See what work we had to get the King to allow the
way in which the clothes were worn to be a matter of opinion, not dogma.
What a pity it is that the clothes were not burned before the King's
tailor had copied them."
Hanky laughed heartily enough. "Yes," he said, "it was touch and go.
Why, I wonder, could not the Queen have put the clothes on a dummy that
would show back from front? As soon as it was brought into the council
chamber the King jumped to a conclusion, and we had to bundle both dummy
and Yram out of the royal presence, for neither she nor the King would
budge an inch.
Even Panky smiled. "What could we do? The common people almost worship
Yram; and so does her husband, though her fair-haired eldest son was born
barely seven months after marriage. The people in these parts like to
think that the Sunchild's blood is in the country, and yet they swear
through thick and thin that he is the Mayor's duly begotten
offspring--Faugh! Do you think they would have stood his being jobbed
into the rangership by any one else but Yram?"
My father's feelings may be imagined, but I will not here interrupt the
Professors.
"Well, well," said Hanky; "for men must rob and women must job so long as
the world goes on. I did the best I could. The King would never have
embraced Sunchildism if I had not told him he was right; then, when
satisfied that we agreed with him, he yielded to popular prejudice and
allowed the question to remain open.
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