"A STEED THAT KNOWS HIS RIDER"
Daphne turned and saw Prince Clarence almost immediately, and, after
making the prescribed curtsey, was about to retreat indoors when he
stopped her.
"I say, Lady Daphne," he remonstrated, "don't run away like that!"
"Your Royal Highness will be good enough to excuse me," she said; "I
ought to be with Princess Ruby by this time."
"_She's_ all right--trying to teach the Pages hockey in the Entrance
Court. And--look here, you needn't be so beastly formal--with _me_, you
know."
"I may remind your Royal Highness that you desired me to observe the
strictest etiquette."
"Did I? I only meant in public. Let's drop it just now, anyway. I've
been wanting to get a talk with you. You see, you're the only person
here I can really talk to; and if you only knew how awfully hipped and
depressed I'm feeling----"
"Are you?" she said. "I'm sorry." And there was certainly pity in the
soft grey eyes which rested on him for a moment or two.
"I give you my word," he went on, "there are times when I almost wish
myself back at the office again. There were things to be done there,
even if I didn't do 'em. Here there's nothing--except cards. It
wouldn't be so bad if the chaps here only knew Auction--I could hold my
own at that. But you couldn't play bridge with the sort of packs they've
got in this God-forsaken country. So they've taught me a bally game they
call 'Krebsgriff,' and I've lost over two sacks of ducats at it already.
Anyone would think after _that_ they'd treat me as a pal, but not a bit
of it!"
"Perhaps, Sir, they're afraid of being rebuked for such presumption."
"Perhaps, but I don't think it's that. They're polite enough and all
that, to my face, but they don't look _up_ to me, you know!"
"Why _should_ they?" Daphne thought, but all she said was, "That's very
sad."
"Isn't it?" he said; "they don't give me a chance to show what I _can_
do. I could knock their silly heads off at golf, and they won't even
learn! And now I can't get a game; and this afternoon, when _I_ was
feeling inclined for cards, they all go off to the forest without a word
to me, hunting beastly boars and bears, and I'm left without a soul to
speak to."
"They might have asked you to do them the honour of coming too," said
Daphne.
"I couldn't very well have gone if they had. You see, they hunt boars
and that on horseback here, and riding's a thing I've never gone in
for."
"It's not too late to begin, Sir."
"Well, to tell you the truth, I did think at one time of taking a few
lessons. But I don't know. You see, it would get about, and--well,
people would think it rather ridiculous."
"I should have thought--" began Daphne; "no, I mustn't say any more."
"Oh, go on, Lady Daphne, don't mind _me_! What would you have thought?"
"Well," said Daphne boldly, "that nothing could be so ridiculous as a
Crown Prince who can't sit a horse."
"I daresay I could as well as any other fellow, if I tried."
"No doubt, sir, but if you never _do_ try."
"I would, if I thought you cared."
"Of course I care, Prince Clarence," said Daphne. "Naturally, I should
like to see you doing everything that other Princes do. You really
aren't, so far, you know. I suppose I oughtn't to have said that--I
couldn't help it."
"That's all right," he said. "There's one thing," he added, thinking
aloud, "if I _did_ learn to ride decently, you and I might go out riding
together, what?"
"It's rather early to talk about that," said Daphne, "when you haven't
even begun to learn."
"I know, but I _will_ begin. For _your_ sake."
"No, Prince Clarence, for your own," she replied, "though I shall be
glad, too. And now, I mustn't stay here any longer."
Why, he asked himself, after she had gone, was she so keen on his
cutting a figure at Court? The answer was obvious--he had interested and
impressed her more than he could have hoped. But that, he shrewdly
perceived, only made it more necessary for him to be wary. She was
certainly a most fascinating girl, but if she had any ambitious designs
on him, she would find that he was quite capable of taking care of
himself. Still, she was right about his riding. Every Prince ought to be
able to ride. It would not take him long to learn. And when he could
ride he would go out hunting. She would think a lot more of him when
she saw him returning in triumph with a few boars and bears as trophies
of the chase.
Accordingly he took the earliest opportunity of mentioning to his family
that he intended to take lessons in horsemanship, which both the King
and Queen considered an admirable idea. The Marshal was consulted, and
though he opposed it at first, on the ground that anything which might
affect the succession to the throne was to be avoided, he gave way in
the end, and undertook to act himself as Clarence's riding master.
