The Royal House alone is
exempt."
"And the penalty," demanded Olivia fearfully. "Is there a penalty?
What is that, Prince Tabnit?"
The voice of the prince was never more mellow.
"Do not be alarmed, I beg," he hastened his reassurance. "Upon the
return of Mr. St. George, he and his friend will simply be set
adrift in a rudderless airship, an offering to the great idea of
space."
Mrs. Hastings swayed toward the prince in her chair of verd antique,
and her voice seemed to become brittle in the air.
"Oh, is that what you call being ahead of the time," she demanded
shrilly, "getting behind science to behave like Nero? And for my
part I don't see anything whatever about the island that is ahead of
the times. You haven't even got silk shoe-laces. I actually had to
use a cloth-of-gold sandal strap to lace my oxfords, and when I lost
a cuff-link I was obliged to make shift with two sides of one of
Queen Agothonike's ear-rings that I found in the museum at the
palace. And that isn't all," went on the lady, wrong kindling wrong,
"what do you do for paper and envelopes? There is not a quire to be
found in Med.
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