In Brief Authority Part 42

The noise of all these proceedings was not exactly conducive to literary composition, and Princess Edna had already been obliged to abandon her letter. In fact she had begun to realise that it would no longer be necessary to finish it. Her brother, she thought, had come to her deliverance with a promptness and energy which she would really have hardly expected of him. She put on her _pince-nez_ again, and went out to the head of the staircase. "Clarence!" she called, "where _are_ you?"

She was immensely surprised to encounter a plain young man in homely costume whom she had certainly never seen before. Mirliflor, who had just removed his cap and was springing up the steps in search of Daphne, was at least equally surprised at finding Edna.

"_You_ here, Princess!" he cried breathlessly, "Tell me! Is--is Daphne safe?"

"If you refer to Miss Heritage," replied Edna, "I have not seen her for weeks, but I have no reason for believing that she is _not_ safe--in England."

"Then," he said blankly, "the dragon carried off _you_--not _her_?"

"I should have thought that fairly obvious," said Edna frigidly. "You have evidently rescued me under a misapprehension, though, of course, I am just as much indebted to you. And I shall be glad to know who you are. In answering, kindly address me as 'Your Royal Highness.' It is more correct."

This was highly embarra.s.sing, he thought, though he felt thankful that his G.o.dmother had not had time to make him recognisable. "My name, your Royal Highness," he replied, "is Girofle. I have the honour to be one of his Majesty's under-gardeners."

"Oh," said Edna, "one of _them_? Really. Well, you have behaved most creditably--very creditably indeed. I really don't know _what_ mightn't have happened if you hadn't arrived just then. I have never been in such a trying situation before. And, even as it is," she added, "there doesn't seem to be any means of getting _out_ of this odious place."

By this time Tutzi's death-throes were over; his body lay extended half across the Courtyard, while the head, after having bitten one or two of the carriage horses rather severely, had also ceased from troubling.

"Perhaps," said Mirliflor, "your Royal Highness will condescend to make use of the dove-car which brought me here? It will carry you back in safety to the Palace."

"It looks rather t.i.t-uppy," said Edna, as the doves flew down with it at his call. "And it only holds one. How are you going to get away yourself?"

"I shall order some of those varlets to open the gate," he said, "and they will be wise to obey."

"Clarence's sword _is_ a great help!" said Edna. "Then--_you_ will be all right. And you may be sure that his Majesty will pay you a suitable reward."

"The satisfaction of having been of any service to your Royal Highness,"

he said, "is reward enough in itself."

"Oh, but that's such a _pose_!" said Edna. "Of _course_ you expect to be paid for it!... And you will be. Must I tell these birds where to take me?... I _see_. Then--Home, please!"

And the doves, glad to escape from such uncongenial surroundings, whirred upwards with the car and, after a few tentative circles, took it clear over the battlements.

As for the retainers, they waited for no order to unbar the gate for Mirliflor, being all eagerness to facilitate his departure. He strode unconcernedly out, and, finding a party of the Royal guard outside, he informed them that they would find one or two severed heads within if they cared to collect them, and then, borrowing a charger, he galloped off to Eswareinmal, impatient to know what had befallen Daphne.

On the Palace terrace there had been a period of painful surprise. The Crown Prince was the first of the rescue party to return. He would have much preferred to do so by a back way, but, perceiving that he had been observed, took the manlier course. "Clarence!" shrieked the Queen as he limped up with his breastplate and hose covered with mire, a bent sword and badly dinted helmet, "is she saved?"

"Couldn't tell you, Mater," he replied heavily. "I've done all I could, and so--and so I came back."

"He's wounded!" cried Ruby tearfully. "Oh, Clarence, was it that horrid Tutzi?" for she was effectually disillusioned at last.

"No, Kiddie, no," he said, "_I'm_ all right. Took a bit of a toss, that's all."

"My poor boy," said his mother, "was it at the Castle? Did the thing attack you?"

"I never _got_ to the Castle," he replied, "only about half-way. It was like this. That bally pendant you made me wear, Mater, got unfastened somehow, slipped down inside my breastplate and was hurting like the very deuce. So I got off and unbuckled a bit and pitched it away. When I got on again the horse was all over the shop with me in a jiffy.