Clarence was prudent enough to stipulate that none of his family should
be present while he was undergoing instruction, and the Court were not
to be informed that he was having any lessons at all until he had
completed the course and become an accomplished equestrian.
"Well, my boy," said the King, when the Crown Prince entered the Royal
Parlour after his private lessons in the Palace tiltyard. "Well, and how
did you get on, hey?"
"Never got on at all," Clarence reluctantly admitted. "Not likely I
should, when there wasn't a bally gee in the stables that would let me
come near him!"
"Clarence!" cried his mother, "you _don't_ mean to say you've been there
all this time without riding a single horse!"
"I'd have ridden 'em right enough, if they'd let me get on 'em--but they
wouldn't."
"And pray what was the Marshal about?" inquired the Queen.
"Well, he was laughing most of the time; it's my belief he'd had 'em all
gingered up beforehand."
"I'm quite sure, Clarence, he would be incapable of such conduct as
that. Why _should_ he?"
"_I_ don't know," he said. "But I won't have _him_ about again. I'll get
some one else to teach me."
"But, my dear boy, nobody can teach you much if you can't even manage to
get on a horse's back. You'll only get hurt if you try any more, and you
will be far wiser to give it up altogether."
"Not much, Mater!" he declared; "I'm not so easily bested as all that.
Now I've begun I mean to go on with it."
And he went on; for, to do Clarence justice, want of pluck was not among
his defects. But he was obliged to admit that the Marshal was not fairly
accountable for the horses' behaviour, since they were quite as
unmanageable when he was no longer there.
They were spirited creatures, but perfectly docile until they caught
sight of Clarence, when they immediately became as vicious as the most
untameable bronco. If he contrived occasionally to get hoisted into the
saddle, he never remained there long enough to put the Royal Chief
Huntsman's instructions into practice, and he began at last to have
serious doubts whether Nature had ever intended him to shine as a
horseman.
He said nothing of these ignominious experiences to Daphne, partly
because he never found an opportunity, though more from a fear of being
laughed at. But he could not keep them from his family, and so Daphne
came to hear of his repeated failures through Princess Ruby. She did not
laugh at them, however; she was even a little touched. She thought more
of him for his attempts to follow her unlucky suggestion than if he had
never attempted anything at all, and fully believed that if he
persevered he would conquer in the end.
His Royal Mother was so perturbed and alarmed that at last she made a
confidant of the Court Godmother, who was about to depart on her annual
visit to the Court of Clairdelune. "He _will_ go on with it!" Queen
Selina lamented, "and I _know_ he'll break his neck before long! It does
seem so strange that those horrible horses should behave like this with
Clarence and nobody else. When his poor dear Grandfather was such a good
rider, too! I can't think why they should, Court Godmother, can you?"
The Fairy Vogelflug thought privately that the reason was not very far
to see. The horses of the Royal stud were, she knew, of an exceptional
aristocratic breed. Now poor Clarence, though of Royal blood on his
mother's side, unfortunately had little of the air and appearance which
these intelligent and observant animals probably connected with a true
Prince. It was more than likely that they had failed to recognise that
he was a Prince at all, and so resented being called upon to carry him.
But, though she could be out-spoken enough on occasion, she felt that
this was hardly an explanation she could give to his mother. "Well, my
dear," she said, "it's very trying for you, of course. But I don't know
that there's anything _I_ can do."
"I--I thought perhaps," said Queen Selina, with some natural hesitation,
"that you, as a Fairy, might--er--know some quite simple little spell
which----"
"As I have told you before," interrupted the Fairy, "I make a point of
using my knowledge of Magic as seldom as I can nowadays. I have my
health to consider. And, in any case, I am acquainted with no spell for
making a Prince into a horseman. Princes in Märchenland," she added,
rather unkindly, "have never needed such aids."
But, after all, she was anxious that this Royal family, whom she had
been largely responsible for importing, should do her as much credit as
possible, and so she applied herself to think of something that might be
of help to the unfortunate Crown Prince. A means occurred to her at
length, but as she was by no means sure that it would be effectual, she
was careful not to commit herself.
She did not even mention it till she was on the point of starting for
Clairdelune, and then, before she stepped into her dove-chariot, she
suddenly said to the Queen, _á propos_ of nothing in particular, "By the
way, my dear, that jewel you were wearing when you first came--I haven't
seen you with it for a long while--how is that?"
