That afternoon the others could not amuse themselves, and wanted me to tell them a story. They do not like old stories too often, and it is rather difficult to invent new ones. Sometimes we do it by turns. We sit in a circle and one of us begins, and the next must add something, and so we go on. But that way does not make a good plot. My head was so full of the Book of Paradise that afternoon that I could not think of a story, but I said I would begin one. So I began:
"Once upon a time there was a Queen—"
"How was she dressed?" asked Adela, who thinks a good deal about dress.
"She had a beautiful dark-blue satin robe."
"Princesse shape?" inquired Adela.
"No; Queen's shape," said Arthur. "Drive on, Mary."
"And lace ruffles falling back from her Highness's hands—"
"Sweet!" murmured Adela.
"And a high hat, with plumes, on her head, and—"
"A very low dwarf at her heels," added Arthur.