"RIVEN WITH VAIN ENDEAVOUR"
After a few hours' flight the Fairy Vogelflug's team of doves had safely
deposited her at the entrance to the Palace of King Tournesol. She
ascertained that Prince Mirliflor was within and went at once to his
apartments. He received her with his usual respect, but there was a
reserve in his manner which showed that the memory of his late fiasco
was still rankling. His reserve increased perceptibly after she had
explained the purpose of her visit. He altogether declined to consider a
second matrimonial venture on her recommendation, hinting as politely as
possible that her idea of a suitable consort for him was too unlikely to
correspond with his own. "You mean with the ideal of your visions?" she
said. "And you saw her again last night. Now didn't you, Mirliflor?"
"I did," he said; "but how did you know that?"
"How did I know? Because I sent you the vision, of course. I sent you
the former one, too, though there were reasons why I couldn't tell you
so till now."
"And why do you tantalise me by making me dream of an unattainable
perfection?" he asked hotly. "Can you suppose that anything short of it
will ever content me now? Since I cannot hope to find so sweet and fair
a Princess in all the world, I am only the more resolved to live and die
unmarried!"
"She exists, or I could not have shown her to you in a vision. You have
only to do exactly as I tell you, Mirliflor, and you shall see her, and
win her, if you can."
"You said all that about the other one, Godmother Voldoiseau," he
replied. "No, it's no good. I really can't trust you again."
"Don't be obstinate, Mirliflor, or you'll put me in a passion, and
that's dangerous at my age. I grant you I was wrong about Princess Edna.
But I'm not wrong now. I assure you that, if you saw this girl, you
would own that she was no less fair than she appeared in your visions."
"But if there indeed lives so lovely a Princess," he said, "how comes it
that I have never heard of her existence?"
"She is no Princess, Mirliflor. Merely a poor friendless girl I have
chosen to protect."
"So much the better," he said. "She is the less likely to refuse me."
"Because you are a Prince? Just so--but I don't intend that she shall
accept you for any such reason. I shall not allow you to see her at all
unless you promise not to reveal your rank, or even your real name, to
her until I give you leave to do so."
"You have my word, Godmother," he replied. "After all, it may be that,
even without rank or title, I shall succeed in obtaining favour in her
eyes."
"You trust to your good looks--but those, too, you must consent to
sacrifice. Love that is based on mere outward appearance soon passes. I
have to be very careful now how I exercise any magic power
whatever--each time it takes more and more out of me, and even sending
you these visions taxed me most severely. Still, I will make another
effort and change you into a less comely form."
"I suppose you are proposing to turn me into a beast of some kind?" he
said. "If so, I cry off. I know it succeeded with an ancestor of
ours--but that was centuries ago, and I'm not inclined to undertake the
risk myself."
"I'm not asking you to undertake it. The form you would assume would be
human, and not in the least repulsive. In strict fairness I ought to
transform the girl as well, but as I know very well that, if I did, you
would never so much as look at her, I must leave her as she is. Only if
you don't consent to be transformed yourself, you will never see her at
all."
"But what if I let myself be transformed and find out when I see her
that she doesn't resemble my vision?"
"You need not fear that. But if, when you see her, you wish to withdraw,
I will bring you back here and restore you to your own shape again, and
thus you will be none the worse."
"Well," he said, "on those terms I agree." Upon which the Fairy began
her incantations, and, after one or two failures, succeeded in
remembering the precise formula and accomplishing the metamorphosis.
"I knew it would come back to me in time," she remarked, exhausted but
gratified. "I shall suffer for it later--but it's certainly a highly
successful piece of work--as you will see if you go and look at yourself
in that mirror."
When he looked it was a complete stranger that he saw reflected. A young
man of his own height and figure, but with features that, without being
absolutely plain, were quite ordinary. His own curling brown locks were
replaced by short black hair, and his complexion had deepened from its
original slight bronze to a swarthy hue. Even his silk and velvet suit
had suffered a change and was now a coarse leather jerkin with hose and
sleeves of russet cloth.
"You might just as well have made a beast of me outright!" he said
bitterly. "I should have been as likely to win the heart of any maiden
as I am now."
