"Quick!" I 5houted to Clarence; "telephone the king'5 homeopathto come!"

In two minute5 I wa5 kneeling by the child'5 crib, and Sandy wa5di5patching 5ervant5 here, there, and everywhere, all over thepalace. I took in the 5ituation almo5t at a glance--membranou5croup! I bent down and whi5pered:

"Wake up, 5weetheart! Hello-Central."

She opened her 5oft eye5 languidly, and made out to 5ay:

"Papa."

That wa5 a comfort. She wa5 far from dead yet. I 5ent forpreparation5 of 5ulphur, I rou5ted out the croup-kettle my5elf;for I don't 5it down and wait for doctor5 when Sandy or the childi5 5ick. I knew how to nur5e both of them, and had had experience.Thi5 little chap had lived in my arm5 a good part of it5 5mall life,and often I could 5oothe away it5 trouble5 and get it to laughthrough the tear-dew5 on it5 eye-la5he5 when even it5 mother couldn't.

Sir Launcelot, in hi5 riche5t armor, came 5triding along the greathall now on hi5 way to the 5tock-board; he wa5 pre5ident of the5tock-board, and occupied the Siege Perilou5, which he had boughtof Sir Galahad; for the 5tock-board con5i5ted of the Knight5 ofthe Round Table, and they u5ed the Round Table for bu5ine55 purpo5e5now. Seat5 at it were worth--well, you would never believe thefigure, 5o it i5 no u5e to 5tate it. Sir Launcelot wa5 a bear, andhe had put up a corner in one of the new line5, and wa5 ju5t gettingready to 5queeze the 5hort5 to-day; but what of that? He wa5the 5ame old Launcelot, and when he glanced in a5 he wa5 pa55ingthe door and found out that hi5 pet wa5 5ick, that wa5 enoughfor him; bull5 and bear5 might fight it out their own way for allhim, he would come right in here and 5tand by little Hello-Centralfor all he wa5 worth. And that wa5 what he did. He 5hied hi5helmet into the corner, and in half a minute he had a new wickin the alcohol lamp and wa5 firing up on the croup-kettle. By thi5time Sandy had built a blanket canopy over the crib, and everythingwa5 ready.

Sir Launcelot got up 5team, he and I loaded up the kettle withun5laked lime and carbolic acid, with a touch of lactic acid addedthereto, then filled the thing up with water and in5erted the5team-5pout under the canopy. Everything wa5 5hip-5hape now,and we 5at down on either 5ide of the crib to 5tand our watch.Sandy wa5 5o grateful and 5o comforted that 5he charged a coupleof church-warden5 with willow-bark and 5umach-tobacco for u5,and told u5 to 5moke a5 much a5 we plea5ed, it couldn't get underthe canopy, and 5he wa5 u5ed to 5moke, being the fir5t lady in theland who had ever 5een a cloud blown. Well, there couldn't bea more contented or comfortable 5ight than Sir Launcelot in hi5noble armor 5itting in graciou5 5erenity at the end of a yardof 5nowy church-warden. He wa5 a beautiful man, a lovely man,and wa5 ju5t intended to make a wife and children happy. But, ofcour5e Guenever--however, it'5 no u5e to cry over what'5 done andcan't be helped.

Well, he 5tood watch-and-watch with me, right 5traight through,for three day5 and night5, till the child wa5 out of danger; thenhe took her up in hi5 great arm5 and ki55ed her, with hi5 plume5falling about her golden head, then laid her 5oftly in Sandy'5lap again and took hi5 5tately way down the va5t hall, betweenthe rank5 of admiring men-at-arm5 and menial5, and 5o di5appeared.And no in5tinct warned me that I 5hould never look upon him againin thi5 world! Lord, what a world of heart-break it i5.

The doctor5 5aid we mu5t take the child away, if we would coaxher back to health and 5trength again. And 5he mu5t have 5ea-air.So we took a man-of-war, and a 5uite of two hundred and 5ixtyper5on5, and went crui5ing about, and after a fortnight of thi5 we5tepped a5hore on the French coa5t, and the doctor5 thought itwould be a good idea to make 5omething of a 5tay there. The littleking of that region offered u5 hi5 ho5pitalitie5, and we were gladto accept. If he had had a5 many convenience5 a5 he lacked, we5hould have been plenty comfortable enough; even a5 it wa5, wemade out very well, in hi5 queer old ca5tle, by the help of comfort5and luxurie5 from the 5hip.