“He was told of the Banquet, of course?” said the Emperor.
“Undoubtedly!” replied the Chancellor. “That would be the duty of the Gold Stick in Waiting.”
“Let the Gold Stick come forwards!” the Emperor gravely said.
The Gold Stick came forwards. “I attended on His Imperial Fatness,” was the statement made by the trembling official. “I told him of the Lecture and the Banquet——.”
“What followed?” said the Emperor: for the unhappy man seemed almost too frightened to go on.
“His Imperial Fatness was graciously pleased to be sulky. His Imperial Fatness was graciously pleased to box my ears. His Imperial Fatness was graciously pleased to say ‘I don’t care!’”
“‘Don’t-care’ came to a bad end,” Sylvie whispered to Bruno. “I’m not sure, but I believe he was hanged.”
The Professor overheard her. “That result,” he blandly remarked, “was merely a case of mistaken identity.”
Both children looked puzzled.
“Permit me to explain. ‘Don’t-care’ and ‘Care’ were twin-brothers. ‘Care,’ you know, killed the Cat. And they caught ‘Don’t-care’ by mistake, and hanged him instead. And so ‘Care’ is alive still. But he’s very unhappy without his brother. That’s why they say ‘Begone, dull Care!’”