"I"ve no wish to be that," she replied, "and, as you know, Marshal, I have already promised to marry Prince Mirliflor."
"You may dismiss all thought of that," he said blandly, "for if you refuse my hand, both you and the Baron will meet with instant death, the car and birds will also be destroyed and buried, and I have so arranged that it will be believed that her Majesty Queen Selina has had you removed to the distant land from which you came."
"Marshal," pleaded Daphne, trying hard to remember that Mirliflor was really by her side, "I must have time--time to think over your--your proposal."
"It may help you to decide, Lady Daphne," he said, "if you reflect that, in any case, you will never again behold Prince Mirliflor of Clairdelune."
"And why not, Marshal?" said Mirliflor, as he flung away the cap of darkness and stepped in front of his beloved.
The Marshal knew at once that his fate was sealed. He stood no chance whatever against a Prince who had slain a dragon singlehanded. The knights also seemed to recognise this, or else their sympathy had veered to Daphne"s side, for they stood back in a circle without attempting to interfere, while the priest, who perhaps had not till then understood that the marriage ceremony was to be compulsory, promptly re-entered the little Chapel and blew out all the candles.
The combat was over in a second or two--as any combat would necessarily be in which one of the antagonists was equipped with an irresistible sword. Mirliflor, to be sure, did not know that he possessed this somewhat unsportsmanlike advantage, and had disdained to shelter himself, as he might have done, under the cap. But it is more than possible that if he had known more about the sword, he would have stretched the point of honour in this particular case. As has already been seen, he had occasional lapses from the ideals the Fairy had bestowed on him at his baptism, and he was quite incapable of troubling himself about them when Daphne"s life was at stake. Perhaps he ought to have been more consistently punctilious, but he was not--which was fortunate for both of them.
As soon as the knights saw the Marshal fall, they hastened to protest their loyalty to their young Queen and offer their congratulations, which Daphne thought it politic to accept at their face value. Horses were found for her and Mirliflor, who decided to make, with a picked body of the knights, for a village a league from Eswareinmal and await developments there. Of the rest of the party, some were instructed to go back to the Palace and report the Marshal"s death while hunting, the rest remained to bury his body, and it was one of these who found the packet, and, most unluckily for Queen Selina, thought it necessary to deliver it in hot haste to its addressee.
The Baron was directed to go on in the car to Clairdelune and inform King Tournesol that his son had found a bride at last.
On reaching the village near Eswareinmal, Mirliflor had sent on two of his escort into the city to ascertain the state of feeling there. They brought back the unexpected news that all the citizens now knew that the Lady Daphne was ent.i.tled to the Crown and were demanding her; that Queen Selina, with her husband and son, had been imprisoned on suspicion of having made away with her, and, if she were not forthcoming by an early date, would be executed publicly without fail.
In the heat of his resentment at the treachery which had so nearly succeeded in parting him from Daphne for ever, Mirliflor declared that they should be left to the doom which they would certainly meet if Daphne"s return were kept secret for a few days.
"Mirliflor said that--not Girofle," she told him. "Girofle would never be so horribly cold-blooded. But even Mirliflor didn"t really mean it!
Of _course_ we can"t let these Stimpson people be executed. Besides, I _know_--I can"t say how, but I _do_ know--that Mr. Stimpson and Clarence, at any rate, haven"t been parties to any plot to get rid of me. And as for Mrs. Stimpson, I dislike her, and I want to go _on_ disliking her--which I couldn"t possibly do after she had her head cut off! So we"ll go into Eswareinmal at once, Mirliflor, and do what we can for the poor things."
"I spoke in haste, dearest," said Mirliflor. "I was wrong, and you are right as usual."
"And now we"re _both_ going to be right, darling!" said Daphne.
"I wish," Clarence remarked later the same day, "I wish these windows looked out on the front. We might see her coming back in that blessed stork-car. She"ll be sure to come the quickest way when she hears we"re in the soup like this--don"t you think so, Mater?"
"I"m sure _I_ don"t know!" said the tortured Queen Selina. "She mayn"t come back at all. I mean, she may keep the messengers and leave us to perish. It is only what I should expect of her!"
"No, dash it all, Mater, she"s too much of a sport for that," he said.
"She"ll either turn up or send word that she"s all right."
"Don"t deceive yourself, Clarence!" said his mother. "I know better than you can, and I tell you that she will do neither."
"Not when it"s to save our lives?" he replied. "She"s bound to--unless--unless anything has happened to her. I"m a bit worried about that, because--well, time"s getting _on_, you know--what?"
"I trust, my boy," said his father, "we shall not be brought to the--er--scaffold by any mistake of that kind. If that occurred, it would be most un--" he caught his wife"s eye and subst.i.tuted "unsatisfactory. I"m not sure," he added, "but I fancy I hear shouting.
Seems to come from below."
"It certainly _is_ shouting," said Clarence, "and it"s getting louder.
They"re coming this way. I--I hope I"m wrong--but I"ve a strong impression that we"re going to get it in the neck after all!"
"Sidney! Clarence!" cried Queen Selina, as she sank on her knees, unable to bear her guilty burden any longer. "I--I can"t die without asking you to forgive me for--for what I have brought on you!"