"My dear Mirliflor," retorted the Fairy, "if, as you are now, you cannot
win this girl by your own worth, it will either be because she is not
worth winning or you have not sufficient worth to deserve her."
"And how," he asked, "am I to set about winning her?"
"You will start at once for Eswareinmal--on horseback if you like,
provided your horse and his trappings are not too fine. You will leave
him outside the City, and find your way to one of the side entrances of
the Palace, where you will ask an attendant to inform me that
'Giroflé'--as you will henceforth call yourself--has arrived in
obedience to my summons. I will arrange that you shall see this girl,
and it will then be for you to say whether you will go any further or
not in this enterprise. You had better leave the Palace without seeing
the King, your father, and I will explain to him that there were good
and sufficient reasons for your secret departure."
However, when she did obtain an audience from King Tournesol, she saw
that he was not in a mood that promised a favourable reception to any
further matrimonial project on Mirliflor's behalf--at all events from
her. So she merely informed him that Mirliflor had left Clairdelune to
seek a bride for himself, and that he might be absent for some time. She
did not mention his transformation, and was disingenuous enough to
agree with the King that the Prince had behaved most unfilially in
departing without permission. But King Tournesol was too glad that his
son's thoughts had again turned to marriage to be very seriously angry,
and the Fairy left him in tolerable good humour, and got back to
Eswareinmal long before Mirliflor, who reached the Palace at last, after
a journey of entirely unfamiliar discomfort and a total lack of the
deference and attention he had always hitherto received as of right. He
made his way in an aggrieved and rather rebellious frame of mind to a
side entrance and, on inquiring for the Court Godmother, was taken at
once to her apartments. After hearing his tale of hardships, which she
merely said were extremely good for him, she led him down by a private
staircase to the gardens at the back of the Palace, and through them, by
a postern gate of which she had the key, to an uncultivated region of
glades and groves. Here she ordered him to conceal himself behind a
thicket at the edge of a clearing, and to remain there till she gave him
leave to come out. He waited for what seemed an interminable time--and
then his patience was rewarded. The Fairy returned with the very lady of
his visions. _This_ time at least his Godmother had not deceived
him--the living reality was even more radiantly beautiful than his
dream! They passed and repassed him several times, and, if he had not
seen Daphne, the mere sound of her gay sweet voice would have been
enough to enslave him. But he could see her perfectly well, and note the
animation of her every gesture, the easy grace with which she moved, and
her pretty tenderness for the old woman who was leaning on her strong
young arm. When would the Fairy see fit to call him forth and present
him to this adorable being? And yet, inconsistently enough, he was
dreading the moment. How could he hope, changed as he was now, that
those bright eyes would regard him with any interest whatever? But, as
it happened, they did not regard him at all on this occasion, for, after
a few more turns up and down the clearing, the Fairy retired with her
_protégée_, and presently re-appeared alone.
"Well," she said, as Mirliflor came forward at her summons, "now you
have seen her, what is your decision?"
"I stay here," he replied, "and will submit to anything as long as there
is a chance of gaining her."
"I expected as much," she said. "And I have arranged that you shall be
employed here as one of the Royal under-gardeners."
"An under-gardener!" he exclaimed. "Really, Godmother, that is not
giving me a fair chance! And I've never done any gardening in my life!"
"Then it is high time you began," she said calmly. "It will not only
give you a greater respect for manual labour, but subdue your pride."
"You have left me nothing I can be proud of. And what opportunity shall
I have of even seeing her?"
"You will be given the key which will admit you to the grounds, and the
pavilion in which she lives is not far from here. As to opportunities of
meeting her, you must make them for yourself. Those are my conditions,"
said the despotic old Fairy, "and if you don't choose to accept them,
you may as well return to Clairdelune at once, for I shall take care
that you never see her again."
"Oh, I accept," he said. "I can't help myself. Only, it does seem to me,
Godmother, that if you're really anxious that I should succeed, you
might make it easier for me than this!"
"No doubt," she said. "But if it was easy there would be no merit in
success. I am putting _her_ to the test, remember, as well as you, and
until I see how you both come through it, I cannot be certain that you
are really fitted for one another."
She had, as a matter of fact, quite made up her mind that they should
marry, but she could not resist such an opening for one of the practical
moral lessons which, as a Fairy Godmother of the fine old didactic type,
she had often brought to an effectively instructive _dénoûment_.