"Well, you see, Court Godmother, my Crown jewels seem to suit me so much
better."
"Then, if you don't want that pendant yourself, you had better give it
to your son."
"To Clarence?" cried the Queen. "Why, what use would it be to him?"
"It is a jewel which any Prince might be proud to wear," said the Fairy;
"and I should strongly advise you to see that he wears it. Not merely
now and then, but constantly. It may--mind, I don't say it _will_--but
it _may_ bring him better luck than he has enjoyed as yet."
"But really, Godmother, I can't quite believe that a thing--" began the
Queen, when the Fairy cut her short unceremoniously.
"I've no time to stay here arguing about it," she said; "my doves will
be catching cold if they stand about any longer. By all means don't take
my advice if you don't believe in it; I merely thought you might find it
worth trying--but you must please yourself. And now, with your
permission, I'll take my leave of you."
At a sign from her, the team of doves fluttered up in a snow-white cloud
and winged their flight to the neighbouring Kingdom of Clairdelune,
where she had another Royal Godson, Prince Mirliflor, in whose affairs
she took a keener interest than she could in Clarence's.
"Old people have such queer ideas," thought Queen Selina, as the chariot
rapidly receded from sight. "As if that twopenny-halfpenny pendant of
Miss Heritage's could--but the Court Godmother will be annoyed if I
don't follow her advice--and it's best not to offend the old creature.
I'll go up and see if it's still in my jewel case."
It was, and she brought it down in time to intercept Clarence as he was
starting in rather low spirits for another crowded hour of anything but
glorious life in the Riding Court.
"Clarence, my boy," she said, "I want you to oblige me by wearing this
in future."
"What--that thing you bought before we came away!" he replied. "I say,
Mater, you _don't_ expect me to go about with a woman's pendant on my
manly bosom!"
"Your Godmother Vogelflug thinks it is quite a fit ornament for a
Prince," urged his mother, "and--and she as much as said that it would
bring you good-luck."
"Did she, though? Well, I could do with a bit of that for a change." And
he allowed her to fasten the chain round his neck. "By Gad, makes me
feel like a Good Forester or a Member of the Ancient Order of Buffaloes
or something!" he remarked.
"Never mind," she said; "and it really doesn't look so very out of
place. But remember, Clarence, if it's to do any good, you must wear it
_always_."
"Right-oh!" he said; "and now I'll go and take my usual morning toss,
what?"
Half an hour later, he came into the Royal Parlour, where his family
were assembled, Daphne being with them. He looked round the circle with
a satisfied air, and then said in a tone of studied carelessness, "If
you've nothing better to do just now, all of you, you may as well look
in at the Riding Court in a few minutes, and see how I'm getting on.
I--er--should like Lady Daphne to come, too, and the whole Court. Tell
'em to hurry up. You'll find me down there ready for you." He was gone
before they had recovered from their surprise.
"Dear me," said the King, "I'm not quite sure that it would be wise to
have the Court looking on just yet, eh, my dear?"
"I have every confidence in Clarence," said the Queen. "He would not
have suggested that they should attend unless--but perhaps a smaller
audience, of just ourselves, might be less trying for him."
So it was only the Royal family and Daphne that went down to the Riding
Court, where, to Queen Selina's alarm, some very formidable-looking
jumps had been put up.
"He's never going to be rash enough to try to get over those!" she said.
"Tell him he's not to run such risks. I can't allow him to!"
Just then Clarence cantered in on a high-spirited mare, over which he
seemed to have complete control. He put her at obstacle after obstacle,
and surmounted all of them with the greatest ease. To prove that he was
equally at home on any mount, he had several other horses brought in,
and over each he showed the same mastery, and a seat with which Daphne,
who was critical in such matters, could find no fault.
"You young dog!" said his father, when the exhibition was over and
Clarence had dismounted. "So you've been taking us in all this time,
pretending you couldn't stick on a horse for more than a few seconds,
hey?"
"Oh, well," he said modestly, "I didn't like to say too much. Fact is,
it's only quite lately that I've felt what you might call at home on a
gee."
The Stud grooms could have testified how very lately this was if they
had thought proper to do so--which, of course, they did not.
