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13 - Baron Trump's Marvellous Underground Journey · Classic Adventure Books Library

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  Chapter thirteen, how I set to work to undo a wrong that had been
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  done in the Kingdom of the Micamenkis, and how Bulgar helped Queen Galaxi's confession
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  I am created Prime Minister as long as she lives. What took place in
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  the throne room, my speech to the men of Goggleland, after which I
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  showed them something worth seeing. How I was pulled in two different directions,
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  and what came of it. The first thing I did, after the genuine
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  Princess Cristelina had left me was to seek out doctor Nebulosis and learn from him
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  the exact number of hours before the Queen's heart would run down. As he
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  had just been making an examination, he was able to tell me the very
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  minute. It was seventeen hours and thirteen minutes, rather a short time,
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  you must confess, dear friends, in which to accomplish such an important piece
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  of business as I had in mind. I then made my way directly to
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  the Royal Palace and demanded a private audience with the Lady of the Crystal Throne.
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  With the advice of Sir amber Opake and Lord Krncore. She firmly but
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  graciously refused to receive me, giving as an excuse that the excitement that would
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  be sure to follow an interview with the man of coal, so the Micamenkis
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  had named me, would shorten her life at least thirteen minutes. But I
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  was not to be put off in so unceremonious a manner. Sitting down,
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  I seized a pen and wrote the following words upon a piece of glazed silk
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  to Galaxa, Queen of the Macamenkis, Lady of the Crystal Throne. I
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  Lord Bulgar, a Micamenkian, noble bearer of this who was the first to
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  discover that the real princess was not sitting on the steps of the crystal throne,
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  demanded an audience from man Master Baron Sebastian von Trump, commonly known as
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  the Little Baron, and prompted by him, I ask, what are thirteen
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  minutes of thy life, O, Queen Galaxa, to the long years of
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  sorrow and disappointment in store for thy royal child. Taking this letter in his
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  mouth, Bulgar sprang away with long and rapid bounds. In a few minutes
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  he was in the presence of the Queen, for the guards had fallen back.
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  Affrightened as they saw him draw near, with his dark eyes flashing indignation.
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  Raising himself up on his hind feet, he laid the letter in Galax's
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  hands. The moment she had read it, she fell into a swoon,
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  and all was a stir and commotion in and round about the palace. I
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  was hastily summoned, and the audience chamber cleared of every attendant save doctor Nebulosis,
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  Sir amber Opake, Lord Corncore, Lord Bulgar, and me. Send
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  for the Demoiselle Glowstone, commanded the Queen, And when she had appeared,
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  to the amazement of all, saving Bulgar and me, Galax obeyed her mount
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  the steps of the Crystal throne. Then, having embraced her most tenderly,
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  the Queen spoke these words, oh faithful counselors and wise friends from the upper
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  world, this is the real Princess Cristelina, whom I have for all these
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  years wickedly and wrongfully kept from her high state and royal privileges. She born
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  with a speck in her heart, and I feared that it would be useless
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  to ask my people to accept her as my successor, Oh Lady of the
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  Crystal Throne, exclaimed Lord cornericor thou hast wisely done, thy people would never
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  have received her as Princess Cristelina, for being, by the laws of our
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  land, denied the privilege to look for themselves. They never would have believed
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  that this spot in the Princess's heart was but a tiny speck, like a
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  single hair crystal, in the arm of thy magnificent throne. Therefore, o
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  Queen, we counsel thee not to embitter thy last hours by differences with thy
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  loving subjects. My Lord Corncore said I, with a low bow, I
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  make bold to raise my voice against thine and crave permission from Queen Galaxa to
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  parley with her people. Forbid it, ry lady, cried Sir Amber Opaque
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  savagely, at which Bulgar gave a low growl and showed his teeth. Queen
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  Galaxa, I added gravely, A wrong confessed is half redressed. This fair
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  princess tis true. Hath I speckon her heart, which ill accords with the
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  name bestowed upon her by thy people. Bid me be master and tell thy
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  heart run down and by the knighthood of all the trumps. I promised Thee
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  that thou shalt have three hours of happiness. Ere thy royal heart as ceased
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  to beat. Be it so, little Baron, exclaimed Galaxa joyfully, I
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  proclaim thee Prime Minister for the rest of my life. At these words,
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  Bulgar broke out into a series of glad barks, and, raising upon his
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  hind legs, licked the Queen's hand in token of his gratitude, while the
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  fair princess looked a love at me that was too deep to put into words.
