ly.

"I knew it--I knew it!" cried Edna. "Appearances were against him,
that's all!"

"Not an Ogre yet," went on the Count. "But I hope to be one as soon as I
get the chance."

"No, no, Ruprecht!" protested Edna. "You don't mean it--you _know_ you
don't!"

"What!" said the Count, scowling at her. "Are you going to turn round on
me like this, after encouraging me as you did?"

"You will not find it easy to persuade me," said the Duchess, "that the
Princess would ever have urged you to become an Ogre."

"_Urged_ him, indeed!" cried Edna wildly. "I had no suspicion--I never
said a single word that could possibly----"

"Didn't you say I was to follow the teachings of your great master with
the name I never can pronounce?" he demanded. "Didn't you tell me to
make my own morality and obey my own instincts, without caring what
people thought or what suffering I inflicted? You know you did! And
that's all I've done. My instincts told me that those pages were my
natural provender. I had a perfect right to take them if I could. The
only people who would condemn me would be just those average
conventional persons for whom you have such a contempt. I expected
better things from _you_!"

"I cannot sit here another moment," declared the Duchess, rising. "It is
making me positively ill!"

"And me!" added Lady Muscombe. "I've been on the point of fainting
several times. I must say," she told Clarence, "this is _quite_ the
weirdest lunch I _ever_ sat through!"

"We will _all_ leave, Duchess," said the Queen. "I assure you I entirely
share your sentiments, and perhaps by this time even Edna----"

"I loathe him, Mother!" she said, shuddering; "I only hope I shall never
see his face again!"

"You hear that, sir?" said King Sidney, with more firmness than he
usually showed. "And, as the Princess Edna--er--voices the general
feeling, perhaps you'll see the propriety of getting out of this at
once?"

"It seems to me," said the Count, "that you are all making a great fuss
about nothing. If I'd eaten any of your pages I could understand it. But
I haven't--I never got the chance."

"Thanks to Clarence!" put in Queen Selina. "He saved the poor boys!"

"It was Miss Heritage, _really_, Mummy!" corrected Ruby jealously.
"_She_ wanted to know about the sack, or I shouldn't have asked."

"Miss Heritage!" muttered Edna. "Ah! I might have _known_ it!"

"Now just you be off to that castle of yours," said the King, addressing
the di