ady of lower rank, carrying a knife. The
Countess rubbed the plates with bread and salt, and then the two ladies
stood awhile by the table, awaiting the arrival of the supper.

Finally there entered, one at a time, twenty-four yeomen of the guard,
the tallest and handsomest men in the royal service, bareheaded and
clothed in scarlet coats, with roses embroidered in gold thread on their
backs. Each yeoman carried a separate special dish intended for the
royal repast, and, as each approached the table, the lady with the knife
cut off and placed in his mouth a portion of the food which he was
carrying. After depositing their dishes upon the table, the yeomen
departed and the maids of honor then approached and carried the dishes
into the inner room, where the Queen sat at her supper.

Of all those who thus advanced to the table and departed walking
backward, none omitted the reverent kneelings, nor did anyone concerned
in all this ceremony speak a word until it was concluded. Although the
Queen was actually absent, in fiction she was present, and it was to
this fiction that so much reverence was paid.

Shortly after the commencement of these preparations, Droop and his
guide appeared among other petitioners and other lookers-on around the
doorways. Copernicus carried his phonographic apparatus, but the bicycle
had been left in the court-yard in the care of a man-at-arms.

"Jiminy!" said Droop, looking curiously about him, "ain't this A No. 1,
though! Et must be fun to be a queen, eh, Percevall?"

"To speak truly, my lad," said the knight, "there is something too much
of bravery and pomp in the accidents of royalty. What! Can a king
unbend--be merry--a good fellow with his equals? No! And would you or I
barter this freedom for a crown?" He shook his head. "Which think you
passed the merrier night--or the Queen (God's blessing on her) or you
and I?"

Droop paid little heed to his companion, for his eyes were busy with the
unwonted scene before him.

"Well, now!" he exclaimed. "Look there, Sir Knight. See how the old lady
digs out a piece o' that pie and pokes it into that lord's mouth! He
must be mighty hungry! I'm darned ef I'd thought they'd hev let him hev
his grub before the Queen--and out of her own dish, too!"

"Nay, Brother Droop," said the Englishman, "this custom hath its origin
in the necessary precaution of our sovereign. Who knows but that poison
be in this food! Have not a score of scurvy plots been laid