tly as if she had been present. All, even the
king himself, had grown used to her absence; for she was not strong,
and for years had not joined in any gayeties. She always did her royal
duties, but as to pleasures, they could go on quite well without her, or
it seemed so. The company arrived: great and notable persons in this
and neighboring countries; also the four-and-twenty godfathers and
godmothers, who had been chosen with care, as the people who would be
most useful to his royal highness should he ever want friends, which did
not seem likely. What such want could possibly happen to the heir of the
powerful monarch of Nomansland?

They came, walking two and two, with their coronets on their
heads--being dukes and duchesses, princes and princesses, or the like;
they all kissed the child and pronounced the name each had given him.
Then the four-and-twenty names were shouted out with great energy by
six heralds, one after the other, and afterward written down, to be
preserved in the state records, in readiness for the next time they were
wanted, which would be either on his Royal Highness' coronation or his
funeral.

Soon the ceremony was over, and everybody satisfied; except, perhaps,
the little Prince himself, who moaned faintly under his christening
robes, which nearly smothered him.

In truth, though very few knew, the Prince in coming to the chapel had
met with a slight disaster. His nurse,--not his ordinary one, but the
state nurse-maid,--an elegant and fashionable young lady of rank, whose
duty it was to carry him to and from the chapel, had been so occupied
in arranging her train with one hand, while she held the baby with
the other, that she stumbled and let him fall, just at the foot of the
marble staircase.

To be sure, she contrived to pick him up again the next minute; and the
accident was so slight it seemed hardly worth speaking of. Consequently
nobody did speak of it. The baby had turned deadly pale, but did not
cry, so no person a step or two behind could discover anything wrong;
afterward, even if he had moaned, the silver trumpets were loud enough
to drown his voice. It would have been a pity to let anything trouble
such a day of felicity.

So, after a minute's pause, the procession had moved on. Such a
procession t Heralds in blue and silver; pages in crimson and gold; and
a troop of little girls in dazzling white, carrying baskets of flowers,
which they strewed all the way before the nurse a