“Wh—wh—what do you want?” he stammered nervously.
“I think I have the pleasure of addressing His Importance the Lord High Adjudicator, have I not?” replied Ohah. “I scarcely recognised you in that—ahem—that costume,” he added, smiling sarcastically.
“Oh, I wear it for the sake of coolness,” said the Lord High Adjudicator, hastily his bib, which was somewhat disordered, been having very warm weather lately.
“Oh! really!” said Ohah. “And I suppose you play leapfrog and blind man’s buff for the sake of coolness too, eh? I should have thought that at your time of life you had given up such frivolities.”
“It was His Majesty’s fault,” said the Lord High Adjudicator sheepishly; “he would have a parliament of children, and so we were obliged to dress like this and play games, or we should have lost our positions.”
“H’m! doesn’t it strike you as being rather foolish to have a King so young as your present one?” inquired Ohah.
“Well, it certainly has its disadvantages,” admitted the Lord High Adjudicator; “but what are we to do? He is the lawful successor to the throne, you know.”
“Well, I could soon help you out of that difficulty if you wished,” said the Magician, a cunning look creeping over his face.
“What do you mean?” asked the Lord High Adjudicator.
“I could make him invisible, you know, like the Prince and Princess, and then you could govern the country yourselves,” suggested Ohah.