Couldn't hold him for toffee! And, before I knew it, I was over the brute's head. I tried to mount again, but he wouldn't let me. I tried some other gees, and none of _them_ would. Somehow I seemed to have lost the knack all at once. So, after I'd come off once or twice more and was getting a trifle lame, I thought the best thing I could do was to leg it home."

"Hem!" said his Father. "Rather unfortunate thing to happen just _now_, my boy!"

"Well, Guv'nor," he replied, "I should never have got there in time, walking."

"You were quite right to come back, Clarence," said his Mother, "And--oh, look, look!" she cried suddenly, "our darling is safe after all! She's coming back in the dove-car!"

The car landed shortly after on the terrace, and Edna was frantically embraced and plied with questions. "I am _quite_ all right, thank you,"

she said as soon as she had an opportunity of speaking. "Of course it was a most disagreeable thing to happen to one, and I don't feel equal to talking about it just yet--but I am very little the worse for it now."

"But how did you get that awful man to let you go?" inquired the Queen.

"He couldn't very well help himself--his head had been cut off. So had the dragon's, and that abominable little wretch Xuriel's too."

By this time not only the Marshal but the Court G.o.dmother and the Chamberlain had joined the party.

"But who was brave enough to do all this?" asked the Queen. "Though I think I can _guess_!"

"I fancy he said he was one of the under-gardeners here. Of course he couldn't have done it without Clarence's sword, but still----"

"I never lent him it," said Clarence. "If _I'd_ had it--however, perhaps it's as well he _did_ borrow it. Jolly plucky of the beggar, I call it!"

"He behaved extremely well," Edna admitted. "You will have to reward him or something, Father."

"His Majesty," said the Marshal, with a certain gusto, "has already offered your Royal Highness's hand in marriage to whomsoever should be so fortunate as to effect your deliverance."

"Without consulting Me!" cried Edna. "_Really_, Father, these things aren't done nowadays! It's too absurd!"

"My love," said the Queen with a glance of secret intelligence at the embarra.s.sed Baron, who looked another way, "the circ.u.mstances were exceptional. And a King can't go back on his _word_! Besides, this ex-gardener may be not such a common person as he _seems_--may he not, Baron?"

"But, dash it, Mater!" said Clarence, while the Baron could only blink, "an under-gardener--what!"

"I'm bound to say--" began the King, when the Queen interrupted:

"You are bound to say that you'll keep your promise, Sidney, and that is enough till the dear fellow comes to claim his reward."

It was the Marshal whose superfluous zeal led him to order Girofle to be stopped and brought into the Royal presence as soon as he arrived at the Palace.

The Royal Family, with the Court G.o.dmother, the Baron, and other members of the Household, had a.s.sembled in the Throne Room when the Marshal entered, leading the reluctant Girofle, acutely conscious of looking his very worst. After him came some men-at-arms, who carried the dragon's still terrific head, with those of the Count and Xuriel, as trophies of the hero's exploit.

They caused a general but by no means unpleasant shudder to run through the beholders.

"Your Majesties," said the ex-Regent, "I have the honour to present the gallant youth who has n.o.bly earned even such a prize as the hand of her Royal Highness."

"But--but," stammered Queen Selina, "this isn't--there's not the least _resemblance_! Baron, Baron, what did you mean by telling me that the Prince----?"

"I--I must have been misinformed, your Majesty," said the Court Chamberlain, having no better explanation to offer.

"You should be more careful about what you tell _Us_, Baron," said the Queen. "And, really, there was no need to bring those dreadful heads into our Throne Room, making all that horrible mess! It's a piece of bad taste which, perhaps--in an under gardener--please have them removed directly. Well, young man," she continued to the indignant Mirliflor, who, it need not be said, had nothing to do with the gruesome introduction of the heads, "I'm sure we are all very much obliged to you--very much obliged indeed. If you hadn't come forward as you did, it's dreadful to think what might have happened. And, though it seems you _did_ take the liberty of borrowing the Crown Prince's sword without permission, we are the last to blame you for that. We think you are ent.i.tled to be very handsomely rewarded. But if you're expecting our daughter, the Princess Edna's hand, I think your own good sense----"

"Yes, yes," said the King; "mustn't open your mouth _too_ wide, you know. There's a limit to all things! And a round sum of money with which you could start in business and marry some nice little woman in your own cla.s.s of life would be far more _useful_ to you."

"I ask for no reward," said Girofle. "And the hand of a Princess is an honour to which I do not aspire, since I am already affianced!"