SERVANTS OF THE QUEEN
If breaking the news of Edna's engagement to Count von Rubenfresser had
been a matter of some delicacy, to inform the Court and Public of
Clarence's betrothal to a Water-nixie was, as his parents felt,
infinitely more so. Queen Selina told the Baron first, but, rather to
her surprise, he took it calmly and almost apathetically. "I'm afraid,
Baron," she said, "you will think it very weak of us to allow it, but,
between ourselves, there are--er--State reasons which left us no
choice." To which he replied that he would much prefer to be excused
from offering any opinion as to the policy their Majesties had chosen to
pursue.
The Marshal, on the other hand, expressed cordial satisfaction. His
lizard-like eyes sparkled as he assured his Sovereigns that he would see
that the heralds proclaimed the betrothal in the City before nightfall,
and that he expected it would excite heartfelt enthusiasm.
It certainly had not that effect on the Court. The ladies-in-waiting
resented the prospect of having to acknowledge a new Royalty the greater
part of whose existence had been spent under water. The Courtiers
shrugged their shoulders with sardonic resignation. In vain the Crown
Prince attempted to carry off his secret uneasiness by clapping them on
the back and saying, "You haven't seen Princess Forelle yet, you know,
dear boy. When you do, you'll agree that she's a regular little
ripper--what?" They made it sufficiently clear that they had no wish to
see the future Crown Princess. In fact, if he had not already lost all
the prestige he had ever had, he would have lost it now, and his
feelings were not to be envied.
Marshal Federhelm requested a private audience from the Queen, who
received him in her Cabinet. He began by asking permission to absent
himself for a few days on a hunting expedition in the Forest, which
permission was graciously accorded.
"If the Crown Prince had not--er--ties to keep him at home," she added,
"I'm sure he would be delighted to join you."
"I doubt it, your Majesty," said the Marshal. "His Royal Highness's
ardour for such pursuits has languished much of late. However, he is
better employed. And, ere I leave, I must ask your Majesty's wishes in
regard to my prisoner, the Lady Daphne."
"Ah, I was going to talk to you about that, Marshal," said Queen Selina.
"There are many reasons why it is undesirable that Miss Heritage should
remain here any longer. After the underhand and ungrateful manner in
which she has tried to pervert Prince Mirliflor from his attachment to
Princess Edna, I feel it my duty to have her removed."
"I understand, your Majesty," he said, "and it shall be done. But I
would recommend, in your Majesty's interests, that the execution should
take place in private, and that the Lady Daphne's decease should be
supposed to be due to sudden illness. Otherwise there may be trouble
with the Court."
"_Execution!_" cried Queen Selina, genuinely horrified. "Good gracious
me, Marshal, you don't suppose I want the poor girl put to death, do
you? What do you take me for?"
"It would be a prudent course," he said with meaning, "for any Sovereign
to adopt in your Majesty's situation."
"For a Märchenland Sovereign, perhaps! But _I_ have been brought up with
very different ideas. I should consider it most wicked to give orders
for anybody to be killed. That is not at _all_ what I meant in saying
that I want Miss Heritage removed."
"Then I fail to understand your Majesty."
"It's perfectly simple. I merely wish to have her sent back to England.
The Baron can take her in the Court Godmother's stork-car. She'll never
be well enough to know of it now, poor old soul! And the dear old
Baron's so devoted to Us, and has always been so anxious that Edna
should marry Mirliflor, that I know I can depend on him."
"If it should be known," said the Marshal, "that your Majesty had
banished Prince Mirliflor's chosen bride, there would be such an outcry
that it might cost you your Kingdom."
"Oh, do you really think that, Marshal? But it _is_ so essential that
she should be sent to England! Surely it can be managed somehow without
any scandal?"
"There _is_ a way, Madam, if your Majesty is prepared to take it."
"I am prepared to do anything, Marshal--that is, _almost_ anything. What
do you advise?"
