her, or whoever it is who keep the key of
that mausoleum and then come back for us. By the way, before you go,
just tell me the Portuguese for an ice. It's desperately hot."

I told her and then got out of the carriage. I did not call upon either
the King or his mother. They were in Cintra, so I should not have had
time to get at them even if I had wished. I saw my chief, and, with the
fear of Lalage before my eyes, worried him until he gave me a letter
to a high official. From him I obtained with great difficulty the
permission I wanted. I returned to the hotel. Miss Battersby, though
recovering rapidly, was still too feeble to accompany us; so Lalage,
Hilda, and I set off without her.

The dead kings were a disappointment. Hilda's nerve failed her on
the doorstep and she declined to go in. Lalage and I went through the
exhibition alone. I observed, without surprise, that Lalage turned her
eyes away from the objects she had come to inspect. I ventured, when
we got out, to suggest that we might perhaps have spent a pleasanter
afternoon at Belem. Lalage snubbed me sharply.

"Certainly not," she said. "I'm going in for the Vice-Chancellor's prize
for English verse next year and the subject is mortality. I shall simply
knock spots out of the other competitors when I work in those kings.

"'Sceptre and crown
Must tumble down,'

You know the sort of thing I mean."

"That's not original," I said. "I remember it distinctly in the 'Golden
Treasury,' though I have forgotten the author's name."

"It wasn't meant to be original. I quoted it simply as an indication of
the sort of line I mean to take in my poem."

"You'll win the prize to a certainty. When you publish the poem
afterward with notes I hope you'll mention my name. Without me you
wouldn't have got at those kings."

"In the meanwhile," said Lalage, "I could do with some tea and another
ice. Couldn't you, Hilda?"

Hilda could and did. I took them to an excellent shop in the Rua Aurea,
where Hilda had three ices and Lalage four, after tea. I only had one.
Lalage twitted me with my want of appetite.

"I can't eat any more." I said. "The thought of poor Miss Battersby
sitting alone in that stuffy hotel has spoiled my appetite."

"The hotel is stuffy," said Lalage. "Where are you stopping?"

I mentioned Mont 'Estoril and Lalage at once proposed to move her whole
party out there.

There were difficulties with the Lisbon hotel keeper, who wanted to be