but flags!" he kept repeating, as he set it before her. Then all the flags were dropped in a moment, as the Head-Cook raised the cover from an enormous dish.
"What is it?" the Empress said faintly, as she put her spy-glass to her eye. "Why, it's Spinach, I declare!"
"Her Imperial Highness is surprised," the Professor explained to the attendants: and some of them clapped their hands. The Head-Cook made a low bow, and in doing so dropped a spoon on the table, as if by accident, just within reach of the Empress, who looked the other way and pretended not to see it.
"I am surprised!" the Empress said to Bruno. "Aren't you?"
"Not a bit," said Bruno. "I heard" but Sylvie put her hand over his mouth, and spoke for him. "He's rather tired, I think. He wants the Lecture to begin."
"I want the supper to begin," Bruno corrected her.
The Empress took up the spoon in an absent manner, and tried to balance it across
