"Indeed," replied Prince Redmond sadly, "I do not know. My locket, being a charmed one, could not be transformed with me, and is still around my neck, but it seems to be turning darker every day. Wherever Tasmir is I fear he is dying."
"Well," said Daimur, "do not give up hope. Just as soon as you are delivered from this place you will be able to go and seek him, and I will give you every assistance in my power. In the meantime I will try and find out something about him."
So they retired to rest with hopeful hearts, each to dream of freedom.
CHAPTER IX
The next evening, after supper was over, some of the doves brought forward a very plain-looking old dove, who wore suspended around her neck on a thin chain a little gold key.
They all begged her to tell Daimur her story, and after some hesitation she began:
"I am not a Queen," she said, "I am only the Duchess of Rose Petals, but through my misfortune I am causing a great deal of misery to my dear, dear niece, Queen Amy of the Island of Roses." Here she shed a few tears, then shaking her feathers, she continued her story.
"When my cousin, the late King Richard, died he left no heir. In his will, however, he named his successor. He said that whichever of his nieces (his two brothers each had one daughter) should grow up more beautiful and more clever than the other should be crowned Queen on her eighteenth birthday, and that until then the Prime Minister should manage the affairs of the country.
"As the girls were both in their sixteenth year at the time there were two years to wait.