House-boat upon which the astute Mr. Sherlock Holmes had failed to count.




VI

A CONFERENCE BELOW-STAIRS


When, with a resounding slam, the door to the upper deck of the House-boat
was shut in the faces of queens Elizabeth and Cleopatra by the unmannerly
Kidd, these ladies turned and gazed at those who thronged the stairs
behind them in blank amazement, and the heart of Xanthippe, had one chosen
to gaze through that diaphanous person's ribs, could have been seen to
beat angrily.

Queen Elizabeth was so excited at this wholly novel attitude towards her
regal self that, having turned, she sat down plump upon the floor in the
most unroyal fashion.

"Well!" she ejaculated. "If this does not surpass everything! The idea of
it! Oh for one hour of my olden power, one hour of the axe, one hour of
the block!"

[Illustration: QUEEN ELIZABETH DESIRES AN AXE AND ONE HOUR OF HER OLDEN
POWER]

"Get up," retorted Cleopatra, "and let us all return to the billiard-room
and discuss this matter calmly. It is quite evident that something has