ral THE LOST PRINCE. 55

 

so good as to direct further enquiries to be made; to
which he somewhat reluctantly consented, being im-
pelled thereto by the conduct of Pettina, who kept
her eye upon him, and hummed the magic word in a
low tone whenever she saw him inclined to adopt his
natural tone and quit the politeness which he had
assumed for the occasion.

At last he promised that all the younger members
of his household should be paraded before luncheon,
and that the youths from the colliery should pass
before the Princesses in the afternoon. This was
accordingly done, but without any satisfactory result.
Several people showed blue marks on their arms;
and such was the desire which each of them had
to be proclaimed a Prince, and the brother of two
such lovely ladies, that they all declared they had
strayed into that country nine years ago with a
diamond-set girdle around them. But the sisters
were not to be taken in: they knew of more than the
advertisement, and either the unusual toe or the
scratch on the thigh, proved fatal to all the claims
which were advanced. At last the two Princesses
became quite tired of the amusement, and plainly
told the Giant that they believed he knew all about
their brother, and was only trifling with them. The
wily Pattle-perry assured them that they were mis-
taken, and was about to make some further excuses,
when he suddenly exclaimed :

‘Ah! here comes a friend who will help us all out
of our difficulties.’

Looking round, the young ladies perceived a very
small gig with a very small man in it, driving along
at a great pace, and rapidly approaching them. At