should be mentioned
that, on returning to the Palace, the Queen and Princess Ruby had met
Daphne in one of the galleries. Ruby ran to her impulsively: "Oh, Miss
Heritage!" she cried, "we've had a ripping afternoon. Such fun throwing
money to the people, and seeing them scramble for it! We saw the Gold
Mine. And all the darling little Gnomes! You _would_ have loved them! I
do wish you had come with us!"

"I fully intended to have arranged for you to do so, Miss Heritage,"
said Queen Selina, with unwonted graciousness. "But with so much to
think of----! Do you happen to know where my other ladies-in-waiting
are?... In the Tapestry Chamber? Then I must get you to show me to it,
for I don't know my way yet about this immense house.... Through here?
Yes, you will accompany me--in fact, I particularly desire you to be
present."

At her entrance the Maids of Honour all rose from their seats and made
obeisances which, but for the Court Godmother's revelations of their
ancestries, would have occasioned their Sovereign agonies of
embarrassment. But she felt she could face them now without _mauvaise
honte_, and indeed with all the assurance of superiority.

"You may sit down, _girls_," she said, and although they found it hard
to believe at first that they could be the persons thus addressed, they
sat down.

"And what are you all about?" she inquired. "Embroidery, is it? The
pattern seems rather large.... Oh, tapestry? I _see_. I prefer a bright,
cheerful paper on the walls to any tapestry myself. Only collects dust.
Now if you were to knit some warm woollen jerseys for those wretched
little Gnomes, who are really in _want_ of them, you would be doing
something useful. But that wasn't what I--ah, to be sure, I remember
now. I looked in to tell you, girls, that I have appointed Miss Heritage
here as my First Lady-in-waiting. You will be careful to address her in
future as 'Lady Daphne,' and treat her in all respects as your equal in
rank.... I don't know why you should look so surprised." (If they did,
it was merely that any such recommendation should be thought necessary.)
"Miss Heritage's parentage may, it is true, be obscure--but not more so,
from all I have been told, than that of most of your own ancestresses.
Indeed, I am much mistaken if she has not a better claim to be
considered a lady than any of them. Not that I think mere birth of any
importance myself, but I object to people giving themselves airs without
some re