But if she was enjoying herself over the probation, it is more than can
be said for the unhappy Mirliflor. It is true that, owing to the Court
Godmother's protection, he was treated by the Head Gardener with some
indulgence, but, nevertheless, he had to work much harder and longer
than he liked. Sometimes, however, he was sent to the outlying part of
the gardens, where he was under no supervision, and then it was easy to
slip away to the postern gate, which his key enabled him to enter, and
he was not long in discovering the pavilion which sheltered his
divinity. He wore a big apron and carried a pair of garden shears with
which he lopped and trimmed a shrub now and then by way of accounting
for his intrusion, and sometimes he was rewarded by a glimpse of her.
But that was all, for, with a diffidence he had never known before, he
did not venture near enough to speak. The fact was that he was morbidly
self-conscious about his altered appearance. If the Fairy had only let
him retain his own form, he thought, he would not have hesitated a
moment, but her disdain was more than he could bring himself to face,
and so he watched from afar, and when she wandered out would follow at a
distance, keeping her in view, while remaining unseen himself. It was,
as he felt, not precisely the way to conduct a courtship, and he
despised himself for his want of courage. But he always hoped that
something might happen to bring them together, though it seemed less and
less likely that anything would.
Daphne, meanwhile, was growing resigned to her exclusion from the
Palace, which she chiefly regretted because she could see nothing of
Ruby, the one member of the Royal Family for whom she could feel any
real affection. She expected to hear at any moment that the car was
ready to take her back to England, where she would have to find
employment if she could.
The Queen had certainly furnished her with a character; "Miss Heritage,"
the reference stated, "has been for some months in the service of Her
Majesty Queen Selina of Märchenland as Governess-companion to Her
Majesty's younger daughter, Princess Ruby. Her Majesty could not
conscientiously recommend Miss Heritage as a teacher for advanced
pupils, but has no doubt that she would be fairly competent to undertake
a situation as Nursery Governess."
That was all--and Daphne did not think it would do much for her. And
besides, people might want to know who the Queen of Märchenland
was--which would be awkward to explain. But perhaps the Court Godmother
would see that she was not sent home without funds enough to support her
till she could get an engagement. She would be rather sorry to leave
Märchenland, which, queer country as it was in some ways, she had come
to look upon her home. However, she did not worry much about the future,
being content to enjoy her present restful life as long as she might.
She was comfortable enough in the Pavilion, where she was well looked
after by an elderly taciturn attendant, one of the Court Godmother's own
waiting-women.
The old Fairy herself came from time to time to inquire after Daphne's
health and bring her news of the Court, and her visits were welcome.
When alone Daphne spent much of her time over the ancient Chronicles,
which the Fairy had provided for her, and which she found strangely
fascinating. Or when she was disinclined to read or embroider, she would
explore the grounds about the Pavilion, which were wild and neglected
enough to impart a sense of adventure to her wanderings. Often, as she
walked and worked or read, her thoughts would drift into dreams--the
dreams that come to most girls--of a Prince Charming who would discover
her in her retreat, and be her champion and deliverer. In a country like
this, such a dream was less unlikely to come true than elsewhere, and
yet she always ended by laughing at herself for indulging it.
The Prince (for of course he must be a Prince!) would have to make haste
if he was to find her still in Märchenland. But even if he came in time,
she thought, it would be useless--his arrival would be reported at once
to the Queen. For she had lately become aware that she was being watched
by someone who was obviously not the gardener he tried to appear, and
whom she had more than once detected in the act of following her in
secret. He must be either a spy, or a guard with orders to prevent her
escape--as if she were likely to attempt it when there was no place to
which she could escape! She had made no complaint to the Court
Godmother, being unwilling to trouble the old Fairy with a matter of so
little importance. But she took her revenge on the spy by making his
task as difficult as she could. If she detected him in time lying in
wait in the bushes by the front of the Pavilion, she would slip out at
the back, and reach her favourite haunts by a roundabout path screened
by yew hedges, while he imagined her to be still indoors. He was really
such an unsuspicious spy that there was hardly any fun in baffling him.
