al _ground_ for it. I am not alluding to Lady Daphne, whom I have
always found perfectly well-behaved and unpretentious."

This was not perhaps the surest way of endearing Daphne to her new
companions, but then Queen Selina was less concerned to effect that than
to make them pay for the excessive deference she had so mistakenly shown
them in the past.

However, in their simplicity it had never occurred to them that they had
any cause to be ashamed of their descent, and so they never imagined
that their Royal Mistress could insult them with it, and her shafts
missed the target.

Fortunately for Daphne, too, she was already the object of a secret
_schwaermerei_ that left no room in their sentimental bosoms for jealousy
or ill-feeling.

But, not being aware of this as yet, she was rendered only unhappy by
this sudden rise in the Royal favour. Her one consolation was the
certainty that it would not be very long before she was again in
disgrace.

On the afternoon of the day on which the State Council had been held,
the Crown Prince explored the surrounding country with a view to
selecting a golf course.

He found a district which was in every way suitable for his purpose--a
stretch of undulating land in a valley behind the plateau on which the
Palace stood, abounding in natural hazards, and affording great
facilities for artificial ones--in short, an ideal site for any links.
He began laying it out the next morning. The Gnomes were brought out of
the mine and conducted to the spot. The general idea was conveyed to a
Gnome who seemed, on the whole, less devoid of intelligence than his
fellows, and they all set to work with more activity than immediate
result. However, they seemed to take kindly to their new industry, and
Clarence was very well pleased with them. He had had no experience in
golf-architecture himself, but the nature of the ground was such that it
required but little to turn it into a very sporting course indeed, and,
if the Gnomes did not do much else, they constructed some remarkably
cunning bunkers.

While they were thus engaged he ordered several sets of clubs to be
made from rough designs of his own by a master artificer in Eswareinmal,
who carried them out with considerable skill and fidelity. The
implements he produced may not have been quite according to Club
standards, but they were fairly serviceable. The balls seemed at first
likely to be the main difficulty, but some were discovered on the