When anybody of Superior Station or Age came into the Room she rose and curtsied And then she danced "Good Morning," said Belvane The Tent seemed to swim before his Eyes, and he knew no more She turned round and went off daintily down the Hill Let me present to you my friend the Duke Coronel As the Towers of the Castle came in sight, Merriwig drew a Deep Breath of Happiness Belvane leading the Way with her Finger to her Lips Merriwig following with an Exaggerated Caution He was a Pleasant-looking Person, with a Round Clean-shaven Face Roger Scurvilegs [Frontispiece: A Map of Euralia showing the Adjacent Country of Barodia and the far-distant Araby] CHAPTER I THE KING OF EURALIA HAS A VISITOR TO BREAKFAST [Illustration: _He was a Man of Simple Tastes_] King Merriwig of Euralia sat at breakfast on his castle walls. He lifted the gold cover from the gold dish in front of him, selected a trout and conveyed it carefully to his gold plate. He was a man of simple tastes, but when you have an aunt with the newly acquired gift of turning anything she touches to gold, you must let her practise sometimes. In another age it might have been fretwork. "Ah," said the King, "here you are, my dear." He searched for his napkin, but the Princess had already kissed him lightly on the top of the head, and was sitting in her place opposite to him. "Good morning, Father," she said; "I'm a little late, aren't I? I've been riding in the forest." "Any adventures?" asked the King casually. "Nothing, except it's a beautiful morning." "Ah, well, perhaps the country isn't what it was. Now when I was a young man, you simply couldn't go into the forest without an adventure of some sort. The extraordinary things one encountered! Witches, giants, dwarfs----. It was there that I first met your mother," he added thoughtfully. "I wish I remembered my mother," said Hyacinth. The King coughed and looked at her a little nervously. "Seventeen years ago she died, Hyacinth, when you were only six months old. I have been wondering lately whether I haven't been a little remiss in leaving you motherless so long." The Princess looked puzzled. "But it wasn't your fault, dear, that mother died." "Oh, no, no, I'm not saying that. As you know, a dragon carried her off and--well, there it was. But supposing"--he looked at her shyly--"I had married again." The Princess was startled. "Who?" she asked. The King peered into his flagon. "Well," he said, "there _are_ people." "If it had been somebody _very_ nice," said the Princess wistfully, "it might have been rather lovely." The King gazed earnestly at the outside of his flagon. "Why 'might have been?'" he said. The Princess was still puzzled. "But I'm grown up," she said; "I don't want a mother so much now." The King turned his flagon round and studied the other side of it. "A mother's--er--tender hand," he said, "is--er--never----" and then the outrageous thing happened.