“What a curious looking figure!” Glory Goldie remarked to the driver as the old man and the youngsters crowded in through the gate.  She had not the faintest suspicion as to who the man was, but she could not help noticing a person who was so fantastically arrayed.  On his head was a green leather cap, topped with a bushy feather; round his neck he wore a chain of gilt paper stars and crosses that hung far down on his chest.  It looked as though he had on a gold necklace.

The youngsters, unable to hold in any longer, shouted “Empress, Empress!” at the top of their voices.  The old man strode on as if the laughing and shrieking children were his guard of honour.

When they were almost at the door of the hut Glory Goldie gave a wild shriek, and fled into the house.

“Who is that man?” she asked her mother in a frightened voice.  “Is it father?  Has he gone mad?”

“Yes,” said Katrina, the tears coming into her eyes.

“Is it because of me?”

“Our Lord let it happen out of compassion.  He saw that his burden was too heavy for him.”

There was no time to explain further, for now Jan stood in the doorway, and behind him was the gang of youngsters, who wanted to see how this meeting, which they had so often heard him picture, would be in reality.

The Emperor of Portugallia did not go straight up to his daughter but stopped just inside the door and delivered his speech of welcome.

“Welcome, welcome, O queen of the Sun!  O rich and beautiful Glory Goldie!”

The words were delivered with that stilted loftiness which dignitaries are wont to assume on great occasions.  All the same, there were tears of joy in Jan’s eyes and he had hard work to keep his voice steady.

After the well-learned greeting had been recited the Emperor rapped three times on the floor with his imperial stick for silence and attention, whereupon he began to sing in a thin, squeaky voice.

Glory Goldie had drawn close to Katrina.  It was as if she wished to hide herself, to crawl out of sight behind her mother.  Up to this she had kept silence, but when Jan started to sing she cried out in terror and tried to stop him.  Then Katrina gripped her tightly by the arm.

“Leave him alone!” she said.  “He has been comforted by the hope of singing this song to you ever since you first became lost to us.”

Then Glory Goldie held her peace and let Jan continue: 

      “The Empress’s father, for his part,
       Feels so happy in his heart. 
       Austria, Portugal, Metz, Japan,
       Read the newspapers, if you can. 
       Boom, boom, boom, and roll. 
       Boom, boom.”

But Glory Goldie could stand no more.  Rushing forward she quickly hustled the youngsters out of the house, and banged the door on them.  Then turning round upon her father she stamped her foot at him.  Now she was angry in earnest.