She had done so with the usual success one hot afternoon, and was making
for a tree under which she often sat. It had great glossy leaves, and
gorgeous flowers with a delicate but penetrating scent, and the thought
of the coolness beneath its spreading branches was particularly
attractive just then. After looking round and satisfying herself that
she had not been pursued, she sat down and opened the book she had
brought--a chronicle of the lives of the Sovereigns of Märchenland. She
had read most of it already, and instead of reading any more, she found
herself thinking of the contrast between their earlier Kings and Queens
and the present occupiers of the throne. The former Sovereigns had had
their failings; some of them had been arbitrary and wrong-headed, one or
two cruel and tyrannical. But none had ever been vulgar or ridiculous.
She could understand poor Mr. Wibberley-Stimpson's being so hopelessly
out of his element--but it seemed strange that Queen Selina, who was
the daughter of a Märchenland Prince, should not have inherited any
trace of royal dignity. They were quite incapable of governing the
people, who, as Daphne knew, regarded them with scarcely disguised
contempt. And it was such a pity, for the good Märchenlanders had been
so loyal at first! They would be loyal still, if only they had a
sovereign for whom they could feel a particle of--. She had got to this
point in her meditations when she was startled by a stealthy rustle in
the branches overhead. The spy had been too clever for her after all!
Well, she thought, with malicious amusement, if he chose to take the
trouble of climbing a tree to watch her, she would keep him employed up
there as long as possible and see which would tire first. He was
evidently getting cramped already, for the branches were cracking quite
loudly, but she would not look up or show that she was in the least
aware of him. And then suddenly a heavy body fell with a flop on the
open book in her lap--and she realised with terror that it was no spy
she had to deal with, but an infinitely more formidable enemy. It was a
huge serpent that had coiled itself swiftly on her knees, which quivered
under the intolerable weight, while its tail twisted round her ankles,
binding them fast, and it reared its evil flat head, crested like a
peacock's, to a level with her chin. Its markings, in alternate rings of
cream, vermilion, black and orange, were strangely beautiful, but she
was in no mood to admire them as she sat there--spell-bound under its
cold tawny eyes.
Presently it spoke words which made her wish that its speech had been
unintelligible. "Yes," it said, "you are quite right to be afraid of me.
I am here to kill you."
"Then don't talk about it!" said Daphne, her throat so parched that she
could scarcely speak; "if you must kill me, do it at once and get it
over."
"Not yet," it said malignantly. "You have an agony of terror to go
through before that. When I see your eyes close I shall know that the
time has come, and I shall strike my fangs into that white throat of
yours, and you will recover just sense enough to feel what pain it is to
die!" Daphne would very possibly have closed her eyes at once and
received the death stroke rather than listen any longer to the
creature's threats, but she had just become aware that help was at hand.
The person she believed to be a spy was stealing up, treading
noiselessly over the velvet turf, his hands already outstretched with
the evident purpose of seizing the reptile from behind. If she could
only engage it in conversation for a minute or two, there was still a
chance for her.
"I have done you no harm," she said, after moistening her dry lips. "Why
should you hate me like this?"
"Ask Xuriel, my master," replied the serpent, "who called me into being
for no other purpose than to put you to death."
"But I have done Xuriel no injury."
"Then it may be you are an enemy of the Count, whose servant he is. I
know not--nor is it any matter. All I know is that I have been sent here
to--" and here it broke off in a dreadful strangled scream as a pair of
strong hands clutched it firmly by the throat and dragged it writhing
into the open. Daphne sat helplessly looking on as her rescuer struggled
with the thing, which had wound its coils round his waist and leg, and
was trying hard to free its head and strike. He held the venomous head
at arm's-length, gripping its throat tight, while the foam slavered from
its distended jaws, but it was stronger than he, and, as he recognised
this, he urged Daphne to save herself while there was time.
She had already risen, as she had got over any tendency to faint, but
she had no intention of leaving him to his fate. She had just seen in a
pocket of his leather apron those big garden-shears which she had
noticed him plying with such marked incompetence, and it occurred to her
suddenly that they might be of some real service now. She ran up and,
watching her opportunity, succeeded in whipping them out. Then she
stepped behind the serpent, and forced the blades together just below
the part of its neck that was in her champion's grasp. There was a
highly unpleasant scrunch and jar as they closed, but she pressed with
all her strength, until the reptile's spine was cut through and its body
uncoiled itself from the young man and went writhing and rolling blindly
through the grass.
