rls a picture,
and they'll forget that he exists."

But I did not yet know my Alb and his resources. I had forgotten that
Gelderland is his special "pitch," the province he annexed at birth.
Fate, however, did not forget.

We got to Appeldoorn that first night; and the palace of Het Loo is
close to Appeldoorn, so we drove out and slept at a hotel near the
palace gates. Here it was that the worm turned. In other words, Alb
became a _persona grata_, while I remained an ordinary tourist.

Alb had influence in high quarters. He got up early, and went off
mysteriously to exert it, returning in triumph as the rest of us,
including Tibe, were breakfasting on the broad veranda of the hotel in
the woods. Anybody could go into the palace-grounds, but he had got
permission to take his friends into the palace itself.

The girls were delighted at this, and so was the L.C.P., who flew off so
quickly to get a "refill" for her note-book, that Tibe nearly upset an
old peasant with a broad hat and silver ear-rings, who was eating and
drinking of the best, at a table near ours.

All this feminine enthusiasm over Alb's idea piqued me just enough to
keep me from joining the party. I volunteered for dog duty while the
others saw the palace, and by special favor, Tibe (in leash) wandered
reluctantly with me through the fragrant, green alleys of Het Loo. With
me he saw shining lakes, and crossed miniature bridges guarded by mild
stone lions, at which he smelled curiously; with me he sadly visited the
Queen's bathing-place, and the pretty little dairy and farm, reminiscent
of poor Marie Antoinette's beloved Trianon; and when we were joined by
his mistress and the others he was ungrateful enough to pretend that I
had not amused him.

Alb was in the ascendant, and the gilt had not had time to wear off the
gingerbread before we arrived at Arnhem. We got there in a day from
Appeldoorn, by going back over our own tracks as far as Dieren, where
the beautiful little canal seemed to welcome us again, as if we were old
friends. Through the thick reeds on either side we made a royal
progress, a wave of water swiftly marching ahead to give them news of
our approach, so that, as we came toward them, the nearest might bow
before us, bending their graceful green heads down, down, under the
water, and staying there until we had passed on.

It was like a journey through a long water-garden, exquisitely designed
in some nobleman's park, until a thunder-