life was full and busy. Princess Marguerite often spent a week or two with them, and the three had gay, intimate little parties. Alex would flounce into the room in a lovely formal gown, exclaiming, "Oh, my dears, you just have no idea how glad I am to have you both here." This would set the other two off, and Gay, looking very princely in Alex's outgrown court clothes, would stride up to Princess Marguerite, bow extravagantly, and beg for the honor of the next dance. No princess could ever have asked for a more attentive escort than Marguerite's gallant "little Prince Gaylord". And so the party would go, with much laughter, much dancing and of ten a little too much wine many times they had to escort each other upstairs to their royal bedchambers, in fact.

Yos, that first winter and summer had been a very happy time in Gay's life; but suddenly this fall some thing seemed changed. All at onco Princess Marguerite Marg, she had been dubbed had some secret project that she wouldn't tell Gay anything about. And Alex was always busy writing his memoirs ("The Adventures of Alex in Wonderland", which later became a best-seller, you will recall). So Princess Gay found herself very much alone. She became morose and started taking long walks by day and long rides by night. And she started thinking about things too much, which is bad even for an ordinary person.

One day, returning from her lone ly walk, Gay found the courtyard completely empty and quiet. Clad in the riding togs which she habitually wore, riding or not, she plumped herself down on the steps of the castle and, staring fixedly at the toe of her left boot, she soon fell into one of her most introspective moods. Never before had she felt so keenly the loss of her early masculine identity. Her thoughts ran somewhat as follows: "I would show them all, if I were still Prince Gaylord. He would have been tall and handsome by now, the hero of all the subjects of the kingdom. No one would have expected of him the things that I have to do, which are so against my nature. Always, I must either try to be a very prissy, unconvincing little princess or be my own self, subject to ridicule. Even the servants are snicker. ing behind my back, though they think I don't know it. Prince Gaylord would have been able to hold fencing matche s and join in the fox hunt or even lead the royal troops off