_“I remember very well,” said the Queen, dropping her knitting in her lap, “I saw a seal once when I was a young girl, and a very curious creature it was, too, I’m sure. I’ve never forgotten it, because I was on my way to be married to your father,--of course he wasn’t your father then, you know,--and I think the day I saw the seal was the day your father was expected to meet us, or the day before, I can’t be quite certain now, it’s so long ago; and we were waiting for him by the seashore,--but no, we weren’t expecting him on that day, because he had sent a messenger to say that he couldn’t start until all the horses were shod, and the blacksmith was just getting over the measles. I remember that messenger very well; a small, dark man with a beard, by the name of--what was his name? Something like Manniko, or Finnikin,--no, it was Tallboy. That was it. Tallboy. He didn’t stay with the King very long after we were married, because his sister’s youngest boy was taken down with the--”_ _“Grandmother!” said Bojohn. “Solario is waiting to go on.”_ _“Dear me,” said the Queen, “so he is. I’m glad I brought my knitting with me to-night.”_ _“I am sure,” said Prince Bilbo, “we would all be glad to hear about the seal and his sister.”_ _“Your will is my pleasure,” said Solario, very prettily, “and I will therefore now commence the story of--”_ _Here there was a sharp cry from outside the room door._ _“Let me in!” piped up a voice, loud and sharp as a whistle._ _Mortimer the Executioner opened the door, and at first glance there appeared to be no one there. But Bojohn cried out, “It’s the Encourager!” And there, on the sill, was in fact the tiny figure of the Encourager, no taller than a sparrow, carrying his umbrella folded under his arm. He opened the umbrella, and leaping into the air floated up with it to the Executioner’s shoulder, where, folding the umbrella again, he stood bowing to the company._ _“Dear me,” said the Queen, “I believe it’s the Encourager of the Interrupter.”_ _“If there’s anything going on,” piped up the Encourager, in his shrill voice, “I don’t want to be left out!”_ _“Then sit down, Mortimer,” said Prince Bilbo, “and let the Encourager hear the story too.”_ _The Executioner seated himself, and the Encourager sat down on the Executioner’s shoulder and gazed solemnly at Solario with his beady black eyes._ _“Ahem!” said Solario, clearing his throat and picking up his shears. “I will now, with your majesty’s gracious permission, proceed with the story as it was related to the assembled company at Ventamere by the seal, and by Alb the Fortunate to myself. This, then, is_ “THE STORY OF TUSH THE APOTHECARY, AND OF PARAVAINE HIS SISTER.” I must tell you (said the fat young man), that I am an apothecary, and my name is Tush. _“We had a Lord Treasurer once,” interrupted the Queen, “whose name was Filch. It seemed so odd.”_