uld bear. She gave a shriek
of alarm and fainted away, and they had to pour two barrels of
eau-de-cologne over her before she recovered. When she came to herself
everybody was looking for the Princess in the greatest terror and
confusion, but as she did not appear, the King said to his page:

'Go and find the Ambassador Fanfaronade, who is doubtless asleep in some
corner, and tell him the sad news.'

So the page hunted hither and thither, but Fanfaronade was no more to be
found than the Princess, the dagger, or the neck-handkerchief!

Then the King summoned his counsellors and his guards, and, accompanied
by the Queen, went into his great hall. As he had not had time to
prepare his speech beforehand, the King ordered that silence should be
kept for three hours, and at the end of that time he spoke as follows:

'Listen, great and small! My dear daughter Mayblossom is lost: whether
she has been stolen away or has simply disappeared I cannot tell. The
Queen's neck-handkerchief and my sword, which are worth their weight in
gold, are also missing, and, what is worst of all, the Ambassador
Fanfaronade is nowhere to be found. I greatly fear that the King, his
master, when he receives no tidings from him, will come to seek him
among us, and will accuse us of having made mince-meat of him. Perhaps I
could bear even that if I had any money, but I assure you that the
expenses of the wedding have completely ruined me. Advise me, then, my
dear subjects, what had I better do to recover my daughter, Fanfaronade,
and the other things.'

This was the most eloquent speech the King had been known to make, and
when everybody had done admiring it the Prime Minister made answer:

'Sire, we are all very sorry to see you so sorry. We would give
everything we value in the world to take away the cause of your sorrow,
but this seems to be another of the tricks of the Fairy Carabosse. The
Princess's twenty unlucky years were not quite over, and really, if the
truth must be told, I noticed that Fanfaronade and the Princess appeared
to admire one another greatly. Perhaps this may give some clue to the
mystery of their disappearance.'

Here the Queen interrupted him, saying, 'Take care what you say, sir.
Believe me, the Princess Mayblossom was far too well brought up to think
of falling in love with an Ambassador.'

At this the nurse came forward, and, falling on her knees, confessed how
they had made the little needle-hole in the tower, and