PRINCE RICARDO. 159

 

nounced that he would be back in time for
luncheon.

What was poor Jaqueline to do?

She was extremely anxious. She knew, as
we saw, what King Prigio had intended about
changing the fairy things for others that would
not work. She was certain Dick would get
himself into a scrape; how was she to help
him? She made up her mind quickly, while
Dick was putting his things together. She
told the queen (it was the nearest to the truth
she could think of) that she ‘‘ was going for a
turn with Dick.” Then she changed herself into
a mosquito—a kind of gnat that bites—and
hid herself under a fold of Dick’s coat. Of
course he knew nothing about her being there.
Then he started off in his Seven-league Boots,
and before you could say ‘“‘ Jack Robinson”
he was in Rome, in the grounds of a splendid
palace called the Villa Borghese.

There he saw an elderly gentleman, ina great
curled wig, sound asleep on a seat beneath a
tree. The old gentleman had a iong, pale,
melancholy face, and across his breast was a
broad blue ribbon with a star. Ah! how
changed was King James from the handsome
Prince who had loved fair Beatrix Esmond,
thirty years ago! Near him were two
boys, not quite so old as Prince Ricardo.
The younger was a pretty dark boy, with a
funny little roundabout white wig. He was