ry, serf," she cried. "Go, prepare my food! All the dainties
that you can find. I wish cream beaten to a froth and peaches, halved
and stoned. I wish strawberries still wet with dew and reposing in their
green leaves."

"But," began Suzanna, "I can't get strawberries for you."

The old lady rose to her full height. "Wilt begone, serf?" in stern
accents she cried. "Wilt begone and prepare what I demand?"

Now Suzanna had a very firm idea of her own standing as a princess. Had
she not earlier in the day impressed Maizie? And now, was this stranger,
even though she were a queen, to demand menial service of one of royal
blood? Suzanna thought not. So she said firmly, though gently:

"I am not a serf, if that means a slave! I am a visiting princess, the
Princess Cecilia. I will not go into your kitchen and prepare food." And
then forgetting her role, she assumed her ordinary voice. "Why, this
morning I didn't even warm the baby's bottle, because mother said I
needn't seeing that I was a princess and living in my own tucked-in
day."

"'Tucked-in day!'" responded the queen. "What do you mean by that?"

"Why, it's my very own day, a day tucked in between last week and this
week," said Suzanna.

The old lady's eyes wandered away again looking into distant countries,
Suzanna had no doubt, and she hoped the strawberries were forgotten. But
alas, she was wrong, for in a few moments the queen, bringing her eyes
back to Suzanna's face recalled her desire:

"I will have my strawberries," she began peremptorily. And then with a
complete change of voice; one with some satire in its tone she
concluded: "Dost think because thou art a princess thou art exempt from
all service in the world?"

"A princess does not work," said Suzanna wisely.

"I would have you know," said the queen, "that all those of the world
must give service in one way or another. Dost think that when in my
palace I reigned a queen I gave no service? There were those who loved
me and needed me. As their queen did I not owe them something in return
for their love? And could I leave their needs unrelieved?"

"But," faltered Suzanna, "you were a queen!"

The old lady's eyes lit with a sudden fire. "And 'twas because I
reigned a queen," she answered, "that I must do more than those of less
exalted station. In my kingdom there were little children, there were
the old, and there were the feeble, and there were the poor. Could I go
about unconcerned as to their we