It was terrible to think that she, the acknowledged head and master-mind of the family, had brought them to such an end as this--more terrible still to see both her son and husband so utterly unprepared for it. Her nerves were jarred and fretted by King Sidney's apathy and Clarence's light-hearted optimism, and the impossibility of arousing them to a proper sense of their position. She could only do that by confessing what she had done--and she shuddered at the mere thought. If it would save them--but nothing would do that now! No, she could not lower herself so immeasurably in their esteem; she would carry her secret with her to the block itself! "Now, Mater," said Clarence, "you mustn't give way to the blues like this. You can take it from me that we're as right as rain. So cheer up, and let's see you smiling again." The unhappy Queen made a heroic attempt at a smile, but the result was so extraordinarily ghastly that it disheartened even Clarence. "Oh, very well, Mater," he said, "you needn't--if it hurts you as much as all _that_. But you've been so plucky up to now, I never thought you'd come out as a wet blanket!" Even Marie Antoinette herself, thought Queen Selina bitterly, had never had to bear being called a wet blanket! CHAPTER XXI "WHOSE LIGHTS ARE FLED, WHOSE GARLANDS DEAD" Daphne had taken her seat in the car with somewhat conflicting feelings. She was going to Clairdelune, where she would be reunited to Girofle--an altogether joyous prospect, if she could hope to find the Girofle with whom she had last parted. But he was now the magnificent young Prince Mirliflor, and it was quite uncertain whether she would even be able to recognise him. It would be dreadful if she discovered that she did not care for him any longer! Perhaps it was anxiety, but still more probably the fact of her Fairy blood that prevented her from being overcome by the somnolence that none of purely British birth seemed able to resist for long after entering that magic car. Daphne was not in the least drowsy, and thus was startled, after the Palace and Eswareinmal had vanished out of sight, by hearing the Baron suddenly order the storks to go to the Chapel in the forest of Schlangenzweigen, and seeing them wheel in a direction she knew was not that of their original destination. "What are you doing, Baron?" she cried. "I thought you were to take me straight to Clairdelune?" The Baron put his hand to his heart (which he had once more been obliged to compress by a metal hoop) before he could speak. "It is now time," he began, "that you should be told who you are, Madam, and the glorious future that awaits you." And, with a prolixity that may here be avoided, he informed her of her right to the crown of Maerchenland and of the Marshal's arrangements for placing her on the throne.