things much longer than he should, and I have a difficulty in even
getting a clean pocket-handkerchief.'

"It was a curious difficulty to be in, certainly, and I felt very
anxious to help them if I could, so I asked permission to be allowed to
visit the servants' hall, and talk to the maids on the subject.

"This was readily given, and I spoke to them as earnestly as I could
about their good Queen and mistress, and how willing and eager they
ought to be to do everything they could for her.

"I could see that they felt this keenly themselves, for some of them
were in tears when I spoke of the Queen's goodness to everybody about
her.

"'B--but our precious noses, sir!' sobbed one good-natured girl; 'we
can't afford to lose them, can we now?'

"'No,' I said, 'but I have thought of a way by which it will be quite
safe for you to go into the garden.

"'Now, like good creatures, the first thing in the morning, set to and
get some laundry work done, and I'll go out and hang up some of the
clothes, and you'll see that the birds won't hurt me.'

"They all agreed to this, and the good-natured girl who had been crying
said, 'I'll come with you, if you like, and show you how to hang the
things up.'

"'So you shall,' said I, and went up to my room to make preparations for
the morning.

"It was quite simple. I sent for some coloured wax, and having made a
wooden model of a nose, I made on it some little waxen cases which could
be worn over one's own nose, and _then_, if the birds pecked at it, it
wouldn't matter in the least.

"In the morning, the wax cases were quite set and hard, and when the
maid and I went out to hang up the clothes, it was great fun to see the
bewilderment of a large blackbird when he flew away with the maid's
false nose, and she calmly stuck on another.

"The birds soon gave up their evil ways after that, but for some months,
as a precaution, the maids never ventured out without a nose protector.

"It was for this useful invention that the King of Hearts bestowed on
me the title of 'Doctor to His Majesty's Household.'"

"H'm!" I remarked, when he had finished, "it's a very remarkable story.
I seem to have heard of some of the incidents before, somehow."

"Very likely, very likely," said Shin Shira, "Well, I must be going
now." And he shook hands and went out by the door, in a sensible way for
once.

As he went out of the house, I heard him singing softly--

"The Queen of Hearts, she m