t that at least there was no danger of lessons on the
morrow, as the tutor was too small to teach, and his father and mother
far too little to make him obey.

"I will go to the preserve closets," he murmured to himself as he was
dropping off to sleep. "There is now nobody to stop me. I shall begin
with the damsons and the honey in the morning, and I shall have all the
wedding cake and macaroons that I can possibly eat."

But, alas for the Prince! when morning came he found that affairs were
turning out differently indeed from the way in which he had planned.
When he came down to breakfast, with his foolish head full of visions of
ordering the cook to send up pigeon pot-pie, curry of larks, strong
coffee,--which was a forbidden delight to the Prince except upon his
birthdays,--and unlimited buttered toast and jam, what a downfall to all
his hopes was it to find, pacing the dining-hall, the fierce and cruel
General Bopi, who, luckily for himself, had been out hunting the day
before, and so missed the fatal dinner, and was still quite as large as
life if not larger. He had discovered the state of affairs at the
palace; and so far from making himself unhappy about this, he was
evidently in great good spirits, and, to say the least, was disposed to
make the best of matters instead of the worst. He had put on the King's
very best crown which was kept to be worn only on great occasions, and
with a cloak of royal ermine on his shoulders was strutting boldly up
and down, enjoying his new splendors and the feeling of power which they
brought.

How it happened Vance never was quite able to tell, but the first thing
he knew, his dreams of having his own way and ordering the servants
about to his heart's content were shattered, and he found himself
somehow pushed and hustled outside on the palace steps,--himself, the
Prince, and heir to the royal throne, turned away from his own door and
ordered to leave the kingdom on pain of death.

"But my family!" cried Vance; "I hid them from the cat, and now they
will starve. Nobody can find them but me!"

"As for their starving," the General replied indifferently, "I don't
know that I care for that; but I would rather the palace should be rid
of the whole vermin race of them, so you may come in and gather them up.
But be quick about it, or I'll set the royal bloodhounds on you!"

Thus roughly treated, the poor Prince made haste to collect his
scattered family from the nooks and crannies