In Brief Authority Part 44

"I'm afraid, my dear Mirliflor," said Queen Selina, "I'm _afraid_ you can't see her before you go."

"And why not?" he asked.

"Well, you see, the dear Court G.o.dmother--mistakenly, _I_ think--has told her what a great person you really are, and Miss Heritage feels that she has not the right to see you again unless and until she can hear that she will be welcomed at your Father's Court. I said all I could to show her that she need not be so over scrupulous as that, but she is such an extremely sensitive girl, and feels her social inferiority so acutely that nothing would persuade her to alter her resolution. You will only be distressing her by attempting it."

He pleaded and argued as long as he could, but eventually he was convinced that it was in vain. And so, as he knew that Daphne would be safe under the Fairy's protection, he took his leave, and, choosing the best horse in the Royal stud, set out on his journey to Clairdelune. By so doing, he was only--little as he suspected it--giving his hostess time to consider how she could best deal with the girl who, she no longer doubted, was the rightful possessor of the throne. But then Miss Heritage was not aware of her birthright, which seemed to suggest more than one way of coping with the situation.

After Queen Selina and her Royal Consort, with the Crown Prince and the Princess Edna and Ruby, had waved their last adieus to the departing Mirliflor, the Marshal approached Clarence. "Allow me, Sire," he said, "to restore this jewel, which was picked up close to the spot where your Royal Highness's steed became so suddenly and unaccountably unmanageable."

Clarence reddened--for there was a covert sneer in the ex-Regent's tone which he did not like, while he was angrily conscious that it was quite undeserved. "Oh thanks, Marshal," he said as he took the pendant. "I say, Mater, no wonder the bally thing slipped down--the clasp's worn out. Whoever you bought it from ought to have put it in proper repair before he sold it. Pity you can't send it back and make him mend it!"

"Do I understand," inquired the Marshal of the Queen, "that your Majesty _bought_ this pendant?"

"Certainly not," replied the Queen, flus.h.i.+ng in her turn. "You're mistaken, Clarence--it--it has been in the family for years!"

"You're mixing it up with something else, Mater," he said. "Don't you remember? You wore it for the first time that evening the Baron came to fetch us. And you told us you'd bought it out of old Uncle Wibberley's legacy. I'm _sure_ I'm right!"

"That was a different ornament altogether," said his mother; "but it's not worth discussing." Accordingly the subject was dropped, for the time, at all events, though the Marshal did not forget it. His was not a brilliant intellect--brilliant intellects being rare in Marchenland--but he had the faculty of putting two and two together, and inferring that the total was more likely to be about four than any other number. The Astrologer Royal had predicted that the Queen would be discovered in a certain spot in England, and would be identified by being the possessor of Prince Chrysopras's jewel. But the Marshal was now satisfied that she was the possessor by purchase only. The original owner--if Xuriel had read the stars correctly--was in the same locality. Was it not possible that Lady Daphne might be that owner? If so, it would explain the Queen's motive for placing her under arrest. Marshal Federhelm resolved to play a bold stroke. When in the course of his office he had next to visit his prisoner, whom he made a point of treating with all courtesy, she begged him to tell her what fresh offence she had given that she should have been condemned to solitary imprisonment.

"I know but this," said the Marshal, "her Majesty is displeased at finding that a certain jewel she purchased from you is of less value than she had been led to believe."

"But, Marshal!" protested poor Daphne, naturally imagining that the Queen had been complaining to him of the transaction, "surely it's worth at _least_ thirty pounds! If it isn't, I'd willingly take it back and return the money. Only I can't--because I used it all to pay my bill.

But I always thought that pendant was valuable, and, as it belonged to my father, I would never have sold it at all if I hadn't been obliged.

What do you think I ought to do?"

"You can do nothing, Lady Daphne," he replied, "save trust that her Majesty's anger will pa.s.s away. For whatever price she may have paid for such a jewel, it is a.s.suredly of far greater value than she is pleased to a.s.sert."

"I'm _so_ glad to hear you say that!" said Daphne. "It would be hateful to think I had cheated her Majesty--even though I never meant to."

That was all that pa.s.sed between them--but the Marshal had learnt all that he wanted to know, though he made no immediate use of his knowledge. It was enough for him to feel that he had a card which he might play to his own advantage when the opportunity came. The Court G.o.dmother was now generally known to be _hors de combat_, and as for the old Baron, he could be left for the present in ignorance of his blunder.

Queen Selina meanwhile had already formed her plans. She was not a positively wicked woman, and even still thought herself irreproachable.

If she had managed to separate Mirliflor and Daphne by some hard fibbing, it was only what her duty as a Queen and as a Mother demanded of her. She had never liked this Miss Heritage, and firmly believed that Daphne had alienated Mirliflor's affection from Edna to herself. And now, it seemed, she was the lawful Queen of the country, and Queen Selina had grown too habituated to power and grandeur to give them up to this inexperienced girl. Her first idea had been to carry out her original intention and have Daphne sent home to England without further delay. But this, she began to see, would expose her to considerable criticism at Court, and it occurred to her that there might be a simpler and more satisfactory way out of her difficulties.