"It only shows what can be done with a little perseverance," said Queen
Selina. "Clarence, you will be able to ride through the City now!"
He managed to get Daphne to himself for a few minutes on the way back to
the Palace.
"Well, Lady Daphne," he began, "I've done what I could to please you,
and I hope you are satisfied, what?"
"Indeed I am, Prince Clarence," she said warmly, for he had risen
several places in her esteem during the past hour. "And I congratulate
you most heartily. And now things will be ever so much pleasanter for
you, won't they?" As she spoke she noticed the pendant, which, of
course, she recognised immediately.
"Ah, you're looking at this," he said. "Daresay it strikes you as funny
my wearing it?"
"Not at all, Sir," she replied; "it isn't really a woman's ornament."
She did not tell him how she knew it was not, for she had not forgotten
her undertaking to say nothing about it.
"Well, it was the Mater's," he said. "She's made me promise to wear it
always. Thinks it may bring me luck."
"I hope it will, Prince Clarence," she said, quite sincerely; and, as
the Queen happened to look back just then and summon her sharply to her
side, that was all that passed between him and Daphne on that occasion.
She was rather pleased than otherwise that he should be the possessor of
the pendant. As has been said, she had never known her father, so there
were no tender associations attaching to it. And she had been a little
afraid that Mrs. Wibberley-Stimpson had only bought it out of
consideration for her. It was some relief that she had found a use for
it. Daphne was, of course, quite unaware who her unknown father had been
or that the pendant was a badge of his princely rank; and both the Queen
and her son had no suspicion of the truth. Nor did either of them
connect it with his suddenly acquired mastery of the whole art of
horsemanship, Queen Selina believing that his reports of previous
unsuccess had been intended to increase the surprise of his triumph,
while Clarence naturally found it easy to persuade himself that he had
been learning more from his disheartening failures than he had been
conscious of at the time. He certainly did not hide his new talent in a
napkin, but organised riding excursions of the lords and ladies of the
Royal household, at the head of which he made a very gay and gallant
appearance on a prancing bay palfrey. Only there was one thorn in his
luxuriously padded saddle. He had hoped that he might have the pleasure
of commanding Daphne to ride by his side on these excursions, but,
though she accompanied them, it was never on horseback. Queen Selina, it
seemed, had developed such a preference for her first lady-in-waiting's
society that she was always required to accompany her in the Royal
coach.
Daphne would willingly have dispensed with this and other signs of the
marked favour with which her Sovereign was overwhelming her just then.
She had no illusions as to the motives. The Queen thought--most
mistakenly, as it happened--that making a favourite of Daphne was the
surest method of snubbing and annoying her other ladies-in-waiting, for
whom she had begun to conceive a hearty dislike.
The dislike was certainly reciprocated. They resented their Royal
Mistress's insolence as much as they despised her previous
obsequiousness. They accepted the fact that she was their Queen, but,
among themselves, they did not pretend any respect for her, as was
manifest from their habit of referring to her in private as "Mother
Schwellenposch!" Edna, who was scarcely more beloved, was known as
"Princess Four-eyes," in allusion to her _pince-nez_. Daphne found it
hard at times to refrain from joining them in this irreverence, but,
while she saw the Queen's and Edna's weak points as clearly as her
companions--and indeed more clearly than any of them--her sense of
loyalty kept her silent. She might laugh when she was alone, and
frequently did, but that was a relief to her feelings for which she felt
she need not reproach herself very severely. Another reason for Queen
Selina's insistence on Daphne's company in the coach was, as she was
fully aware, the desire to keep her at a safe distance from the Crown
Prince--a needless precaution which had its amusing side for her.
Still, she often longed to be on a horse instead of being shut up in a
great lumbering vehicle with the Queen and the Princess Royal, even if
Princess Ruby's presence did something to make things less dull. On one
of these expeditions Queen Selina had once more provided herself with a
sack of gold from which she and the Princesses scattered _largesse_.
"_You_ may throw a little if you like, Miss Heritage," said the Queen
graciously. (She reserved the title "Lady Daphne" for occasions when the
Court was present.)
"I'd rather not, your Majesty," she replied. "I mean," she explained,
"it's not as if it was _my_ money."