"Your Majesty should inform the Baron that, the Court Godmother being
unhappily too indisposed to act as guardian to Lady Daphne, you desire
him to convey her in the stork-car to Clairdelune and place her under
the care of Prince Mirliflor."
"But, my dear good Marshal, that's the very _last_ thing I desire!"
"I know, Madam, I know. But it is what he should represent to the Court
and Lady Daphne, and he is more likely to do so if he believes it to be
the fact. I will give him sealed instructions which he is not to open
till after he is started, directing him to take her--not to Clairdelune,
but to the land of her birth. Your Majesty will be good enough to write
such instructions at once."
"It seems simple, and yet, Marshal, I'm not quite sure," demurred the
Queen. "The Baron is an old dear, but just a bit of a chatterbox. He
might let the whole thing out when he gets back!"
"He will not get back," said the Marshal. "I know a certain drug that I
will administer to the storks before the journey. It is slow to act, and
will not affect them until after they have reached the country that you
call England. But they will never leave it again. And then it will
merely be supposed that he has acted treacherously."
"I see," said Queen Selina. "Yes, I should be perfectly safe _then_. If
there was any _other_ way, or I didn't feel so strongly that it was
really a kindness to Miss Heritage to save her from occupying a position
she is so unsuited to, I really don't think I _could_. But I suppose I
must do as you suggest."
She wrote the order, which she signed and sealed and handed to him. "I
shouldn't like her to be left stranded in England without any means of
support, Marshal," she said. "_That_ would be a thing I could _not_
reconcile to my conscience. So you will kindly see that she is supplied
with a sack of gold."
"That will be a truly royal act of generosity," he said, "especially as
I understand the number of sacks in your Majesty's treasury is by no
means large just now."
"I was forgetting. On second thoughts, perhaps you had better make it a
_purse_ instead," she amended. "It will keep her while she is looking
out for another situation."
"No doubt. And it would be wise, I think, if your Majesty would speed
her departure with your good wishes in presence of the Court."
But even Queen Selina shrank from such duplicity as that. "I--I don't
think I'll see her again myself," she said. "I--I'd rather not. It's
most distasteful to me to have to deceive her at all, Marshal, and I
shouldn't if it wasn't absolutely necessary in self-defence."
"Your Majesty has no need to assure me of that. I entirely understand,"
he said. "I would recommend that you send for the Baron at once, and
direct him to convey Lady Daphne to Clairdelune to-morrow. Then, after I
have given him the secret order, my part will be done and I shall be
free to enjoy my hunting." And with that he bowed himself out.
Queen Selina followed his counsel so well that the old Court Chamberlain
was completely deceived. Usurper as he now knew her to be, she was, he
thought, still unaware of it, and such magnanimity to her daughter's
successful rival gave him a better opinion of her. After all, he could
bring himself to continue in her service, now that the Court Godmother's
main object was attained. Like her, he had no wish to confess that he
had been so mistaken as to saddle the Kingdom with a bogus Sovereign. So
he spread the news of Lady Daphne's approaching departure with great
satisfaction and the warmest eulogies of the gracious consideration
Queen Selina had displayed. But even this could only partially check
their disaffection, for they could not forgive her for subjecting them
to the indignity of accepting a Water-nixie as their Crown Princess.
After dismissing the Baron, the Queen had felt somewhat shocked at her
own talent for dissimulation. "I little thought at Gablehurst that I
should ever fib like this!" she reflected. "But I wasn't a Queen _then_!
And I can't afford to be too particular, when it's a question of keeping
the Crown in the family!"
The Marshal waited until the Baron had concluded his interview with the
Queen, and then visited him in his own quarters. The Court Chamberlain
mentioned the instructions he had just received, and spoke in the
highest terms of his Royal mistress's benevolence.
