t what
a pity he's not coming sooner. Well, Charlotte must wait, that's all!"

And so in her own mind the matter was settled, and only the usual
details waited to be arranged. She handed the letter back to him.

"Of course," she said, "before he comes Charlotte must have a bigger
allowance." She became meditative. "By the way, you had better leave it
in my hands; don't give it to Charlotte herself. She wheedles you, I
know; but she has ideas about dress which I am not going to encourage;
she makes herself far too noticeable as it is. Somebody has been talking
to her about 'national costume' and the folly of fashions; and she
actually said just now that she wanted to have some kind of dress that
she could wear three years running! I told her that fashions were made
to be followed, and that it was her duty to follow them. Oh, she was
quite sweet about it, and said she supposed I knew best, which of course
is true. But she had a sort of 'I'll ask papa' look in her eyes that
made me suspicious. She went out just before you came."

"I met her," observed the King.

"And she said nothing?"

"Not a word about her dress allowance."

"Ah, that's all right, then: she takes what I tell her sometimes." Then
with a quick glance the Queen asked abruptly: "Have you seen Max?"

"I fancy I may be seeing him this evening," returned the King casually,
for he wished to conceal even from his wife the importance he had begun
to attach to his son's visits.

"Something is happening," said the Queen pointedly; "at least, so I am
informed. That--that person I told you about--she isn't there now."

"However do you come to know that?" inquired the King, surprised; but
his question was ignored.

"She has gone abroad," went on his informant. "Had you said anything to
Max?"

"I did speak to him."

"Then it seems to have had its effect."

The King very much doubted whether the effect was any of his doing; but
he held his peace.

"Now we must find somebody for him," continued the dear lady, covering
the past in a tone of charitable allowance.

"I think that Max will find somebody for himself."

But this was not to her taste at all. "How can he," she objected,
"unless we send him abroad? I'm sure there's nobody here."

But the King had come recently to know more about Max than his wife did.
"Max will find somebody for himself," he repeated; "and if he thinks it
worth while, he will go all round the world on a wild goose chase to
loo