s not the least
_resemblance_! Baron, Baron, what did you mean by telling me that the
Prince----?"

"I--I must have been misinformed, your Majesty," said the Court
Chamberlain, having no better explanation to offer.

"You should be more careful about what you tell _Us_, Baron," said the
Queen. "And, really, there was no need to bring those dreadful heads
into our Throne Room, making all that horrible mess! It's a piece of bad
taste which, perhaps--in an under gardener--please have them removed
directly. Well, young man," she continued to the indignant Mirliflor,
who, it need not be said, had nothing to do with the gruesome
introduction of the heads, "I'm sure we are all very much obliged to
you--very much obliged indeed. If you hadn't come forward as you did,
it's dreadful to think what might have happened. And, though it seems
you _did_ take the liberty of borrowing the Crown Prince's sword without
permission, we are the last to blame you for that. We think you are
entitled to be very handsomely rewarded. But if you're expecting our
daughter, the Princess Edna's hand, I think your own good sense----"

"Yes, yes," said the King; "mustn't open your mouth _too_ wide, you
know. There's a limit to all things! And a round sum of money with which
you could start in business and marry some nice little woman in your own
class of life would be far more _useful_ to you."

"I ask for no reward," said Girofle. "And the hand of a Princess is an
honour to which I do not aspire, since I am already affianced!"

"That," replied the Queen, "is very satisfactory. We shall certainly
send the young person a wedding-present. Who _is_ she? One of the Royal
kitchen-maids, I presume?"

"She was in your Majesty's service as a lady-in-waiting," he said, "and
her name is Daphne."

"Oh," said Queen Selina. "Really? Miss Heritage? Well, you are to be
congratulated, I'm sure."

"But, Mater," said Clarence, "it can't be _her_! I thought you'd had her
sent home?"

"I had made arrangements for her return, Clarence, but it seems to have
been postponed for some reason--luckily, as things have turned out. She
has been given rooms in a pavilion behind the Palace Gardens, where no
doubt she managed to become acquainted with this young man."

"And he may take it," said the Fairy, "that the Lady Daphne is at
liberty to depart with him at once?"

"Certainly," said the Queen. "It is hardly, perhaps--but Miss Heritage
is no doubt right in accepting