to-night on the pretext of hunting in the
Forest of Schlangenzweigen. I take with me a company of my own--all
tried soldiers on whom I can rely. To-morrow you will set out in the
car, as though to Clairdelune, and Queen Selina will naturally believe
that her secret order will be obeyed. But, after having gone a certain
distance, you will head your storks for the chapel of St. Morosius in
the forest. There we shall be waiting to swear allegiance to our young
Queen and escort her in triumph to Eswareinmal. I shall have taken
measures beforehand to proclaim her title, and it is certain that the
populace will rise in her favour. You cannot fail to see, my dear Baron,
that your best--in fact, your only way of escaping the penalty of your
folly--to call it by no harsher name--is to aid us in undoing it."

"Enough, Marshal," said the Baron, "you can count upon me."

"I am sure of it, Baron, and, as I am leaving the Palace, I will deliver
the Lady Daphne into your custody. See that you say nothing to her of
our scheme till the fitting moment. For the present she must be told
that she is to be taken to Clairdelune. And now I must quit you, for I
have much to attend to before I start, which should be within an hour.
To-morrow at mid-day we shall expect you at the Chapel in the forest,
and have a care for your own sake that you fail us not."

An hour later, having disposed of the business he had attended to and
left everything in train for his project, he set out with a chosen band
on his alleged hunting expedition. "Whether this will fall out as I
calculate, or in some other way, I know not," he told himself, as they
clattered out of one of the City gates and took the road to the forest
of Schlangenzweigen. "But this I know--whatever happens, I shall shortly
be King of Maerchenland."

After he was gone the Baron began to reflect on what he had undertaken,
and to feel that he would be glad of an excuse to get out of it, if he
could find one. It was hardly credible that Queen Selina could have
devised so treacherous a plot; it seemed far more likely that the
Marshal had deceived him. After all, the secret order he had been shown
might not be genuine. If it were not, the Queen was innocent, and the
Baron was only too willing to leave her in peaceful permission of the
throne. Before he committed himself any further he must satisfy himself
on this point. His difficulty was that he could not ask her directly
whether the secret order