"It"s no fault of yours, Mater," said Clarence. "Just the family luck, that"s all!"
"Ah, but listen--listen!" implored his Mother; but, before she could proceed, the door was suddenly unlocked, and Prince Tapfer von Schneiderleinheimer entered with every sign of respect.
"I am charged by her Majesty Queen Daphne to desire your attendance in the Throne Room," he said, "and to convey her and Prince Mirliflor"s regret that you should have been subjected to any inconvenience by having permitted her departure to Clairdelune."
Queen Selina--or rather Mrs. Wibberley-Stimpson, as she was now once more--hastily rose from her knees. So the Baron had disobeyed his orders, and Miss Heritage did not even know that they had been given!
This was indeed an unhoped-for deliverance. _What_ a mercy, she thought, that it had come just before she had spoken words she could never have recalled! "Kindly a.s.sure--your Mistress," she said, with all the dignity of fallen grandeur, "that while we cannot but feel that we have been most unjustly suspected, we are willing to make every allowance for the circ.u.mstances, and shall have much pleasure in coming down to offer our congratulations presently. But first I want to see the Princess Royal and Princess Ruby if they are well enough to leave their dungeons."
"Your daughters, Madam, have merely been required to remain in their own apartments, and are in perfect health," he replied; "I will have them conducted to you immediately."
"Oh, Mummy!" exclaimed Ruby a little later, as she ran to her Mother"s arms, "is it really true? Aren"t you and Daddy King and Queen any more?"
"No, my darling," said Mrs. Wibberley-Stimpson, "it seems the people would rather have Miss Heritage."
"Oh, I don"t mind so much if it"s Daphne. And will Prince Mirliflor be King?"
"I really can"t say how they will arrange it--nor does it interest me _what_ they may do."
"It does _me_," said Ruby. "I hope they"ll let us stay here with them."
"I consider it most unlikely--even if I were willing to be a guest in my own Palace. But I"ve no doubt they will make some suitable provision for us."
"Speaking for myself, Mother," said Edna, "I should be far happier leading a simple life in retirement than ever I"ve been in this pretentious place. And, though I never cared much about being a Princess, we can scarcely be treated as commoners after what we _have_ been."
"I shall settle all these matters myself with Miss Herit--Queen Daphne, I suppose I _ought_ to call her, but it"s so difficult to get into just at once. And now I think we will all go down to the Throne Room.
Remember on no account to show the slightest ill-feeling. Let her see that, if we have lost everything else, we still retain our manners."
She was herself so far from betraying any ill-feeling when she entered the Throne Room that she was almost overwhelmingly affectionate.
"My dear child!" she said, advancing to Daphne, who was standing in the centre of the room with Mirliflor, "so pleased to see you both back! but we"re _all_ of us _that_! And, as I was saying to His--to my husband--only a few minutes ago, "I"m sure, Sidney," I said, "there"s no person in the world I would give up my crown to so willingly as I would to dear Miss Heritage!""
"Most happy," said her husband. "We"ve abdicated already, your--your Majesty--both of us--as soon as we knew the facts."
"I--I"m most awfully glad to see your Majesty back again," said Clarence, noting the flush on her cheeks and the sparkle in her eyes as she glanced at Mirliflor, whom he envied more than ever. "I was beginning to think I--er--shouldn"t--you ran things a trifle close."
"Perhaps I did," said Daphne, "but you see, I thought it was wiser to try to find Mirliflor, before being taken to--to Clairdelune." She said this quite simply, for she could see that, as she had been sure of from the first, both Clarence and his father were no parties to Mrs.
Stimpson"s design, and she was anxious to spare them all knowledge of it if she could.
Her words only confirmed Mrs. Wibberley-Stimpson"s sense of security; Daphne evidently suspected nothing, probably because the false Marshal had never handed the Baron his secret instructions. "_Much_ the best plan, I"m sure, your Majesty!" she agreed, "though it was fortunate for _us_ that you found dear Prince Mirliflor so soon. However, it has all ended happily, so we will say no more about it. And now I want to beg that you mustn"t consider Us. If you would like to have possession of the Palace at once, you have only to say so. Or if I could be of any use to you by staying on for a little, just to show you how things ought to be done----?"
Daphne forced herself to be civil to her for her family"s sake, not her own.
"It is very good of you," she said, "but I"m afraid it won"t be possible for you to stay here."
"Well," said Mrs. Wibberley-Stimpson, "we shall be perfectly satisfied with any residence--if it"s only quite a moderate-sized castle--that your Majesty is good enough to put at our disposal. Not _too_ far from here, or poor Ruby"--here she glanced at her younger daughter, who had taken possession of one of Daphne"s hands, which she was kissing and fondling--"would be _quite_ inconsolable at losing her dearest friend!"
But her remarks were lost on Daphne, for just then, to Mrs. Stimpson"s surprise and secret dismay, the entrance was formally announced of the Court G.o.dmother, whom she had imagined to be at least moribund, if not dead. She came in, looking frail and feeble, but still with much of the energy and vitality that had seemed to have departed for ever.