"As you say, Baron," said the Marshal, "such conduct does honour to her
Majesty. She has, however, given me further instructions for you with
which it is well you should be acquainted at once." And he drew out the
secret order, and, after breaking the seal, presented the parchment to
the Baron, who read it with honest amazement and indignation.
"I cannot believe her Majesty can have devised such wickedness!" he
said. "What can be her reason--unless--unless--" and here he checked
himself.
"You were about to say: Unless she knows--as you and I, my dear Baron,
know beyond all doubt--that the Lady Daphne is the real Queen of
Märchenland?"
"So _you_ know that, too!" cried the Baron, recoiling in terror. "I
swear to you, my lord, that I myself had no suspicion of it until it was
revealed to me by the Court Godmother but two days since!"
"I accept your word for it--though whether _others_ will do so is
another matter," said the Marshal as he picked up and thrust in his
doublet the document which the other had let fall. "But what I should
like to know is, which of your orders you intend to execute?"
"The first, of course," exclaimed the Baron indignantly. "Lady Daphne
has a higher claim to my fealty than this interloper. I shall do my duty
and carry her to Clairdelune."
"You forget that Prince Mirliflor will not be there as yet to receive
her. Nor is it seemly that she should quit her Kingdom without making
any assertion of her claim. My plan is better than yours, Baron.
Hearken: I leave the Palace to-night on the pretext of hunting in the
Forest of Schlangenzweigen. I take with me a company of my own--all
tried soldiers on whom I can rely. To-morrow you will set out in the
car, as though to Clairdelune, and Queen Selina will naturally believe
that her secret order will be obeyed. But, after having gone a certain
distance, you will head your storks for the chapel of St. Morosius in
the forest. There we shall be waiting to swear allegiance to our young
Queen and escort her in triumph to Eswareinmal. I shall have taken
measures beforehand to proclaim her title, and it is certain that the
populace will rise in her favour. You cannot fail to see, my dear Baron,
that your best--in fact, your only way of escaping the penalty of your
folly--to call it by no harsher name--is to aid us in undoing it."
"Enough, Marshal," said the Baron, "you can count upon me."
"I am sure of it, Baron, and, as I am leaving the Palace, I will deliver
the Lady Daphne into your custody. See that you say nothing to her of
our scheme till the fitting moment. For the present she must be told
that she is to be taken to Clairdelune. And now I must quit you, for I
have much to attend to before I start, which should be within an hour.
To-morrow at mid-day we shall expect you at the Chapel in the forest,
and have a care for your own sake that you fail us not."
An hour later, having disposed of the business he had attended to and
left everything in train for his project, he set out with a chosen band
on his alleged hunting expedition. "Whether this will fall out as I
calculate, or in some other way, I know not," he told himself, as they
clattered out of one of the City gates and took the road to the forest
of Schlangenzweigen. "But this I know--whatever happens, I shall shortly
be King of Märchenland."
After he was gone the Baron began to reflect on what he had undertaken,
and to feel that he would be glad of an excuse to get out of it, if he
could find one. It was hardly credible that Queen Selina could have
devised so treacherous a plot; it seemed far more likely that the
Marshal had deceived him. After all, the secret order he had been shown
might not be genuine. If it were not, the Queen was innocent, and the
Baron was only too willing to leave her in peaceful permission of the
throne. Before he committed himself any further he must satisfy himself
on this point. His difficulty was that he could not ask her directly
whether the secret order had indeed been given by her, as he might
betray the Marshal, which might entail unpleasant consequences for
himself. After some thought he hit upon a stratagem that was rather
brilliant--for him. He obtained a private interview with the Queen, and
begged her to consider whether it was altogether judicious to restore
Lady Daphne to a Prince who might otherwise come forward once more as a
suitor for Princess Edna. "Would it not be safer, Madam," he suggested,
"to send Lady Daphne to her own country, where he would never be able to
find her?"
