her friend than ever."
"Oh, I do love the Princess!" cried the boy enthusiastically. "There,
you see, she does not at heart believe the miserable tale. No, you
shall not go away, mother; it would be like owning that it was true. Be
brave and good and full of faith. Father said I was to defend you while
he was away, and I'm going to--against yourself while you are weak and
ill. Oh, what lots of things you've taught me about trying to be brave
and upright and true; now I'm going to try and show you that I will. We
cannot leave the court; it would be dishonouring father. Good-bye till
to-morrow. Oh, mother, how old all this makes me feel."
"My own boy!"
"Yes, but I don't feel a bit like a boy now, mother. It's just as if I
had been here for years. There, once more kiss me--good-bye!"
"My darling! But what are you going to do?"
"Something to show you that father has been slandered. Good-bye!
To-morrow I shall make you laugh for joy."
And tearing himself away from his mother's clinging arms, the boy
hurried out, down the stairs, and out into the courtyard, full of the
plan now in his mind.
CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.
A STIRRING ENCOUNTER.
More sentries were about the Palace, and the guardroom was full of
soldiers, but no one interfered with the Prince's page, who went
straight to the gates, and without the slightest attempt at concealment
walked across to the banks of the canal, along by its edge to the end,
passed round, and made for his father's house.
Twice over he saw men whom his ready imagination suggested as belonging
to the corps of spies who kept the comers and goers from the Palace
under observation, but he would not notice them.
"Let them watch if they like. I'm doing something I'm proud of, and not
ashamed."
In this spirit he made for the house, and reached it, to find that the
battered door had been replaced by a new one, which looked bright and
glistening in its coats of fresh paint.
He knocked and rang boldly, and as he waited he glanced carelessly to
right and left, to see that one of the men he had passed in the Park had
followed, and was sauntering slowly along in his direction.
"How miserably ashamed of himself a fellow like that must feel!" he
thought.
At that moment there was the rattling of a chain inside, and the door
was opened as far as the links would allow.
"Oh, it's you, Master Francis," said the housekeeper, whose scared and
troubled face began to be
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