144 THE CREAKING DOOR

And the queen had to fall back on the lord
chamberlain.

A nice little collation of chocolate and sweet-
meats had been put ready for the princess in the
queen’s own apartment (just to last her till the time
of the great banquet), and thither they all went.
The princess’s little feet sounded like music on the
threshold, but the lord chamberlain felt the queen
shudder from head to foot as Donna Leonora fol-
lowed her—the door creaked then as it had never
done before.

‘ Mother, you don’t seem quite comfortable, said
Prince Sunflower, as he handed her a cup of choco-
late.

‘Sunflower, your princess is perfection, but
I can’t bear that dreadful woman she has with
her,’

‘ Sh-sh, mother, she’s looking at you,’ said Sun-
flower, in a whisper, which wasn’t much of a whisper,
for he had no idea of managing his voice.

And, sure enough, though the queen had made
sure she was looking out of the window only a
moment before, there she was, gazing at them with
the smile which they had already begun to get tired
of. The poor queen, sitting there in her own
favourite chair, already felt as if nothing in the room