, but he found it dreary
work going round the course alone. None of the Courtiers could be
induced to learn the game, and he felt a natural reluctance to take on
the Marshal as an antagonist, even if the latter had continued to be
keen. But he had conceived a strong distaste for the game, and it was
rumoured that there had been a stormy interview between him and the
Astrologer Royal, who kept his bed for several days afterwards.

And Clarence, as the Yellow Gnomes were impossible as caddies, had to
carry his own clubs, which he particularly detested. So in course of
time he ceased to visit the links, and thus deprived himself of his only
form of open-air exercise.

There was nothing much for him to do, except to lounge and loaf
aimlessly about the Palace, with a depressed suspicion that he was not
inspiring the full amount of respect that was due to his position as
Crown Prince. It would have been a distraction to make advances to
Daphne, but, after his somewhat cavalier treatment of her at the Ball,
he could not be sure how they would be received. Moreover, either by her
own management or his Royal Mother's, he was never given a chance of
seeing her except in public.

He found a resource in gambling with the gentlemen of the Royal
Household. They played for high stakes, but no higher, seeing that he
could replenish his purse as often as it was emptied, than he could well
afford. His visits to the sacks of gold in the King's Counting-house
became more and more frequent, but he would have derived more enjoyment
from cards if he had won occasionally.

One afternoon when, the usual card-players being absent on some hunting
expedition, he was left to his own devices, he wandered forlornly
through a suite of empty halls till he drifted out upon a balcony that
overlooked the Palace gardens.

And then, as he stepped through the window, his heart gave a sudden
leap. At the corner of the balcony he had just recognised Daphne. She
was quite alone, and he recognised that the opportunity, half-feared,
half-desired, had come at last.

CHAPTER VIII

"A STEED THAT KNOWS HIS RIDER"

Daphne turned and saw Prince Clarence almost immedi