t it took four men to hold each of the horses and
that they were prancing and jumping alarmingly.

At this instant a pretty little jockey, attired in a straw-colored satin
vest, with blue ribbon knots, exclaimed in silvery tones:--

"The equipage of the Princess Rosette!"

And now a little chariot of pearls and mother-of-pearl, drawn by two
magnificent steeds with harness of straw-colored velvet ornamented with
sapphires, drew up before the princess.

Charmant scarcely knew whether to allow Rosette to mount this unknown
chariot for he still feared some cunning wickedness of the king and
queen. But the voice of the fairy sounded in his ear:--

"Allow Rosette to ascend the chariot; these horses are a present from
me. Follow them wherever they may take Rosette. The day is advancing. I
have but a few hours left in which I can be of service to Rosette and
she must be safe in your kingdom before the day closes."

Charmant assisted Rosette to ascend the chariot and sprang upon his
horse. A few moments afterwards, two chariots driven by veiled women
advanced in front of Rosette. One of them dashed her chariot with such
violence against that of Rosette, that the little chariot of
mother-of-pearl would inevitably have been crushed had it not been
constructed by fairies. The heavy and massive chariot was dashed to
pieces instead of Rosette's. The veiled woman was thrown upon the
stones, where she remained immovable whilst Rosette, who had recognized
Orangine, tried to stop her own horses. The other chariot now dashed
against that of Rosette and was crushed like the first and the veiled
woman was also dashed upon the stones, which seemed placed there to
receive her.

Rosette recognised Roussette and was about to descend from her chariot
when Charmant interfered, and said: "Listen, Rosette!"

A voice whispered, "Go, flee quickly! The king is pursuing you with a
great company to kill you both. The sun will set in a few hours. I have
barely time to rescue you from this danger so give my horses the reins;
Charmant, abandon yours."

Charmant sprang into the chariot by the side of Rosette, who was more
dead than alive. The superb steeds set off with such marvellous speed
that they made more than twenty leagues an hour. For a long time they
knew that they were pursued by the king with a numerous troop of armed
men but they could not overtake the horses of the fairy. The chariot
still flew on with lightning haste; the horses incr