"H'm?" queried the King; "rather an advanced set for Charlotte to
consort with--just now, I mean,--don't you think? There might be some of
those Women Chartists among them."

"Oh, no!" replied her Majesty; "they are all quite respectable,--ladies
every one of them. I took care to make inquiries about that."

And then, quite contentedly, she made a final gathering of her
correspondence, and sailed off for a preliminary interview with her two
indispensable secretaries; while the King, selecting three out of the
pile of newspapers, carried them away with him to his study. There was a
sentence in one of them which he particularly wanted to read again. And
with this vacating of the breakfast-chamber we may as well close the
chapter.




CHAPTER II

ACCIDENTS WILL HAPPEN




I

The sentence which had attracted the King's attention, coming as it did
from the newspaper on whose opinions he most frequently relied, ran
thus--