"Yes," said Rosie. "It's too bad; she's been here a whole week, and we've never shown her our islands, nor nut-wood, nor the mushroom-field, nor the mountains."
"I'll tell you what, Myrrh," exclaimed Winnie, struck by a sudden inspiration, "we'll have a picnic up the mountains on your birthday. What do you think of that?"
"Yes," said Murtagh, "and oh, Win, a plan has just come into my head. Such a beauty! I'll tell you presently."
"Is it a secret?" asked Rosie.
"Yes. But I'll tell you too, by and by. Oh, it is so jolly; you'll go crazy when you hear it." And being unable to turn head over heels Murtagh relieved his feelings by springing to the ground.
Having once got into the tree, Nessa would gladly have spent the morning there. But the children had no notion of allowing the appreciation of their roost to take that form, and for the next two or three hours she was trotted backwards and forwards from one favorite place to another, till when twelve o'clock came she was glad to go with the children to the back door and receive at Donnie's hands a glass of milk and a slice of brown cake. Then, leaving Nessa to enter the house alone, they merrily scampered back to the chestnut tree to hold their consultation.
Their wonderful plan was simply this: that they were to discover Nessa to be the real princess of their tribe, and on Murtagh's birthday they were to have on the mountains the grand ceremony of crowning and receiving her into the tribe. It was the details of the plan that were so specially delightful, Murtagh said; particularly one.
"Now then, listen," he said; "it's all been floating into my head the whole of this morning, and I'll tell you just how I've planned it. We'll have a regular grand—what d'ye call it? like when the Lord Lieutenant was made Knight of St. Patrick, up—"
"Ceremony," interpolated Winnie.
"Yes, ceremony, up in the ruins. We'll make a throne of stones in the middle of the court-yard, and decorate it with green branches. Then we'll have garlands of evergreens and hollyhocks, and loop them up on the walls all round, and we'll have a green ribbon and a wreath of shamrocks. And I'll be sitting on the throne, and all the followers standing round. Then you four will bring her up the mountain, and as soon as she comes near, the followers will run forward and scatter shamrocks on the ground for her to walk over, and she'll be led up to the throne. Then I'll get down off the throne, and I'll say, 'Will you reign over us, our princess? and will you promise to be true to our tribe?' or something like that, and she'll say, 'Yes,' and I'll tie the green ribbon round her arm. Then comes the beautiful part of the plan! I'll make her promise to hate Mr. Plunkett and to defend us against him."