"Isn't the Queen very angry with you?" inquired Miles.
"The Queen is generally asleep herself at such hours."
"What! in the House of Parliament?"
"No; but in one or other of her palaces."
"But she isn't always asleep at night," said Humphrey, in a superior tone; "sometimes she sits up very late, and has a ball. I know a picture of her giving a ball, in the old book of prints down-stairs."
The volume in question bore the date of 1710, and the engraving represented the court of Queen Anne, but it was all the same to Humphrey.
"Do you ever go to the Queen's ball Fardie?" inquired Miles.
"Yes, dear, I have been, but not for a long time."
"Father's too old for balls now," observed Humphrey. "Ain't you, father?"