“It’s an outrage, an utter outrage. Pick me up! Pick me up! Do you hear?” The wig of the Chief Justice rose into the air and turned round three times. The voice had certainly come from a pink bag at his feet, for the Forgetful Poet, in his excitement at seeing the old Peer, had carelessly dropped Fumbo’s head. Pale with terror, the High Humpus fled from the throne room, and it was just as well, for there was noise and confusion enough without him. As no one else heard Fumbo, he had to stay where he was. “But the Princess!” cried Percy Vere, extricating himself at last from the Peer’s embraces. “I could not find her, but all these people are going to help and—” “Don’t worry about that,” beamed Peer Haps, waving toward the quiet little figure. “She is not only found, but married. Now let the monster appear if he dare. This young man has saved the day.” “Do you mean to say you are married?” roared Grampa, thumping on the table with his fist and glaring over at Tatters. “Why didn’t you wait for us? Where’s Urtha? Where’s the Princess? Why is she all covered up like this? I insist upon seeing the Princess.” “One minute! One minute!” begged Peer Haps, stepping between Grampa and the cloaked figure. “My daughter is bewitched just now and cannot be seen, but I’m sure the spell can be broken, and then—” “And you’ve married a bewitched Princess?” With another angry glance at poor Tatters, Grampa bit off a piece of his bubble pipe and sank heavily into a pink armchair. Dorothy had been trying her best to unravel the strange mix-up and now stepped forward. “Let Tatters tell what happened,” said the little Princess, stamping her foot imperiously. “It wasn’t his fault, Grampa.” She spoke with such firmness that Peer Haps fairly gasped. Then, stealing a second glance and recognizing her instantly as a Princess Royal of Oz, he motioned for Tatters to speak. So the Prince of Ragbad rose up and in breathless sentences explained how he had been seized at the gates of the city and tricked into marrying the Princess. “But isn’t that what you were going to do anyway?” asked Percy Vere, when the Prince had finished. “Weren’t you looking for a Princess and a fortune when I met you? And didn’t we all decide to hunt the Princess of Perhaps City? Well! Here she is—and there you are! The only difference is that you have married her a little sooner than you intended and saved her from an unknown and dreadful monster. Nothing so terrible about that. My hat!” Percy Vere smiled coaxingly at the Prince and encouragingly at Peer Haps, for he did not like to see any of his friends unhappy. “But I was only going to rrr-rescue her,” wailed Tatters. “The difference is that we haven’t seen the Princess,” put in Grampa more mildly. “We’d save anybody from a monster, but don’t you think, Mr Vere, it was unfair to marry Tatters to a Princess he’s never even seen?”