"Of course," answered Grosvenor eagerly. "You may absolutely depend upon us both to do anything and everything that you may ask of us. I believe we are each to be assigned certain duties, which I suppose we shall be expected to perform; but our first duty is to you, our first care must be for your happiness, and, so far as we can prevent it, you shall never again be worried by those old jossers the Elders, or anybody else. We have a few books among our baggage, and as soon as it is delivered to us I will turn them out and bring them over to you; and as to coming to see you, why of course we shall be delighted to do so; we will come over every evening after our day's work is over. Eh, Dick?" "Certainly," answered Dick; "or at least as often as it may be prudent to do so. And now, madam," he continued, addressing the Queen, "I think it will be well that we should retire, for above all things else we must carefully avoid anything and everything that may excite suspicion or jealousy, and I imagine that both might easily be aroused by a too- sudden appearance of friendship between ourselves and Your Majesty. Besides, Malachi the Elder will be anxiously awaiting our report. But, as my friend has said, you may absolutely rely upon our loyal friendship and our best help at all times and seasons. Possibly we may be able to arrange another call before the day is over; meanwhile I crave Your Majesty's permission for us to retire." As Dick anticipated, they found the chief Elder anxiously awaiting their return, eager to learn the young doctor's opinion relative to the mental and physical condition of the Queen; and Dick, with Phil for his interpreter, was not slow to give it. Of course, to his practised eye it had at once been evident that Queen Myra was simply being worried and badgered and terrified out of her senses by these old men who, with that idiotic prophecy dominating their minds, desired one thing and one only, namely to see the Queen married as speedily as possible to somebody; but to whom it seemed that they cared very little. Dick intended to put a stop to that at once; he therefore directed Grosvenor to inform the Elder, Malachi, that the Queen was in a most critical condition, but that he could cure her, provided that his instructions were all implicitly obeyed, but not otherwise. This last statement set the poor old Elder absolutely quivering with apprehension; but Dick was not worrying overmuch about him or anybody else save the Queen, and he contrived to frighten the unhappy Elder so thoroughly that at length he unreservedly promised, both for himself and everybody else, that the word "marriage" should never again be spoken in Her Majesty's presence until Dick gave permission; and he also agreed that Dick should have an absolutely free hand with regard to the Queen's treatment, the visitors she should receive, the exercise she should take, and so on; thus providing for Dick's and Grosvenor's free admission to the palace and