y natural deduction moved the grown-up man to laughter; but
the Princess, turning red and jumping up, declared that it was time for
lunch.

"Come along, then," said the grown-up man; "and you too, Water-baby;
come and have something solid. You must want it."

I accompanied them, without any feeling of false delicacy. The world,
as known to me, was spread with food each several mid-day, and the
particular table one sat at seemed a matter of no importance. The palace
was very sumptuous and beautiful, just what a palace ought to be; and
we were met by a stately lady, rather more grownup than the
Princess--apparently her mother.

My friend the Man was very kind, and introduced me as the Captain,
saying I had just run down from Aldershot. I didn't know where Aldershot
was, but had no manner of doubt that he was perfectly right. As a rule,
indeed, grown-up people are fairly correct on matters of fact; it is in
the higher gift of imagination that they are so sadly to seek.

The lunch was excellent and varied. Another gentleman in beautiful
clothes--a lord, presumably--lifted me into a high carved chair, and
stood behind it, brooding over me like a Providence. I endeavoured to
explain who I was and where I had come from, and to impress the company
with my own tooth-brush and Harold's tables; but either they were
stupid--or is it a characteristic of Fairyland that every one laughs at
the most ordinary remarks? My friend the Man said good-naturedly, "All
right, Water-baby; you came up the stream, and that's good enough for
us." The lord--a reserved sort of man, I thought--took no share in the
conversation.

After lunch I walked on the terrace with the Princess and my friend the
Man, and was very proud. And I told him what I was going to be, and he
told me what he was going to be; and then I remarked, "I suppose you
two are going to get married?" He only laughed, after the Fairy fashion.
"Because if you aren't," I added, "you really ought to": meaning only
that a man who discovered a Princess, living in the right sort of
Palace like this, and didn't marry her there and then, was false to all
recognised tradition.

They laughed again, and my friend suggested I should go down to the pond
and look at the gold-fish, while they went for a stroll.

I was sleepy, and assented; but before they left me, the grown-up
man put two half-crowns in my hand, for the purpose, he explained, of
treating the other water-babies. I was so touch