"But you could easily make it up with him. You might say she was really in love with him from the first, only she wished to put him to the proof--something of that sort. Tell him how delighted we should all be to see him again. There's _another_ little matter I wished to speak to you about. Edna has taken the strongest dislike to that Miss Heritage, who I must say has acted most unwarrantably. I have made up my mind to part with her, and I thought, if you would arrange to have her taken back to England as soon as the car returns to-morrow----" "Stop," said the Fairy, "I must have time to think over that." She had, it is true, renounced all further interference in anybody's affairs, but habit was too strong for her. Her old brain was busying itself once more with the scheme she had abandoned--a scheme that would certainly not be assisted by Daphne's expulsion from Maerchenland. So she temporised. "Yes," she said at last, "I quite see from what you tell me, that Lady Daphne cannot remain at Court any longer. The difficulty is that I can't send her back to England just yet. My storks will not be fit for so long a flight again for a fortnight at the very least. I'm not going to have them killed on her account. I could do _this_ for you. I could establish her in a little pavilion in a distant part of the palace grounds and keep her there, under my own eyes, till the storks are ready for another journey. It's a very secluded place--almost a wilderness--and none of the Court ever go near it." "That seems an excellent plan," said the Queen. "But I shouldn't care for them to know that she is a prisoner. They had better be told that she has resigned her situation and left the Palace. And--you won't forget my little hint--about Prince Mirliflor, you know?" "I will bear it in mind. In fact, if you can spare me for a day or two, I thought of going over to Clairdelune in the dove-chariot to-morrow and having a little chat with him." "Oh, by all means do!" said the Queen gratefully. "So kind of you to take so much trouble!" "It's more on his account than yours," replied the Fairy, with a candour that might have been intended as complimentary. "But I don't guarantee that anything will come of it--at all events for a considerable time." "Indeed I quite understand that--that his wound can hardly be expected to heal just yet." The Fairy lost no time in conveying Daphne to the secret pavilion without the knowledge of any of the Court. It was quite fit for occupation, and supplied with all that was necessary for comfort; the Court Godmother provided her with an attendant, and even procured some ancient volumes of Maerchenland history with which Daphne could beguile her solitude.