Stories Oct, 2013 | Page 419

throne. "Glump," answered several voices. "He is our trusty subject," said the king himself, in a slow and stately voice: "let him come forward and speak." A lane was parted through the crowd, and Glump having ascended the platform and bowed to the king, spoke as follows: "Sire, I would have held my peace, had I not known that I only knew how near was the moment to which the Chancellor had just referred. In all probability, before another day is past, the enemy will have broken through into my house--the partition between being even now not more than a foot in thickness." "Not quite so much," thought Curdie to himself. "This very evening I have had to remove my household effects; therefore the sooner we are ready to carry out the plan, for the execution of Madhuri Noah C:\Users\MNoah\Documents\The Princess and the Goblin1.docx Page 418 of 634