"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 fishing 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 circumstances 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?"