‘If you won’t stop him going, I shall go with him,’ she said.
‘But he won’t take you,’ said the King.
‘He won’t be able to help it,’ said she.
‘Oh, well, have your own way, my dear,’ said the King good-naturedly; for he thought she would change her mind. But she was quite in earnest.
However, she didn’t say anything more about it, and the rest of the day went on quietly.
The old King and his son attended the council just as if nothing unusual had ever intervened between it and the last council they had held before they had been turned out. As for the Queen and Princess, they occupied themselves with choosing dresses for a grand ball that was to be given on the day after the morrow. So that the time was pretty well filled up until the evening; and as the Princess said she felt rather tired, she went out to take a walk on the sands by the sea. To tell the truth, she intended to see whether Wopole were not making preparations.
Now it so happened that the Prince, too, was going out to take an evening stroll, and so they went together; and as the town was rather full, they walked along the beach to get out of the way of the enthusiastic populace, who insisted on congratulating him on his good fortune. This is a habit of populaces, they are all fond of congratulating any one who is successful—but they never assist any one to success if they can help it. So they walked on for some time, and as the evening was approaching, turned back towards the harbour.
Now it happened that as they came round a bend of the shore they noticed a crowd assembled round one of the boats.
‘I wonder what the excitement is?’ said the Princess.
‘I don’t know, really, unless it’s some gigantic dog-fish, or perhaps they’ve found a scale of the sea-serpent. Shall we go and look at it?’