Delphi Works of Ford Madox Ford (Illustrated) (16 page)

‘It seems to be easy work milking,’ said the voice, and she looked round and saw it was the Prince, who had come quietly up behind, and was leaning over the fence at her back, looking on lazily at her.

‘Oh! how you startled me, Prince,’ she said.

‘Did I?’ he answered. ‘I am very sorry for that; but you needn’t call me Prince yet. I’m not a Prince, you see, and then you’re the adopted daughter of my parents, so you ought to call me your brother.’

‘Oh, really!’ said she. c However, you soon will be a Prince, and then I shan’t be able to call you brother, shall I?’

‘Why not?’

‘Because you will be a Prince, and I am only a dairymaid.’

‘But you’re a Princess, aren’t you?’ he asked.

‘I was a Princess once,’ she said, with a sigh; ‘but—’

‘You shall be again,’ he said.

‘But how do you know?’ she asked.

‘I know — oh, well, let’s change the subject. As I said before, it seems to be easy work milking. You might let me try?’

But she said:

‘It wouldn’t be any good. Cherry wouldn’t let any one but me touch her. Besides, I’ve just done, and I’m going to carry the pails to the house.’

‘Let me carry them for you?’ he said quickly.

‘Oh, thanks; if you’ll take two, I’ll take the other two, and thus we shall do it all in one journey,’ she answered.

So he did as he was told, and the pails were put safely in the house.

‘Now I must go and get the eggs,’ she said.

‘Can I be of any use?’ asked the Prince.

But she answered:

‘Oh no, there’s nothing for you to do, thanks.’

But he went with her all the same. I suppose he thought he might be of some use. So she let him hold the basket for her, and the eggs were also put safely in the house. Just, however, as he had put them down, a shrill whistle sounded twice from behind the garden hedge, and the Prince said:

‘Oh, that’s a friend of mine. You must excuse me for a few moments,’ and he went towards the hedge.

‘I wonder who his friend is,’ she said to herself. ‘I think I’ll put the feather on again and go after them. It would be a good way of trying my feather on men.’

So she took the feather out of her pocket again, and put it in her bonnet, and then ran after him. He had got over the fence some time before she reached it, but he was still in sight on the other side, and with him his friend was walking. He seemed to be a soldier, so far as she knew. They were talking very earnestly; but, from where she was, she was not able to hear what they said. So she too got over the fence, and went towards them; but she reached them rather too late to hear anything much that they did say. What she did hear was this, from the soldier:

‘Then you will come to-night at half-past twelve?’

‘Yes,’ answered the Prince.

‘We’ll have everything ready, and it will be easily done. If I were you I wouldn’t tell the King or Queen, it would only make them nervous, and we’re sure to succeed.’

‘Very well,’ said Treblo; ‘at half past twelve.’

(‘Half-past twelve,’ thought the Princess; ‘what on earth is he going to do at that time of night? It sounds funny. I think I’ll go with him to look after him.’ For, you see, Ernalie was rather inquisitive, as you may have found out by this time.)

So the soldier went one way, and Treblo went back to the house whistling ‘When the king shall enjoy his own again.’

But the Princess ran on in front of him and reached the house first, so that by the time he was there she had taken the feather out of her bonnet and was quite visible again.

He came in quite naturally, as if nothing had happened, and the rest of the day went off quietly enough.

They went very early to bed at the farm, and the house was quiet by half-past eight Just before they went to bed Ernalie asked the Prince:

‘Do you like walking at night much?’

‘It depends upon the night very much,’ he answered.

‘Such a night as this, for instance,’ said she.

‘Oh yes—”a moonlight night for a ramble,” don’t you know?’ he said, laughing.

‘About half-past twelve, I suppose.’

The Prince looked astonished and shocked.

‘Half-past twelve!’ he said, with his eyes wide open; ‘why, I’m never out after eight. My mother says the night air’s not good for me.’

‘Oh, is that it?’ said the Princess. ‘However, I’m tired; good - night.’ And she went to her room and lay down on her bed with all her clothes on. It was rather hard work keeping awake for such a time, but at last she heard the kitchen clock strike twelve, and she knew it was twenty past. So she got up as quietly as possible and put on the feather, for, you see, she didn’t want any one to see her. It seemed very ghostly getting up so late at night, and although she stepped very lightly, the stairs creaked loudly. She went into the sitting-room and sat on a chair waiting for the Prince to come down. She had to wait close on half an hour; for, you see, the Prince had heard the clock strike too, but didn’t know it was twenty minutes slow. However, at last he came downstairs holding the candle in his hand. He hadn’t put his boots on for fear of waking any one, and so he, too, sat down on a chair to put them on. This was rather unpleasant for the Princess, for of course she had to keep as quiet as a mouse for fear of making him suspicious; for, you see, it was so quiet that the least breath she took could be heard. At last the putting on of his boots was finished, and he stood up, saying to himself out loud, ‘Now, where’s my hat?’ and then he looked straight at the Princess and said, ‘Ah, there it is,’ and he began to walk towards her.

