Is
it father? Has he gone mad?"

"Yes," said Katrina, the tears coming into her eyes.

"Is it because of me?"

"Our Lord let it happen out of compassion. He saw that his burden
was too heavy for him."

There was no time to explain further, for now Jan stood in the
doorway, and behind him was the gang of youngsters, who wanted to
see how this meeting, which they had so often heard him picture,
would be in reality.

The Emperor of Portugallia did not go straight up to his daughter
but stopped just inside the door and delivered his speech of
welcome.

"Welcome, welcome, O queen of the Sun! O rich and beautiful Glory
Goldie!"

The words were delivered with that stilted loftiness which
dignitaries are wont to assume on great occasions. All the same,
there were tears of joy in Jan's eyes and he had hard work to keep
his voice steady.

After the well-learned greeting had been recited the Emperor rapped
three times on the floor with his imperial stick for silence and
attention, whereupon he began to sing in a thin, squeaky voice.

Glory Goldie had drawn close to Katrina. It was as if she wished to
hide herself, to crawl out of sight behind her mother. Up to this
she had kept silence, but when Jan started to sing she cried out in
terror and tried to stop him. Then Katrina gripped her tightly by
the arm.

"Leave him alone!" she said. "He has been comforted by the hope of
singing this song to you ever since you first became lost to us."

Then Glory Goldie held her peace and let Jan continue:

"The Empress's father, for his part,
Feels so happy in his heart.
Austria, Portugal, Metz, Japan,
Read the newspapers, if you can.
Boom, boom, boom, and roll.
Boom, boom."

But Glory Goldie could stand no more. Rushing forward she quickly
hustled the youngsters out of the house, and banged the door on
them. Then turning round upon her father she stamped her foot at
him. Now she was angry in earnest.

"For heaven's sake, shut up!" she cried. "Do you want to make a
laughing-stock of me by calling me an empress?"

Jan looked a little hurt, but he was over it in a twinkling. She
was the Great Empress, to be sure. All that she did was right; all
that she said was to him as honey and balsam. In the supreme
happiness of the moment he had quite forgotten to look for the
crown of gold and the field marshals in golden armour. If she
wished to appear poor and humble when she came, that wa