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  I had now but a few hours to act. The excitement, so
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  doctor Nebulosis assured me, would shorten the Queen's life a full hour. It
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  had always been my custom to carry about with me a small but excellent magnifying
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  glass, a double convex lens, for the purpose of making examinations of minute
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  objects, and also for reading inscriptions too thine to be seen with the naked
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  eye. Hastily summon a skillful metal worker, I instructed him to set the
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  lins in a short tube, and to enclose that tube within another, so
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  that I could lengthen it at my pleasure. Then, having called together as
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  many of the head men of the nation as the throne room would hold,
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  I requested Lord Coroncor to inform them of the confession which Queen Glaxa had made,
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  namely that in reality, Damoisel Glostone was Princess Cristelina, and Princess Cristelina
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  was Damoisel Glowstone. They were stricken speechless by this piece of information. But
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  when Lord Cornicor went on to tell the whole story and to explain to them
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  why the Queen had practiced this deception upon them, they broke out into the
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  wildest lamentation, rejecting it over and over again in piteous tones. A speck
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  in her heart, A speck in her heart, O dire misfortune, a
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  woeful day. She can never be our princess if she hath I speck in
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  her heart. By this time my arrangements were complete. I had placed the
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  Princess Cristallina just outside the door of the throne room, where she stood concealed
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  behind the thick hangings, and near her I had stationed Doctor Nebulosis, with
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  a large circular mirror of burnished silver in his hand, calling out in a
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  loud voice for silence. I thus addressed the weeping subjects of Queen Galaxa.
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  Oh Machamenk's, Men of Goggleland, transparent folk, I count myself most happy
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  to be among you at this hour, and to be permitted by your gracious
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  Queen to raise my voice in defense of the unfortunate princess with a speck in
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  her heart. Being of noble birth and an inhabitant of another world, it
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  was lawful for me to look through the sorrowing princess, and I have done
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  it. Yes, Micamenk's, I have gazed upon her heart, I have
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  seen the speck within it. Give ear, men of Goggleland, and you
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  shall know how that speck came there. For it is not, as you
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  doubtless think, a cold black spot within that faire and closure clearer than the
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  columns of Galaxus throne. Oh no, Micamenk's A thousand times no, it
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  is a tiny blemish of reddish hue, a drop of princely blood from the
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  upper world which I inhabit. And this drop, in all these countless centuries,
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  has coursed through the veins of a thousand kings and still kept its rosy
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  at glow, still remembered the glorious sunshine which called it into being. And
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  now men of gaggleland. Lest you think that for some dark purpose of mine
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  own I speak other than the pure and sober truth, Behold, I show
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  you the fair Crystallini's heart in its very life, and being as it is,
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  beating and throbbing with hope and fear commingled. Look and judge for yourselves.
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  And with this I signaled to those on the outside of the palace to
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  carry out my instructions. In an instant, the thick curtains were drawn and
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  the throne room was wrapped in darkness. And at the same moment Doctor Nebulosis,
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  with his mirror, caught the strong white rays of light and threw them
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  upon Crystallina's body, while I, through an opening in the hangings, made
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  haste to apply the tube to which the lens had been fitted, and,
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  catching the reflected image of her heart, threw it up in plain and startling
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  view upon the opposite wall of the throne room. Upon seeing how small the
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  speck was and how truthfully I had described it, the Macamenkes fell a weeping
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  for purest joy, and then, as if with one voice, they burst
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  out, long Live the fair Princess Cristelina, with the ruby speck in her
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  heart, and ten thousand blessings on the head of little Baron Trump and Lord
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  Bulgar for saving our land from cruel dissensions. The people on the outside took
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  up the cry, and in a few moments the whole city was thronged with
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  bands of Queen galaxis subjects, singing and dancing and telling of their love for
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  the fair princess with the ruby speck in her heart. I had kept my
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  word, Queen Galaxa, would have at least three hours of complete happiness.
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  Ere her heart ran down. But suddenly the river of light began to flicker
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  and dim its flood of brilliant white rays. Night was coming noiselessly, as
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  if by magic. The Micamenkes faded from my sight, stealing away in search
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  of beds, And as the gloom crept into the great Throne room, some
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  one plucked me gently by the hand, and a soft voice whispered, I
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  love I love THEE. Oh, who other than I can tell how I
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  love THEE? And then a grip stronger than the gentle hand seized me by
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  the skirt of my coat and dragged me away, slowly but surely, away
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  through the darkness, through the gloom, out into the silent streets, ever
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  away, until at last that soft voice, choking with a sob, seized
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  its pleading and gasps farewell, oh, farewell, I dare go no farther,
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  and so Bulgar in his wisdom, led me on and ever on out
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  of the city of the Mcamenkes, out upon the Marble Highway end of Chapter thirteen.