‘What can he want?’ thought the Princess; and then she looked down at the chair — for, you see, she could see right through herself — and she discovered she was sitting on his hat. By this time he was quite close to her and bending down to pick his hat up, so she jumped sideways off the chair as fast as she could; but even then, as he put his hand out, he caught hold of hers, which had not time to get out of the way. As soon as his hand closed on it, however, he let go as if it had stung him.

‘Good gracious! what is that?’ he said in astonishment. And he did look so funny that she had hard work to keep from laughing at him. However, he calmed down in a minute, and again tried to take up his hat. This time you may be sure that the Princess’s hand was no longer there, for she had taken herself and it over to the other side of the table. So he took up the hat and looked at it.

‘Looks as if it had been sat on,’ he muttered. ‘Just like’ em; people always do sit on my hat if they can.’ However, he pushed it out straight again and looked at his boots to see if the laces were quite tight; and then he blew the light out, seeming, by the noise he was making, to be trying to get out of the door. When she heard him in the passage she thought it was about time to follow him. So she tried to do it, making as little noise as possible; but although she did try very hard she did not succeed very well, for she fell right over a chair and made noise enough to be heard all over the house.

‘What on earth’s that?’ she heard the Prince ask, and then he lit a match to look. But he didn’t see anything, and the light allowed the Princess to get quite close to him without upsetting anything more, and he opened the door, letting the moonlight shine in clear and white. While he was standing at the door she managed to slip past him into the open air, and there she waited for him. He wasn’t very long coming, and then she followed him down the garden, keeping to the grassy edge, and not walking on the path for fear of the noise that her feet would make on the gravel. They reached the field and then the road, and the Prince was joined by the other man whom the Princess had seen before. This man — whom, by the bye, the Prince called Ablot — was dressed in complete armour, and he carried another suit, which the Prince proceeded to put on.

(‘This begins to look exciting,’ thought Ernalie. ‘Perhaps he’s a highwayman, or a footpad — anyhow, I — mean to keep up with them.’)

So she walked on faster, for she had fallen a little behind. When she got up with them she heard the Prince say:

‘Well, we’ll surround the Palace, take Mumkie prisoner, and turn him into the market-gardener; and then we’ll proclaim it to the rest of the citizens that my father and mother are King and Queen once more, and if they won’t give in — so much the worse for them. The soldiers are all on my side.’

The other answered:

‘Oh, but they’ll give in without the soldiers. They’re not at all fond of Mumkie. He has made himself very unpopular of late. You see, he put a farthing on the income tax, and he’s raised the price of everything that begins with “S,” like “sausages” and “sealing-wax” and “soap” and “sewing- machines.” Now your father only raised the price of things that begin with “Z,” and there aren’t many “Z’s,” you know; there’s “zebras” and “zeal,” and you can’t make much out of selling zeal.’

(‘Ah, that’s what you’re up to!’ thought the Princess. ‘We ought to have some fun then.’)

However, they were walking too fast for her to think much. All she could do was to keep up, and that she did to the best of her power, until at last they reached the middle of the town, where the King’s Palace stood. Here they halted to take counsel.

‘You wait here while I go and fetch the men,’ said Ablot, and as the Prince made no objection, he went and left him standing in the moonlit square. As Ablot seemed gone rather a long time, the Princess thought she would have a little fun, and going close to the Prince she whispered in his ear:

‘Does your mother know you’re out?’

The Prince turned round, once or twice, as if to assure himself that there was no one hiding behind his back; but as he could see no one, he simply said:

‘I beg your pardon.’

‘That’s very good of you; but I thought you were never allowed out after half-past eight o’clock. I heard you tell Ernalie so this evening. I’m afraid you told a fib.’

The Prince looked very astonished.

‘Who or what are you?’ he asked.

‘Never you mind. I’ve a good mind not to let you succeed this evening, because you deceive not only your old mother who is asleep at home, but you have also told a fib to that innocent girl, of whom I’m very fond.’ (‘That’s quite true,’ thought the Princess. ‘I’m very fond of myself.’ And so she was.)

The Prince looked astonished.

‘How on earth could you know that?’ he said.

‘I heard it, I tell you.’

‘But there was no one in the room except the Princess and myself.’

‘All the same, I heard every word you said, and, what’s more, I shall hear every word you ever say to her,’ answered the Princess.

‘Well, then, you’ll be a great nuisance,’ said the Prince angrily.

‘Very well, I’ll tell the Princess all that you say, and I’ve a good mind not to let you succeed, as I’ve said before.’

‘Then you’ll do the Princess a great deal of harm if you do.’

‘Why?’

‘Because she’s — she’s—’he began.

‘She’s what?’ asked the voice.

‘Oh, well, never mind.’

‘But I do mind,’ said the voice.

‘“She’s all that fancy painted!” if you want to know so much,’ said the Prince.

‘But I don’t see how that’ll make any difference to her in case you should succeed,’ said the voice.

‘You’re uncommonly dull if you don’t see it,’ said the Prince, who was beginning to feel bad-tempered over being cross-questioned thus.