"Coming here to triumph over us!" was Mrs. Stimpson's comment as she rose. "We came to wish you a pleasant journey to Gablehurst," explained Daphne, as she entered, followed by Mirliflor. "I hope you won't have to wait for the car _much_ longer, but I've told the attendants in the Hall to let you know the minute it is here." She was looking radiantly lovely and girlish--and queenly as well, in spite of the fact that she was still uncrowned. But if she had had the right to wear her crown, she was incapable of doing so just then. Mrs. Wibberley-Stimpson made a curtsey that might have been lower if she had had any practice--but all the curtseying previously had been done to herself. "We thank your Majesty," she said. "I too hope there will be no more of this delay. I am getting worn out with all this waiting. Oh, while I think of it," she went on (the desire to be offensive overcoming any fear of the consequences), "of course we are not in a position _now_ to give really _valuable_ wedding presents--and I'm afraid mine must be a _very_ humble offering, particularly as it needs repairing. However, such as it is, perhaps your Majesty will honour me by accepting it with our congratulations and _very_ best wishes?" And she offered the jewel which she had formerly acquired from Daphne. Daphne's eyebrows contracted for an instant, but the next moment she laughed. "I really couldn't, Mrs. Wibberley-Stimpson!" she said. "You see, you have already given it to Clarence, and I mustn't deprive him of it." "Won't you accept it from _me_, then?" he said awkwardly. "I--I shan't have any use for it now." She shook her head. "You will please me so much better by keeping it," she said gently--"in memory of Maerchenland." It was true that it had once belonged to her father--the father she had never known--but then it had also belonged to Mrs. Wibberley-Stimpson, and Daphne was conscious now of an invincible unwillingness to accept any gift from that lady. "I--I'd do anything to please you," said Clarence, taking the pendant from his mother and slipping it into the pocket of his dinner-jacket. Ruby, in the white silk frock she had last worn at "Inglegarth," was clinging to Daphne. "I don't want to go back!" she wailed, "I want to stay here with you. Won't you send for me some day? Say you will; do say you will!" Daphne stooped to caress and comfort her, and also to hide her own emotion. "I wish I could, darling," she said tenderly, "but I'm afraid, I'm _afraid_ I mustn't make any promises that I'm not sure of being able to keep." "Then say you will--_perhaps_!" entreated Ruby, but her mother promptly interposed. "Ruby, my dear," she said, "you're forgetting how far her Majesty is now our superior. A Palace is no longer a fit place for any of us to visit, and I consider it best we should remain in future strictly in our respective spheres."