istible
sword. Mirliflor, to be sure, did not know that he possessed this
somewhat unsportsmanlike advantage, and had disdained to shelter
himself, as he might have done, under the cap. But it is more than
possible that if he had known more about the sword, he would have
stretched the point of honour in this particular case. As has already
been seen, he had occasional lapses from the ideals the Fairy had
bestowed on him at his baptism, and he was quite incapable of troubling
himself about them when Daphne's life was at stake. Perhaps he ought to
have been more consistently punctilious, but he was not--which was
fortunate for both of them.

As soon as the knights saw the Marshal fall, they hastened to protest
their loyalty to their young Queen and offer their congratulations,
which Daphne thought it politic to accept at their face value. Horses
were found for her and Mirliflor, who decided to make, with a picked
body of the knights, for a village a league from Eswareinmal and await
developments there. Of the rest of the party, some were instructed to go
back to the Palace and report the Marshal's death while hunting, the
rest remained to bury his body, and it was one of these who found the
packet, and, most unluckily for Queen Selina, thought it necessary to
deliver it in hot haste to its addressee.

The Baron was directed to go on in the car to Clairdelune and inform
King Tournesol that his son had found a bride at last.

On reaching the village near Eswareinmal, Mirliflor had sent on two of
his escort into the city to ascertain the state of feeling there. They
brought back the unexpected news that all the citizens now knew that the
Lady Daphne was entitled to the Crown and were demanding her; that
Queen Selina, with her husband and son, had been imprisoned on suspicion
of having made away with her, and, if she were not forthcoming by an
early date, would be executed publicly without fail.

In the heat of his resentment at the treachery which had so nearly
succeeded in parting him from Daphne for ever, Mirliflor declared that
they should be left to the doom which they would certainly meet if
Daphne's return were kept secret for a few days.

"Mirliflor said that--not Girofle," she told him. "Girofle would never
be so horribly cold-blooded. But even Mirliflor didn't really mean it!
Of _course_ we can't let these Stimpson people be executed. Besides, I
_know_--I can't say how, but I _do_ know--that Mr. Stimpson and
C