position unique in the annals
of Uluan sovereignty, being the only female who had ever succeeded to
the throne. All the past monarchs had been male, from time immemorial;
and the fact that a female had now succeeded, and she only a young girl,
filled the Council of Nobles with consternation, which is easily to be
comprehended, when it is remembered that in Ulua women are regarded as
being so far inferior to men that they are considered as mere chattels
and but little better than domestic animals. A Council of Nobles had
already been convened to discuss so novel and disconcerting a situation,
at which one more than usually daring spirit had actually ventured to
suggest the election of one of themselves to fill the vacated throne.
But this suggestion had been promptly vetoed by Lyga, the "Keeper of
Statutes," who, referring to the musty tome in which were the laws
relating to the government of Ulua, reminded the council that the law of
succession explicitly provides that, upon the death of the sovereign,
his next immediate successor becomes monarch. Or, failing an immediate
successor, through pre-decease--as in the present case--then, the
immediate successor of him who should have succeeded comes to the
throne. The title of Princess Myrra to the throne was thus indubitably
established, and the only question really before the council was how so
unique a situation was to be met. A long and heated discussion
followed, in the course of which two facts were clearly established, the
first of which was that, by the law of succession, Myrra was now the
Queen of Ulua; and the second, that the idea of being governed by a
woman was utterly distasteful to the members of the Council of Nobles.
Finally, it was decided that, since by immemorial custom, the Uluan wife
was the subject of her husband, the only thing to be done was to request
the queen to marry, when her husband would become virtually king. This
decision was regarded as a quite satisfactory solution of the
difficulty; and it was immediately proposed that a list of approved
names should be there and then prepared for submission to her Majesty,
and that she should be invited to select from that list the person whom
she would accept as her spouse.

So far, so good. But now, at the very moment when the great difficulty
appeared to have been surmounted, other and equally awkward difficulties
at once began to arise. The position of husband to the queen was one
which natu