Daphne dropped the shears and got out of its way in sudden panic. "It's
not dead! I'm sure it isn't!" she cried to the stranger, whom she had
somehow ceased to think of as a spy.
"It is harmless enough now, fair lady," he said as he tossed its crested
head into the undergrowth, "thanks to your courage."
"I never killed anything before," she said. "I hated doing it, and--it
seems such a silly way to kill a snake!"
"It succeeded," he said, wondering how those small slim hands could have
had the strength. "I could not have held it much longer. You have saved
my life."
"I couldn't have," she said, "if you hadn't saved mine first. I know now
that you have only been watching and following me about as you have to
see that I didn't get into any danger?"
"So you were aware that I watched you?" he said.
Daphne laughed. "How could I help being?" she replied. "And of course I
guessed at once that you weren't a real gardener."
"What makes you suppose that?" he said.
"Well," she said, laughing again, "I happen to have seen you at work,
you know."
"I may have little skill," he said, "nevertheless, I have obtained
employment here as a gardener."
"I mustn't ask you questions," she said, "but I'm quite sure that,
before you came here, you were in a very different position from any
labourer's." She had noticed a refinement in his speech and manner, and
also the shapeliness of his hands, which the Fairy had been considerate
or forgetful enough to leave unaltered.
But Daphne's words gave him a sudden hope. Had she detected that he was
a Prince? If so, he was released from his promise of silence!
"All I may tell you," he said, "is that there were reasons which obliged
me to leave my own country and live here where I am unknown. But I think
you have guessed more than that already!"
"I will tell you what I think," she said. "I believe you are really a
student, and, whatever you had to leave your country for, it was nothing
you've any cause to be ashamed of. I expect you were accused of plotting
against your Government--and I don't care if you did, because you
wouldn't have if they'd governed properly. Anyway, you escaped, and
thought you'd be safe if you could get a post in the Royal Gardens.
There! it is only a guess, of course, and you needn't tell me whether
I'm right or not."
He allowed her to think she was, as it was a far more creditable
explanation than any he could have invented for himself.
"It was rather clever of me to guess all that," she said. "But it would
have been cleverer of you to choose something you knew a little more
about than gardening, wouldn't it? And we can't be strangers after this.
That thing there," and she indicated the headless serpent, which had now
ceased to writhe, and lay limp in the grass, with all its brilliant
colour faded to dingy grey, "introduced us, but it carelessly forgot to
mention our names."
"Perhaps," he said, quite seriously, "it did not know them."
"That _would_ account for it, certainly," agreed Daphne, with equal
gravity, though her eyes danced. "Then I'd better explain that I was
Princess Ruby's governess before we came here. Since then I've been a
sort of lady-in-waiting--and now I'm nothing at all. I'm in disgrace,
like you. My name is Daphne Heritage. Now, tell me yours ... Giroflé?...
Well, I am going back to the Pavilion now. I don't feel safe anywhere
else.... Yes, you can see me out of this dreadful place--just in _case_
there should be another snake about," she conceded, for her nerves were
beginning to feel a reaction, and she was glad of his protection.
So he walked humbly by her side, saying little for fear of saying too
much, till they came within sight of the Pavilion and then she
dismissed him. "We will say good-bye here," she said; "and you mustn't
keep at a distance any more--it would be too absurd, now--you must come
and speak to me, of course. Though I _may_ be sent back to England at a
moment's notice, and then you won't see me again. But if you don't, I
shall never forget how bravely you risked your life for me."
She gave him her hand; he held its cool silken softness for a moment and
would have raised it to his lips but for this new humility of his. Then,
with a friendly but almost careless little nod, she was gone, leaving
him with the conviction that it was indifferent to her whether they ever
met again or not.
He felt that the Fates had not been as propitious as they might. They
had permitted him to rescue her--but then he had been rescued by her
immediately afterwards--a most humiliating anti-climax! There was one
service he could still do her, he thought, and, cutting himself a stout
stick, he made a thorough search of the groves, where however, rather to
his disappointment, he discovered no serpents of any kind. But, in his
anxiety for Daphne, he insisted on seeing the Court Godmother at once
and warning her of the dangers to which she was exposing her _protégée_.
