sed the
King may-he-live-for-ever is reward enough for me.'

And the King was so pleased with this modest and sensible reply that he
gave her the gold collar off his own neck.

'I say!' said Cyril, awed by the magnificence of the gift.

'It's all right,' whispered the Queen, 'it's not his best collar by any
means. We always keep a stock of cheap jewellery for these occasions.
And now--you promised to sing us something. Would you like my minstrels
to accompany you?'

'No, thank you,' said Anthea quickly. The minstrels had been playing off
and on all the time, and their music reminded Anthea of the band she and
the others had once had on the fifth of November--with penny horns,
a tin whistle, a tea-tray, the tongs, a policeman's rattle, and a toy
drum. They had enjoyed this band very much at the time. But it was quite
different when someone else was making the same kind of music.
Anthea understood now that Father had not been really heartless and
unreasonable when he had told them to stop that infuriating din.

'What shall we sing?' Cyril was asking.

'Sweet and low?' suggested Anthea.

'Too soft--I vote for "Who will o'er the downs". Now then--one, two,
three.

'Oh, who will o'er the downs so free,
Oh, who will with me ride,
Oh, who will up and follow me,
To win a blooming bride?

Her father he has locked the door,
Her mother keeps the key;
But neither bolt nor bar shall keep
My own true love from me.'

Jane, the alto, was missing, and Robert, unlike the mother of the lady
in the song, never could 'keep the key', but the song, even so, was
sufficiently unlike anything any of them had ever heard to rouse the
Babylonian Court to the wildest enthusiasm.

'More, more,' cried the King; 'by my beard, this savage music is a new
thing. Sing again!'

So they sang:

'I saw her bower at twilight gray,
'Twas guarded safe and sure.
I saw her bower at break of day,
'Twas guarded then no more.

The varlets they were all asleep,
And there was none to see
The greeting fair that passed there
Between my love and me.'

Shouts of applause greeted the ending of the verse, and the King would
not be satisfied till they had sung all their part-songs (they only knew
three) twice over, and ended up with 'Men of Harlech' in unison. Then
the King stood up in his royal robes with his high, narrow crown on his
head and shouted--

'By the beak of Nisroch, ask what you will, str