nd in a few hours more reached the
chief city of the Kingdom of Roses.

Nobody made any attempt to stop their landing, so they all marched up
the street, this time the Duchess leading the procession with Daimur.
She was overjoyed to be at home again, and people began at once to
recognize her and came running after them with shouts of welcome until
a crowd had collected. It was noticeable that they were all very poor
and fagged looking.

The strangers exclaimed with wonder at the beauty of the roses which
bloomed everywhere. They climbed over the houses, over fences and up
great stone buildings to the very roofs. Rose trees stood in all the
parks. Rose bushes made all the hedges. Roses of all colors met the
eye at every turn, and the air was quite heavy with their perfume. It
was truly a magnificent sight.

No doubt they would have been still more impressed had they known that
in prosperous times people had fresh rose petals to sleep on every
night instead of feather beds or Ostermoor mattresses; that the pigs
were fed on roses until their skins grew to be so fine and transparent
that they were as clear as wax and the pigs themselves were red, white
or yellow or pink, according to the color of the roses they ate; that
housewives made rose petals into pies, cakes and candy, and even bread,
and stewed them with sugar and lemons for jam. Of course this was only
done with the surplus, as the real business of the kingdom was making
perfume from them.

On went our friends, the Duchess leading the way, until at last they
came in sight of the palace. As they entered the grounds they were
surprised to see that all the blinds were down and nobody seemed to be
guarding the gates, or the door of the palace. In fact, the gates hung
ajar, and one of them was off its hinges. The grass on the lawn was
tall and rank. The gardens, or as little of them as they could see,
were full of tall weeds, and everything was going to decay.

The poor Duchess stood and wept at the sight, but Daimur cried, "Cheer
up, cheer up, my dear Duchess, everything may be quite all right yet,"
and ordering the marines to keep everyone out he and Redmond led the
weeping Duchess up to the great entrance and loudly rang the door bell.

They could hear it echoing far inside, but no one came. They looked
through the windows, but inside all was empty and dusty.

The Duchess was by this time in a perfect sea of tears and Daimur had
given up trying to