Elizabeth nodded and, with a smile of anticipation, which was copied by all present, prepared to be amused. Alas! The monologue was an account of how a farmer got the best of a bunco steerer in New York City, and was delivered in the esoteric dialect of the Bowery. It was not long before willing smiles gave place to long-drawn faces of comic bewilderment, and, although Copernicus set his best example by artificial grins and pretended inward laughter, he could evoke naught but silence and bored looks. "Marry, sir," said Elizabeth, when the monologue was at an end, "this needs be some speech of an American empire other than that you come from. Could you make aught of it, Lady Rebecca?" "Nothin' on airth!" was the reply. "Only a word now an' then about a farmer--an' somethin' about hayseed." "Now, here's a reg'lar bird!" said Droop, hastily, as he put in a new cylinder. "Can you thus record e'en the voices of fowls?" said the Queen, with renewed interest. Hopeless of explaining, Droop bowed and touched the starting-button. The announcement came at once. "Liberty Bells March--Edison Record," and after a few preliminary flourishes, a large brass band could be heard in full career. This proved far more pleasing to the Queen and her suite. "So God mend us, a merry tune and full of harmony!" said the Queen. "But that ain't all, your Majesty," said Droop. "Here's a blank cylinder, now." He adjusted it as he spoke and unceremoniously pushed the instrument close to the Queen. "Here," he said, "jest you talk anythin' you want to in there and you'll see suthin' funny, I'll bet ye!" He was thoroughly warmed to his work now, and the little court etiquette which he had acquired dropped from him entirely. The Queen's eager interest had been so aroused that she was unconscious of his too familiar manner. Leaning over the phonograph as Droop started the motor, she looked about her and said, with a titter: "What shall we say? Weighty words should grace so great an occasion, my lords." "Oh, say the Declaration of Independence or the 'Charge of the Light Brigade'!" Droop exclaimed. "Any o' them things in the school-books!" Elizabeth saw that the empty cylinder was passing uselessly and wasted no time in discussion, but began to declaim some verses of Horace. "M--m--m--" exclaimed Droop, doubtfully. "I don't know as this phonograph will work on Latin an' Greek!" The Queen completed her quotation and, sitting back again in her chair: "Now, Master Droop, we have done our part," she said. Droop readjusted the repeating diaphragm and started the motor once more. There were two or three squeaks and then an affected little chuckle. "What shall we say?" it began. "Weighty words should grace so great an occasion, my lords." Elizabeth laughed a little hysterically to hear her unstudied phrase repeated, and then, with a look of awe, listened to the repetition of the verses she had recited.