'They're good for something better than that,' said the Cat joyously.

She went away, and the two heard her hammering away below. Presently she
staggered in with a great basket of white powder, and emptied it on the
floor; then she went away for more.

The King helped her with the next basketful, and the next, and the next,
and the next, and the next, and the next, for there were seven of them,
and the heap of white powder stood up in the room as high as the King's
middle.

'That's powder of pearls,' said the Cat proudly. 'Now, tell me, have you
been a good King?'

'I have tried to be,' said the white-haired King 'I was a workhouse
boy, and then I was apprenticed to a magician, who taught me how to make
people happy. There was a revolution just at the time when I was put
into the workhouse, and they had a Republic. And I worked my way up till
they made me President.'

'What became of the King in that revolution?'

'There wasn't a King, only a Regent. They had him taught a trade, and he
worked for his living. It was the worst punishment they could invent for
him. There was a Princess, too, but she was hidden by a magician. I saw
her once when she was trying to run away. She asked me to run too--to
her nurse----'

Here his eyes met the Princess's.

'Oh,' she said, 'that was you, was it?'

'Oh,' said he, 'then that was you!'

And they looked long and lovingly in each other's faded eyes.

'Hurry up,' said the Cat impatiently; 'you were made President. And
then----'

'Oh, why, then,' said the King, 'they thought it wouldn't be any more
dangerous or expensive to have a King than a President, and prettier at
State shows--ermine, crown, and sceptre, and all that--prettier than
frock-coat and spats. So I agreed.'

'And do your people love you?' the Cat asked.

'I don't know,' said the King simply; 'I love them----'

As he spoke there came a flutter and flicker of many thousand wings at
the closed casement. The Cat threw the window wide, and in swarmed a
countless crowd of white pigeons.

'These are the blessings of your people,' said the Cat.

The wings fluttered and flickered and fanned the heap of pearl dust on
the floor till it burst into flame, and the flame rose up high and white
and clear.

'Quick!' cried the Cat, 'walk through it. Lead her through.'

The old King gave his hand to his poor faded love, and raised her from
her couch, and together they passed through the clear fire made of her
patie