"I should have thought," said Edna, "that that was all the more reason
for throwing it away." And as she spoke she flung a handful to a stout
old citizen, who glared with indignation--not at her, however, but at
the nimbler and needier persons who had grabbed most of the coins before
he could stoop to pick them up.
Daphne felt rather ashamed of these proceedings, which seemed to her not
merely undignified, but likely to demoralise the public. But she said
nothing.
"We're not doing this out of _ostentation_, Miss Heritage," explained
the Queen, who seemed to have divined something of her sentiments. "It's
policy. You may have noticed that we've not been nearly so well received
lately. _Why_, I don't know, unless there's any ill-feeling about those
detestable little Gnomes."
There was a good deal. The Gnomes, having no employment on the
golf-links, had recently broken out of their compound and found their
way into Eswareinmal, where they made themselves very much at home. They
quartered themselves on several of the householders, and, having
discovered that cooked food was more palatable than earth, they had no
diffidence in helping themselves. In other respects they were
inoffensive and inclined to be sociable, but, even in Märchenland, the
most harmless and playful Yellow Gnome is not considered a desirable
addition to any respectable family. The citizens one and all regarded
their visitors as intolerable nuisances for which they had to thank
their Sovereigns.
"It was his Majesty's idea to free them," the Queen went on. "I was
always in favour of keeping them in the mine, where they were out of
mischief. And they certainly mustn't be allowed to run about loose any
longer. They ought to learn some sort of discipline. Perhaps the best
thing would be to train them as Boy Scouts.... Have you caught cold,
Miss Heritage? You seem troubled by a most distressing cough."
King Sidney himself had begun to doubt whether the enfranchisement of
the Yellow Gnomes was quite one of his happiest inspirations. Such
Märchenlanders as had been induced to enter the mine were demanding
wages which left but a small margin for profit, especially when it was
considered that, if their methods of working were more systematic than
their predecessors', they somehow got very much less gold. No sacks at
all had been delivered of late, and the shelves of the Royal
Counting-house were beginning to look ominously bare.
He forced himself to mention this to the Queen after the drive that
afternoon, and point out the necessity for being rather more economical
than they had been hitherto. "I'm sure, Sidney," she protested, "no one
can say _I_ am extravagant! It was absolutely necessary to have the
whole Palace done up--I had to order some new dresses, as I couldn't be
expected to wear ready-made robes in my position, and one or two tiaras
and things from the Court Goldsmith, whose charges certainly were
disgracefully high. Then the household expenses come to several sacks a
week, try as I _may_ to keep them down!"
"I daresay, my love, I daresay--but I hear there was another sack
emptied only this afternoon--and we really can't go on like this!"
"Then I shall have to give up driving out altogether, Sidney. You've no
idea how unpopular you've made us all by releasing those wretched little
Gnomes. The people object to having to associate with them--and I'm sure
I don't wonder. You simply _must_ find some way of getting rid of them!"
"The Court Chamberlain tells me a certain number could be taken on the
Palace Kitchens as extra scullions."
"And we shall have them getting upstairs and running about all over the
Palace!"
"Oh no, my dear; there will be strict orders against that. But, to
return to our expenses, I'm afraid Clarence hasn't been as careful as he
might have been, and I shall have to speak to him very----"
"No, you will not, Sidney. I won't have you scolding Clarence just when
he's doing so well--riding and going out hunting and making himself a
social leader. You can give him a hint to be less extravagant if you
like--but no more. But the _first_ thing you have to do, is to settle
the trouble about those Gnomes. You'd better ask the Marshal if _he_ can
suggest anything."
The Marshal's solution was simple but practical. There was, it seemed, a
marshy tract at a considerable distance from the capital which needed
draining and reclaiming--a work which the more able-bodied of the Gnomes
could carry out under strict control. So the majority were deported to
the Märchenlands, the remainder being employed in the Royal Kitchens as
supernumerary and highly incompetent scullions.
Whether a damp climate would suit the Gnomes' constitutions was not
a matter of general concern. Most of them had been supplied with
jerseys, which, if they made them look more hideous little objects
than ever, had been knitted expressly for them by the Queen and her
ladies-in-waiting--and what more could they possibly want?
The citizens of Eswareinmal witnessed the exodus of the gnomes with
profound relief, but without any outburst of gratitude to their
Sovereign. It had somehow been allowed to transpire that they owed their
deliverance entirely to the statesmanship of the ex-Regent.