The old Fairy was secretly disconcerted, though she did not of course
admit that there had been any neglect on her part. "I am not at all
surprised, Mirliflor. In fact, I fully expected something of this sort
to happen," she said unblushingly. "But I knew very well that there was
no danger while you were there to look after her."
"But it may happen again," he urged. "That accursed Xuriel may create
another serpent, and the next time I mayn't be at hand--unless you can
get me excused altogether from working in the gardens."
"I shall not do that, Mirliflor," said the inflexible old Fairy. "And
what you fear will not happen again. To begin with, that serpent was
never created by Xuriel."
"But I heard it say that he had called it into being!"
"And have you ever known a serpent tell the truth? No, no, Mirliflor,
Master Xuriel is clever enough in his way, but he couldn't make a
serpent of that size. From what you tell me, it was evidently a Crested
Serpent which he had got hold of and trained, and I happen to know it
was the last existing.... But I will have a rope of fine silk, woven
with a certain spell, laid round the Pavilion, and no snake, magic or
otherwise, will be able to cross _that_. It's quite unnecessary, and
will be extremely exhausting to me, still I'll do it, just to set your
mind at ease. And I'll tell her not to go about alone in future.... But
I can't have you going in there whenever you choose in future. The Head
Gardener was complaining to me that you are neglecting your work, and it
won't do to excite his suspicion. You must not attempt to see her till
the close of the day, which will leave you ample time for your
lovemaking.... No, she is not going to be sent back to England. _I_
shall take care of that. So you can keep a good heart, Mirliflor. I
consider you have made an excellent beginning!"
He was far from sure of it himself, but at least Daphne would be better
protected henceforth, and even if he could no longer look after her by
day, which he fully intended to do when he found an opportunity, he
could at least see her every evening. It was some comfort, too, to feel
that he could rely on her remaining in Märchenland.
On her next visit to the Pavilion the Court Godmother heard Daphne's
version of the meeting with Giroflé. "I take an interest in the young
man," she said. "Indeed I got him his place here. He seems to have
behaved very creditably--for a mere gardener. Though I dare say you
think him beneath your notice."
"After he had saved my life!" said Daphne indignantly. "As if I
_could_--whoever he was! But, as you take an interest in him, Court
Godmother, you must know as well as I do that he isn't really a gardener
at all."
"Oh, indeed," said the Fairy suspiciously. "And how did you find _that_
out? From _him_?"
"No, I guessed. And then he had to admit it."
"And what did he admit?"
"Well, that he is a student and has had to go into hiding because he was
suspected of being mixed up in some plot or other. He didn't tell me any
more than that."
"Ah," said the Fairy, concealing her relief, "he told you more than was
prudent as it was. But I suppose he thought he could trust you with his
secret."
"And don't _you_, Court Godmother?" flashed Daphne.
"Oh, I don't think you would betray him. You mustn't go and lose your
heart to him, though. That would never do!"
Daphne laughed. "Court Godmother!" she said, "you're not really afraid
of my falling in love with him, are you?"
"Well, no, my dear. Fortunately he's not good-looking enough to make me
very uneasy about that. I should be much more afraid that he might fall
in love with you."
"Oh, I hope he won't do _that_, poor fellow," said Daphne with a sudden
and uneasy recollection of how he had followed her in secret. "But I'm
going home so soon that I mayn't even see him again."
"You may have to stay here some time longer," said the Fairy, "so it's
quite possible that he will try to see more of you. However, it will be
easy for you to tell him plainly that you don't want to have anything to
do with him."
"But I don't mind his speaking to me," said Daphne. "I told him he
might. I should hate hurting him like that. And, after all, Court
Godmother, if he _should_ show any signs of--of what you're afraid of,
he will soon see that it's no use, and be sensible about it."
"I dare say you're right, my dear, I dare say you're right," agreed the
Court Godmother. "And anyhow, it will be time enough to trouble about
that when it happens--which very likely it never will."
But in her heart she was more convinced than ever that Mirliflor had
made a very good beginning.