"Well," said Daimur, "do not give up hope. Just as soon as you are delivered from this place you will be able to go and seek him, and I will give you every assistance in my power. In the meantime I will try and find out something about him." So they retired to rest with hopeful hearts, each to dream of freedom. CHAPTER IX The next evening, after supper was over, some of the doves brought forward a very plain-looking old dove, who wore suspended around her neck on a thin chain a little gold key. They all begged her to tell Daimur her story, and after some hesitation she began: "I am not a Queen," she said, "I am only the Duchess of Rose Petals, but through my misfortune I am causing a great deal of misery to my dear, dear niece, Queen Amy of the Island of Roses." Here she shed a few tears, then shaking her feathers, she continued her story. "When my cousin, the late King Richard, died he left no heir. In his will, however, he named his successor. He said that whichever of his nieces (his two brothers each had one daughter) should grow up more beautiful and more clever than the other should be crowned Queen on her eighteenth birthday, and that until then the Prime Minister should manage the affairs of the country. "As the girls were both in their sixteenth year at the time there were two years to wait. "We all thought it a silly plan, and that it would have been much better to name one of the girls as Queen and be done with it, but of course the King's wishes had to be observed, and the people settled down to wait. "The two Princesses after that were very seldom seen, each being kept busy by her respective parents learning all manner of things which she would need to know if she became Queen, and at the same time building up her beauty. "Princess Amy was always my favorite niece. She was a dear good-hearted little thing with pretty golden hair, a fine pink-and-white complexion, and the kindest blue eyes in the world. "Princess Bethel was neither good-looking nor sweet-tempered, and no one thought she had any chance of being chosen Queen, especially as she was known to be rather stupid. I really felt sorry for her, as I knew she could not manage to change her looks altogether in two years, but she had a surprise in store for us. "Her father was a studious man, fond of making scientific experiments, and I used to hear that she spent a great deal of her time in the laboratory watching the making of strange mixtures, but I did not pay much attention to this, as it was nothing new. "Nobody ever saw her excepting heavily veiled, and her mother said that they were trying a new treatment for her complexion and that the sun must not touch her skin. "The two years passed away, and at last a day was named in May when the choice of Queen should be made.