So, full of her latest project, she went in search of Clarence, whom she found lounging with a very moody and disconsolate air in one of the balconies. Clarence was in low spirits just then, and not without reason. He had entirely lost his nerve for horsemans.h.i.+p, as his mounts had become as refractory as ever; he could not help perceiving that the courtiers had lost all respect for him, and received his overtures with hardly veiled impertinence; and, besides all this, there was another matter that had been weighing on his mind for some time past.

"Why, Clarence, dear boy," she began, "what are you keeping away from everybody like this for?"

"I wasn't 'keeping away' that I know of," he said. "There are times when a fellow's glad to get a quiet moment to himself, that's all."

"Perhaps," she said, "I know the _real_ reason why you've been so mopy lately."

"What do you mean, Mater?" he asked. "You haven't----?"

"My dear Clarence, do you think I can't see that you've never got over your fondness for little Miss Heritage? I can't bear to see you looking so unhappy, and I've come to think that I may have been wrong in keeping her out of your way. So--and this is what I came to tell you--if you feel that she is necessary to your happiness, I shall not oppose you any longer--and I will see that your father doesn't."

"I wish you'd said so before, Mater!" he replied. "The Governor's been at me to propose to old Goldenenbergenland's daughter, but I had to tell him I couldn't take it on."

"Of course not, dear, I'm told she's hideous. While Miss Heritage, at all events----"

"But she's engaged to Mirliflor! Lucky chap he is to get her, too. _I_ might have once, perhaps--if I'd had the pluck!"

"You may get her _still_, dear boy," said his fond Mother. "You see, she doesn't know who Mirliflor _is_ yet--she thinks he's a student or something, pretending to be a gardener. Well, she's much too clever a little person not to get out of such an engagement as that if she knew she could be the Crown Princess." Which was no more than Queen Selina actually believed. "Trust me, Clarence," she concluded, "you've only to ask."

"I dare say you're right, Mater," he said, "only the worst of it is I'm not _free_ to ask her."

"Not free? What do you mean?"

"I didn't like to tell you before," he said, "but--well, I--I've gone and got engaged to someone else."

"Engaged! Who to?" demanded the Queen, in her own English. "If it's anyone in my Court----!"

"It's no one _you_ know, Mater. But she's all _right_, you know. At least, she's a King's daughter of sorts. Her Father's King of the Crystal Lake."

"The Crystal Lake!" cried Queen Selina. "You--you wretched boy! Don't tell me you're engaged to--to a _Water-nixie_!"

"Well, I suppose that's what it _amounts_ to," he said. "I never _wanted_ to be. I met her when I was fis.h.i.+ng there. She came up out of the water, and we got talking and that, and I told her who I was. And after that, whenever I got to the lake, she was always popping up. I thought she was rather a jolly sort of girl if she _was_ a trifle on the damp side, and it amused me to talk to her, but I never said a word to her that could--till her old Dad suddenly turned up and insisted on our being regularly engaged."

"And you gave way? Oh, Clarence, how _could_ you be so weak?"

"I told him I'd see him blowed before I said yes, and he pulled me in and threatened to hold my head under water till I promised," said Clarence. "I didn't see any point in being drowned--and so--and so, sooner than have a row about it, I _did_ say yes. What else _could_ I say?"

"Well," said the Queen, "no engagement made under such circ.u.mstances can be binding, and you must break it off at once. Go and tell him that your Father and I refuse to hear of your engagement."

"It'll make him most awful ratty if I do," objected Clarence.

"What if it does? Clarence, you _must_ get free. I'm extremely anxious that you should marry Miss Heritage before Mirliflor returns (if he _does_ return) for her. It's most important, for your Sister's sake.

Because, when he finds himself forsaken, he is sure to turn to Edna again. _Now_ do you see?"

"I see," he replied lugubriously, "and I don't mind going to the Lake and trying to get the old boy to let me off--but I bet you he won't."

"Don't ask him anything. Simply inform him that your parents decline to allow such a match, and refer him to _us_."

"Perhaps that _would_ be the neatest way out of it," he agreed. "Yes, I'll just tell him _that_--from a safe distance--and he can do what he jolly well pleases. But it won't be a pleasant job. What?"

It was some miles to the Crystal Lake, but he went on foot without any member of his suite in attendance, and in a plain cloak and slouched hat, which prevented him from being recognised as he pa.s.sed through the streets of the Capital.

During his absence his Mother was engaged in long and anxious consultation with the King and Edna. "I'm surprised at Clarence," King Sidney had observed, "thought he knew his way about too well to be drawn into an entanglement of this kind!"

"He never would have been," said his mother, "if he hadn't had to choose between that and being held under water. And you can trust Clarence to make it clear that he would not be allowed to keep such a promise, even if he wanted to."

"If he marries any one," said the King, "it ought to be this Princess of Goldenenbergenland--he'll get money with _her_, and we want some rather badly."

"Pardon me, Sidney," said the Queen, "but I intend him to marry Miss Heritage."

"Mother!" exclaimed Edna, "Miss Heritage! What _can_ you be thinking of?"

"I know what I am doing, my love. The poor boy is devoted to her and always has been, and, in short, I've decided that he shall have his way.