So the old King deposited it in the Treasury, leaving his people--the faithful and unfaithful alike--to fight out the matter as best they could. In so doing they fought their very best. The quarrel between the gnomes and the fairies waxed furious in their patriotic eagerness to get their own way. But while blows were exchanged and relations were otherwise strained, and the Monarchists, generally speaking, were highly annoyed, and the Republicans were even more perturbed, the latter suddenly lay low, and hatched an audacious plot. So daring was it that it made their grotesque and stunted little bodies tremble as they thought of it, and their gnarled feet shook in their shoes. This plot involved nothing less than the theft of the Golden Key. The symbol of royalty was to be taken to the mountain top and flung far away outside the boundaries of Fairydom, and a republic proclaimed and acclaimed. A monarchy could no longer be possible. Meanwhile the guileless fairies, recking nothing of this, and rejoicing in what they thought to be the discomfiture of their adversaries, chose the popular Crown Princess for the succession, and began with much pomp and circumstance the ceremony of investing her with the Golden Key. They had proceeded up to a certain point when, to their horror and amazement, on opening the treasure chamber to bear the symbol in solemn procession upon a velvet cushion, as the law demanded, they discovered that _the Golden Key was gone_! [Illustration: _Lay low, and hatched an audacious plot_] * * * * * Cedric suddenly guessed that he possessed the key to Fairyland. For he found himself in a sun-bathed valley with clouds of rainbow hues in the azure sky above. In the distance he beheld a rippling lake of golden water, on the borders of which stood a palace made of gems gathered from the circling mountains which stood as sentinels around the valley. Down these mountains meandered little golden rills that fed the lake. Nothing stirred but gaily coloured birds, which fluttered amongst the blossoming fruit trees and the rich and dainty flowers. All around the lake, as though from nowhere, sprang crowds of fairies, gnomes, pixies, and sprites; they were landing from the tiny flower-decked craft, forming processions, hurrying in and out of the palace--presenting to Cedric's astonished gaze a scene of wonderful animation and pretty bustle. Great preparations were apparently proceeding. After a time they gathered together in waiting crowds, which stretched a long distance on either side of the approach to the shimmering edifice, and the words came to him with curious distinctness-- "Hail! Cedric, King of Fairyland!" "K-K-King of Fairyland!" stammered the boy in bewilderment. "Am I King of Fairyland? You're only making fun--I've only been flying my kite: I can't be a king." "Of course your young Majesty has got the key?" remarked a funny little old man at his elbow.