Queen Selina was so convinced of his honesty and loyalty that she fell
into his little trap without a moment's suspicion. "Now, it's really
very curious you should have thought of that, my dear Baron!" she said,
"very curious indeed! Because--I suppose the Marshal gave you a sealed
letter from me before he left?... I thought so, and of course it isn't
to be opened till after you've started. Still, I may tell you _now_ that
it contains instructions for the very identical course you suggest! I
needn't say you must be careful not to mention it--but it may be a
satisfaction to you to know that I've already decided on it."
"A great satisfaction indeed, your Majesty," he said, "for now my duty
lies clear before me."
"And nobody, I'm sure, my dear Baron, will do it more faithfully!" was
her gracious response. He proceeded to Daphne, who had heard that her
Giroflé had succeeded in his attempt to rescue Edna, but knew nothing of
what had happened to him afterwards. He relieved her anxiety by
informing her, not only that she was to rejoin Giroflé at Clairdelune
next day, but who he actually was, which last piece of information
turned all her joy to dismay. Prince or no Prince, she knew that Giroflé
would be true to her--but what if the King, his father, forbade him to
marry anyone so far below his rank? She would have to undergo the ordeal
of being presented to King Tournesol, and the thought made her heart
sink with terror.
"But the Court Godmother will come with me, Baron?" she asked anxiously,
only to hear why this was impossible. "Too ill even to see me!" said
Daphne sadly. "And that is why her Majesty is letting me be sent to
Gir--I mean, Mirliflor? It's really very good of her. I suppose, Baron,
I shall be able to see her and thank her before I go?"
"Undoubtedly," he said, and, having said as much as he thought prudent,
he left his prisoner to her own reflections.
Most of the Court gathered to see her off the next morning, but the only
Royalty present was little Princess Ruby, who held her former Governess
in close and tearful embraces. "_Darling!_" she said, through her sobs,
"it's perfectly beastly to think you've been here all this time and I
never knew it! And now you really _are_ going and I mayn't see you for
ever so long! It will be so dull, for of course I wouldn't play with the
Gnomes now--even if they weren't all down with mumps. And Edna's so
snappy, and Clarence is going to marry a nasty wet Water-nixie--and I
wish we'd all stayed at Inglegarth, that I do!" Daphne had not heard
before of Clarence's engagement and, though she naturally made no
comment, she could not think he was to be congratulated on his choice.
She did her best to comfort Ruby, and after taking leave of her nearly
as inconsolable friends in the Household, she at length found herself
seated in the car with the Baron, who had dispensed with the usual
attendants. And then the Courtyard, with the mass of upturned faces and
waving hands, slowly sank to the rhythmical beating of the storks' wings
as they obeyed the order, "To the Palace of Clairdelune."
Clarence saw the car pass overhead from the grove in the Palace Gardens,
to which he had betaken himself in his dull misery. He knew that Daphne
must be on her way to rejoin her lover, and tried to console himself by
the reflection that it didn't matter to him. _He_ was done for, anyhow,
whether she went or stayed. But again came the bitter thought that there
had been a time when, if he had only gone the right way about it, he
might have--"I thought she wasn't good enough to marry," he said to
himself. "Not _good_ enough! a girl like her! Now I'm booked to marry a
Lord-knows-what with green hair. Serves me damned well right too!"
Edna also saw the car as she walked with the Queen on the terrace that
commanded the City. "There goes Miss Heritage!" she said. "Delighted to
recapture her Mirliflor, no doubt! I don't wish to reproach you in _any_
way, Mother, but I _can't_ think you've shown much consideration for
_my_ interests in packing her off to him like this!"
It was painful to Queen Selina to be so misunderstood, but she decided
that the injustice must be borne for the present. "My love," she said,
"I could not possibly keep her _here_. And perhaps," she could could not
help adding, "perhaps _some_ day you will see that I have been a better
mother to you than you imagine!"
To which pathetic appeal Princess Edna merely responded by a short
sniff, expressive rather of incredulity than any softer emotion.