"Nay, not far from here," said Harold. "About a mile from our library, by the sea, stands the villa where Gerda and the Lord Mayor's son lived happily ever after. I could show Your Majesty the place, if you were not unfortunately at war with our city." "I would fain see that place," said Red Rex thoughtfully. "I have a fancy that Gerda, indeed, came from my land. I have heard a legend that one of my great-great-grandfather's own sisters was stolen by the gypsies, and carried away to a far country. It might well be that she ran away from those gypsies, and escaped to this Kingdom, and that it was she whom the Lord Mayor found living lonely by the sea." "It might well be so!" said Harold. "Oh, Your Majesty! How exciting! Then the Lady Anyse, who lives now at that villa, may be your own far-off cousin." "She may be, indeed," mused the Red King. "What like is she, Harold?" "She is tall, and handsome, and has red hair like Your Majesty," said Harold. "I have seen her often when I went to visit the Garden." "The Garden?" exclaimed Red Rex. "Does the Wonder-Garden, then, still exist?" "Not quite the same as in the day of Gerda and Cedric," answered Harold, "but yet a wonder-garden. It is called 'The Aquarium' now, and is one of the public gardens of Kisington, given to the town by the will of Cedric and Gerda. The Lady Anyse has it under her care." "Verily, I should like to visit it and see both its wonders and my long-lost cousin," muttered the Red King. "What a pity that you are making war upon our city!" exclaimed Harold. "There are so many fine things that cannot be while there is war." "Yet war must be," answered Red Rex. "And I must be at it straightway." He rose and flourished his sword with a determined air. "But at least you will spare the east of Kisington, where the Wonder-Garden lay, and not fire gums or arrows in that direction?" suggested Harold, pointing eastward. The Red King followed the direction of his finger. "Yes, that I will promise," said Red Rex, after a moment's hesitation. "I promise that; lest otherwise I might injure my own blood royal. Because I am King I must not forget that!" He swelled his chest proudly. "_Noblesse oblige_!" murmured Harold. "It was the motto of the Lion Passant." "I know that motto well; and what of a lion passant?" inquired Red Rex. "A lion passant is one of the emblems in my own royal coat of arms!" "Then, Your Majesty has not heard the tale of the Lion Passant?" asked Harold, feigning surprise. "It is one of the best known in our land. You will find your royal lion in the arms of our city of Derrydown; and there is a tale to account for that." Harold began to smile as if the memory of the tale pleased him. Red Rex frowned. "It is too late to hear that tale to-night," he murmured.