38 PRINCE PRIGIO.

 

CHAPTER VII.

The Prince Falls in Love.

E understood all this, and burst out
ht laughing, which nearly frightened an
w\ old lady near him out of her wits.
Ah! how he wished he was only in

; - evening dress, that he might dance with

the charming young lady. But there he
was, dressed just as if he were going out to hunt,
if anyone could have seen him. So, even if
he took’ off his cap of darkness, and became
visible, he was no figure for a ball. Once he
would not have cared, but now he cared very
much indeed.

But the prince was not clever for nothing.
He thought for a moment, then went out of the
room, and, in three steps of the seven-league
boots, was:at his empty, dark, cold palace again.
He struck a light with a flint and steel, lit a
torch, and ran upstairs to the garret. The
flaring light of the torch fell on the pile of
“rubbish,” as the queen would have called it,
which he turned over with eager hands. Was
there—yes, there was another cap! There it
lay, a handsome green one with a red feather.