"I fancy he said he was one of the under-gardeners here. Of course he couldn't have done it without Clarence's sword, but still——"
"I never lent him it," said Clarence. "If I'd had it—however, perhaps it's as well he did borrow it. Jolly plucky of the beggar, I call it!"
"He behaved extremely well," Edna admitted. "You will have to reward him or something, Father."
"His Majesty," said the Marshal, with a certain gusto, "has already offered your Royal Highness's hand in marriage to whomsoever should be so fortunate as to effect your deliverance."
"Without consulting Me!" cried Edna. "Really, Father, these things aren't done nowadays! It's too absurd!"
"My love," said the Queen with a glance of secret intelligence at the embarrassed Baron, who looked another way, "the circumstances were exceptional. And a King can't go back on his word! Besides, this ex-gardener may be not such a common person as he seems—may he not, Baron?"
"But, dash it, Mater!" said Clarence, while the Baron could only blink, "an under-gardener—what!"
"I'm bound to say—" began the King, when the Queen interrupted:
"You are bound to say that you'll keep your promise, Sidney, and that is enough till the dear fellow comes to claim his reward."
It was the Marshal whose superfluous zeal led him to order Giroflé to be stopped and brought into the Royal presence as soon as he arrived at the Palace.