"And what if we hear that our Queen is not at Clairdelune?" asked the Burgomaster.
"Then they shall receive no mercy," replied the President. "Their heads shall be struck off that same day, in the great square of the Capital."
"Good!" said the Burgomaster. "I will have the scaffold put up the moment I return."
"I just want to say this, Gentlemen," said Clarence before he was led away: "if we were really guilty of trying to get rid of poor little Lady Daphne, we should be such a set of rotters that we should jolly well deserve losing our heads for it. But you'll find we're not."
"I can answer for my poor wife as for myself," said King Sidney. "She is far too much of a lady to dream of doing anything that isn't strictly correct."
Queen Selina said nothing—she was not feeling well enough just then.
"Not half bad!" remarked Clarence, as he went through the suites of rooms that were to form their prison. "Pleasant look-out from all the windows, and the rooms jolly comfortable, considering. We shall do very well here for a day or two."
"Don't talk in that light way, Clarence," said his mother, "or you'll drive me mad!"
"Why, there's nothing to be down in the mouth about, Mater. We may have to stick this longer, of course—depends how long those chaps take getting back from Clairdelune. But as soon as they do get back we shall be let out, and I shouldn't wonder if the Country gave us a thundering good pension. It's no more than it ought to."
"You—you mustn't count on that. You—we must all of us prepare for the worst, the very worst."