horseback. Queen Selina, it
seemed, had developed such a preference for her first lady-in-waiting's
society that she was always required to accompany her in the Royal
coach.

Daphne would willingly have dispensed with this and other signs of the
marked favour with which her Sovereign was overwhelming her just then.
She had no illusions as to the motives. The Queen thought--most
mistakenly, as it happened--that making a favourite of Daphne was the
surest method of snubbing and annoying her other ladies-in-waiting, for
whom she had begun to conceive a hearty dislike.

The dislike was certainly reciprocated. They resented their Royal
Mistress's insolence as much as they despised her previous
obsequiousness. They accepted the fact that she was their Queen, but,
among themselves, they did not pretend any respect for her, as was
manifest from their habit of referring to her in private as "Mother
Schwellenposch!" Edna, who was scarcely more beloved, was known as
"Princess Four-eyes," in allusion to her _pince-nez_. Daphne found it
hard at times to refrain from joining them in this irreverence, but,
while she saw the Queen's and Edna's weak points as clearly as her
companions--and indeed more clearly than any of them--her sense of
loyalty kept her silent. She might laugh when she was alone, and
frequently did, but that was a relief to her feelings for which she felt
she need not reproach herself very severely. Another reason for Queen
Selina's insistence on Daphne's company in the coach was, as she was
fully aware, the desire to keep her at a safe distance from the Crown
Prince--a needless precaution which had its amusing side for her.

Still, she often longed to be on a horse instead of being shut up in a
great lumbering vehicle with the Queen and the Princess Royal, even if
Princess Ruby's presence did something to make things less dull. On one
of these expeditions Queen Selina had once more provided herself with a
sack of gold from which she and the Princesses scattered _largesse_.

"_You_ may throw a little if you like, Miss Heritage," said the Queen
graciously. (She reserved the title "Lady Daphne" for occasions when the
Court was present.)

"I'd rather not, your Majesty," she replied. "I mean," she explained,
"it's not as if it was _my_ money."

"I should have thought," said Edna, "that that was all the more reason
for throwing it away." And as she spoke she flung a handful to a stout
old citizen, who glared with