“You did that; but he says he told you not to say who you were.”
“So he did, but I knew what he would think right. He was uppermost in my thoughts all the time.”
Yram smiled, and said, “George is a dangerous person; you were both of you very foolish; one as bad as the other.”
“I do not know. I do not know anything. It is beyond me; but I am at peace about it, and hope I shall do the like again to-morrow before the Mayor.”
“I heartily hope you will do nothing of the kind. George tells me you have promised him to be good and to do as we bid you.”
“So I will; but he will not tell me to say that I am not what I am.”
“Yes, he will, and I will tell you why. If we permit you to be Higgs the Sunchild, he must either throw his own father into the Blue Pool—which he will not do—or run great risk of being thrown into it himself, for not having Blue-Pooled a foreigner. I am afraid we shall have to make you do a good deal that neither you nor we shall like.”
She then told him briefly of what had passed after luncheon at her house, and what it had been settled to do, leaving George to tell the details while escorting him towards the statues on the following evening. She said that every one would be so completely in every one else’s power that there was no fear of any one’s turning traitor. But she said nothing about George’s intention of setting out for the capital on Wednesday morning to tell the whole story to the King.
“Now,” she said, when she had told him as much as was necessary, “be good, and do as you said you would.”
“I will. I will deny myself, not once, nor twice, but as often as is necessary. I will kiss the reliquary, and when I meet Hanky and Panky at your table, I will be sworn brother to them—so long, that is, as George is out of hearing; for I cannot lie well to them when he is listening.”