eping it. You will
probably meet the Count to-day, he generally drives over to luncheon
now--so devoted to dear Edna! And such a height, too!"

"I shall be interested to meet him," said the Duchess. "He must be
rather a remarkable person."

Meanwhile Clarence was engaged in making himself agreeable to Lady
Muscombe. "Funny thing, Marchioness," he remarked, "but I seem to know
your face quite well."

"Perhaps you've seem me on picture-postcards," she said, "or else at the
Vivacity. Before I married I was Verity Stilton, you know."

"Oh," he stammered in confusion, "I--I wasn't aware--or else--of course.
Sorry!"

"Why on earth _should_ you be? You don't suppose I'm ashamed of having
been on the stage? I should soon have got to the front if I had stayed.
I was offered one of the best parts in 'The Girl from Greenland,' and I
threw it up to marry Muscombe. His people know perfectly well that I
sacrificed my career for his sake." (It might be added that if they did
not, it was no fault of Lady Muscombe's.)

"I remember you," he said. "I used to go to the Vivacity before the
Mater came to the throne."

"Ah, you haven't been a Royalty long, have you? Weren't you a
Wobbly-something or other before that?"

"Wibberley-Stimpson was the family name," he corrected.

"I knew it was something like that. And when you were--one of those,
what did you do with yourself?"

"I was in Finance," he replied largely. "In the City, don't you know,
what?"

"Really?" she drawled. "That accounts for my not remembering you.
Somehow, at the Vivacity, we didn't know any City men. All this must be
rather a change for you, isn't it?"

"It was a bit, at first, but we soon got into it. Except the Guv'nor,
who's never taken very kindly to it--hasn't had the training, what?"

"And you _have_? I see. And what does a Fairy Crown Prince have to do?"

"Well," he said, "I do a lot of riding and hunting. Mostly boar about
here. The Guv'nor don't ride, nor does Edna. Can't induce them to get on
a horse. So _I_ have to represent the family."

"I expect you're no end of a nut here," she said.

"Oh, really, Marchioness, you're pulling my leg!"

"Am I? I've never pulled a Fairy Prince's leg before, so it's quite a
new experience for me. But one _expects_ new experiences in
Fairyland--if this really _is_ Fairyland, which I can't quite believe!"

"Oh, it's Fairyland right enough, though, mind you, it isn't the place
it _was_. Nothing like the magi