His meal being ended, a lord came and held before him a broad, shallow,

Golden dish with fragrant rose-water in it, to cleanse his mouth and fingers

With; and my lord the Hereditary Diaperer stood by with a napkin for his use.

Tom gazed at the dish a puzzled moment or two, then raised it to his lips, and

gravely took a draught. Then he returned it to the waiting lord, and said:

'Nay, it likes me not, my lord; it hath a pretty flavor, but it wanteth strength.'

This new eccentricity of the prince's ruined mind made all the hearts about

Him ache; but the sad sight moved none to merriment.

Tom's next unconscious blunder was to get up and leave the table just when

The chaplain had taken his stand behind his chair and with uplifted hands and

Closed uplifted eyes, was in the act of beginning the blessing. Still nobody

Seemed to perceive that the prince had done a thing unusual.

By his own request, our small friend was now conducted to his private

Cabinet, and left there alone to his own devices. Hanging upon hooks in the

Oaken wainscoting were the several pieces of a suit of shining steel armor,

Covered all over with beautiful designs exquisitely inlaid in gold. This martial

Panoply belonged to the true prince — a recent present from Madam Parr,

The queen. Tom put on the greaves, the gauntlets, the plumed helmet, and

Such other pieces as he could don without assistance, and for a while was