And the mother answered, "The Regent told them, I suppose." And the girl said, "It’s up among the Royal proclamations on the notice-board at the palace." The Queen said, "Oh! Will you show me the way to the palace?" she continued. "Why, certainly," the girl said. "We were just going that way to see the procession." So they set off through the gay streets. As they went along the Queen could see the young men on every side falling in love with her; but she paid no attention to them. "Are you glad the Queen’s going to be married?" she asked her guides. And the girl answered, "Oh yes; we get a holiday to go and see the procession." "Why, then, I suppose you’d be just as glad if the Queen died, and you could go and see her funeral?" And the old woman said, "Of course!" By that time they had come to the market-place. It was crowded with those who had come to see the sights, and the fountains were running wine instead of water; so, of course, there was rather a scramble to get at the fountains. That left the ground clear for the Queen to get to the notice-board where the Royal Proclamation hung. There she saw, sure enough, the Regent’s proclamation, saying that the Queen would marry him that day. At the end of it there was the signature, "_Eldrida, Queen_." "Why, it isn’t my signature at all," the Queen said. And the mother and daughter looked at her askance. "Have any of you ever seen the Queen?" she asked. And the mother answered, "No; no one has ever seen the Queen but the Regent; but there was a story that a beggar told about a year ago, that she had flown out of the palace and away. And they did say that Grubb the honey-cake maker and some soldiers knew something about it. But the Regent had them all executed, so we never came to know the rights of the story. Anyhow, we’re had to pay taxes just the same." Now the Queen grew really angry with the Regent Blackjowl. But she said, "Thank you," and "Good-bye," to the mother and daughter, and slipped away through the crowd to the side-wall of the palace, where, in the road, she had first commenced her travels. Here there were very few people about, because there was little chance of seeing the procession from there. She waited until the street was almost empty, and then flew quietly over the palace wall and down into the familiar garden. There it was, a little more neglected and a little more weed overgrown than ever, but otherwise just the same. Only it seemed to have grown a great deal smaller in the Queen’s eyes; but that was because she had grown accustomed to great prospects and wide expanses of country. The long, thorny arms of the roses had grown so much, that it was quite difficult to get under them into the little seat. "Now I shall have ever so much trouble to wake him, and he’ll be fearfully surly," the Queen said to herself.