ied the Queen in horror.

"No," answered the Princess slyly, "but I can say it. And, of course, I
shall have to say it to the charities and the anti-vivisectionists if
papa doesn't pay up. There'll be headlines about that, too," she added
reflectively. "You see, I am in the business now that I've begun helping
at sales."

The King got up from his seat, and began to pace the room. For the first
time he had discovered in his daughter's character a resemblance to Max,
and much as he was beginning to love certain mental values which his son
possessed, it rather frightened him to see them cropping up in his
daughter.

"Charlotte," he said, in a tone of affectionate appeal, "when have I
ever denied you anything that was right and reasonable?"

"Never, dearest papa, never!" said his daughter. "And I'm sure you are
not going to begin now. It's too late," she added mischievously.

Yes. It was too late. The King knew it. He had known it from the moment
the discussion started. Even the Queen was beginning to know it.
Charlotte, sweet, smiling, and determined, held them in the hollow of
her hand. Newspaper headlines, if properly manipulated, will defeat in
its own domestic circle any monarchy that is now existing.

So the long and short of it was that the King promised Charlotte her
allowance; and the Queen sat by and heard, and did not object. And as
the Princess passed out to follow her own avocations, whatever they
might be, she gave each of her parents the nicest kiss imaginable,
thanking them quite humbly for that which they had been powerless to
withhold.

The King looked enviously on that bright presence as it flitted away,
calm, wilful, and self-possessed; and much he wished that he could
conduct his own affairs with the same gay insouciance, and emerge with
as much success. Max might be able to manage it, but not he.

The Queen's voice broke in on his deliberations.

"Jack," said she, "we must get her married."

It was her Majesty's remedy for that new portent, the revolting
daughter. And there and then she started to discuss ways, means, and
dates for bringing the wished-for affair to a head. The dear lady was
already exuberantly hopeful. A carefully selected portrait of the
Hereditary Prince of Schnapps-Wasser now stood on the central table of
her boudoir, and only two days ago she had spied Charlotte looking at
it. A fine, adventurous figure, it stood out prominently from all the
uniformed splendors surround