(Dear IPOATthe Fourth, that a happy ending is altogether unlikely?

[Hullygully]

Or not?

I actually look like that at the moment.

Hully waves from the carriage

some ladies in the crowd toast Hully

Some gentlemen salute her

hully's guard of honour

The ladies are ready for London

Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been? I've been up to London to visit the Queen

(Googling 'parp' images is very disappointing)

But wait! We didn't release the men from the cellar.

Release the menfolk, Abers! Good man.

What's that you mime? The men have gone! Lummee.

Here's hoping we don't bump into them at a Venetian Breakfast or somesuch gaity...

Imagine the scandal..

But surely they will be weak after their confinement in the dark with chops thrown out of reach? Although there were aristocrats among them, and they have extraordinarily strong blood.

Did anyone release the maidens? What if they should team up with our other erstwhile captives, and provide them with JUICE of their own?

Nah, we squeezed them dry. I gave them to Abers to play with. He has built them a lovely little house where he arranges them fetchingly and carries out little narratives. It's really very sweet.

Little narratives! How quaint!

Can a maiden only be juiced once then?

Oh dear, the Sheik is going to be a bit ticked off, he's meant to be picking them up first thing tomorrow...

Oh Abers will hand them over, I'm sure. You know how terribly short his attention span is.

Oh Widow, no matter how many juicing master classes you attend, you simply cannot keep it straight. Maidens are born with a finite juice supply of a greater or lesser amount. Some take more squeezing than others, but with that handy machine I got through the wormhole, I think our ones are pretty much wrung dry.

Some of us, those with royal blood, have a richness and superabundance of juice that makes lesser maidens weep.

Now, coachman! Whip up the horses, we have many furlongs to cover ere nightfall and the coaching inn.

"Some of us, those with royal blood, have a richness and superabundance of juice that makes lesser maidens weep."

blimey, she's getting a bit overexcited about all this, has any point pointed out to her that she is in fact illegitimate???

I beg pardon? Blood is the issue here, blue blood, be it the other side of the blanket or not.

I mean, what if he won't acknowledge her as his natural sister? In front of lots of toffs at a glittering soiree?

I think the invitation is just a courtesy, y'know, and perhaps she'll be given a minor title. I've heard that all of the King's twenty-seven bastard children are being invited up.

Do you think she thinks she's getting the throne?

she is going to be so disappointed to be given the title of Royal Chamberpot Emptier, and a slice of corridor at Hampton Court to call her own...

But when His Princeness meets me, his esteemed sister, my natural charms and winning ways are sure to endear me. I think your worries ill-founded, if not downright malicious and a touch green-eyed.

COhalfUGH sister

Sorry. Frog in my throat.

I thought you had left all that behind you when we locked the men in the cellar, Widow, dear?