he got the same coloured hair as her father?" inquired Edna.

"It's green," he confessed, "but a much prettier _shade_ of green--_Eau
de nil_, I should call it."

"And I suppose all the furniture will have to be covered in oilskin?"
went on Edna. "One of the delights of having a Nixie for a
sister-in-law."

"_You_ needn't talk!" he said angrily. "You came jolly near giving me a
bally ogre for a brother-in-law--what?"

"There is just this difference, Clarence," replied his sister, "_I_ was
able to break it off--which you are _not_."

"Well, if I'm not, it's not my fault, so you needn't nag," he said
savagely, for the thought that all hope of Daphne was now irretrievably
lost had just begun to gall him.

"We shall all have to change our shoes when we get in," was her answer.
"And it is lucky if we escape a bad cold in the head. But I dare say,"
she added sweetly, "that when dear Forelle is one of us we shall _soon_
grow inured to damp."

"What _I'm_ thinking of," said the King sombrely, "is how the Court and
the populace will take this business. It's to be hoped that the Lake
King is--er--_liked_ in these parts."

"Who could _help_ loving him?" jeered Edna. "No doubt the wedding will
excite the greatest enthusiasm--especially if the bride goes through the
ceremony in a tank!"

"Oh, shut _up_, can't you!" cried the worried Clarence. "Don't make it
out more rotten than it is!"

Queen Selina was too occupied with her own reflections to interfere. Her
plan for securing the succession to the throne by a union between
Clarence and Daphne was clearly no longer practicable. She had been
anxious to treat the girl with consideration, and even indulgence--but
events had made this impossible. It was absolutely necessary now to get
Miss Heritage safely out of the way as soon as it could be managed. "I
must speak to the Marshal about it," she was thinking, "and have her
sent back to England in that stork-car. The poor dear Court Godmother is
much too ill to be consulted just now. I have just _that_ much to be
truly thankful for!"

CHAPTER XIX

SERVANTS OF THE QUEEN

If breaking the news of Edna's engagement to Count von Rubenfresser had
been a matter of some delicacy, to inform the Court and Public of
Clarence's betrothal to a Water-nixie was, as his parents felt,
infinitely more so. Queen Selina told the Baron first, but, rather to
her surprise, he took it calmly and almost apathetically. "I'm afraid,
Baron,"