ter, and we'll see fair play.'

'Well, you have got the best of me,' said the King, shrugging his
shoulders good-humouredly, 'and I have only one regret.'

'What may that be?' Yellow-cap inquired.

'Only that, since you _have_ got the best of me, I am prevented from
enjoying the pleasure I had looked forward to of making you my
successor. But, after all, it comes to the same thing in the end--for
you, at any rate. And things being as they are, of course they could
not be otherwise. Come--despatch!' And so saying the venerable monarch
wrapped his mantle round his head and struck an heroic attitude.

'What are you waiting for? Let him have it!' whispered Silvia at
Yellow-cap's elbow.

But Yellow-cap thought there was no need of hurrying; so he put the
bit of paper in his pocket and said, gently pulling the King's mantle
from before his face--

'My dear King, pray let us understand each other. I am sure that we
can manage this thing without any trouble to either of us. As you
yourself say, what need is there for me to be a usurper, if I can be a
successor?'

'Ah, it's very kind of you to think of that,' replied the King,
shaking his head; 'but I couldn't be guilty of such inhospitality as
to hinder a stranger from carrying out so capital a plot. No--say no
more. I see how it is. You have taken a great deal of trouble about
this conspiracy, and so far you have managed it very well. I shall not
interfere with your triumph for the sake of a selfish whim of my own.
Never, my dear boy, never! My spirit is too royal to stoop to such
meanness. And I think it unkind of you to expect such a thing of me;
and if you don't stop it I shall have to tell the executioner to cut
off your head.'

'That last argument of yours is a strong one, and rather than drive
you to such extremities I would let you have it your own way,' said
Yellow-cap. 'But still I think this affair can be arranged. All I
want, you see, is to sit on your throne; to make a rhyme to your name,
and to trample you under the feet of the metrical system. Have nothing
to do with that. Come, oblige me this once, and I will do as much for
you the next time.'

The King stroked his long white beard thoughtfully.

'The fact is,' he said at length, 'I am rather in a muddle about the
whole business. If it had been a simple pantomime I could have seen
through it; but this combination of two rival performances in one is
beyond me. Let me consider. Hum! Ha! I have it. Let