at
she missed the third ball, even at the first throw, and when the Prince
turned also from her she laughed again, though this time her laughter
was not all mirth. Then the cold blue Princess came forward. She caught
the balls better, but at the third throw, one of them rising higher than
the others, she would not trouble herself to stretch her arm out
farther, so it fell to the ground, and as the Prince turned from her
likewise, a great silence came over the crowd.

"Suddenly a cry arose. 'A fourth Princess,' the people shouted, and the
old woman up at the window was so eager to see the new-comer that she
did not notice that her companion had disappeared. She had watched the
failure of the two first Princesses, then seeing what was coming she had
quietly made her way through the crowd to a hidden corner behind the
great pillars of the hall. There, her hands trembling with eagerness,
she drew forth from the magic nut, which she had cracked with her pretty
teeth, a wonderful fairy robe of spotless white. In an instant her black
dress was thrown to her feet, and the white garment, which fitted her as
if by magic, had taken its place. Never was Princess dressed in such a
hurry, but never was toilette more successful. And as the cry arose of
'A fourth Princess' she made her way up the hall. From one end to the
other she came, rapidly making her way through the crowd, which cleared
before her in surprise and admiration, for as she walked she threw
before her, catching them ever as she went, her golden balls. Her fair
hair floated on her shoulders, her white robe gleamed like snow, her
sweet face, flushed with hope and eagerness, was like that of a happy
child, her eyes saw nothing but the one figure standing at the far end
of the hall, the figure of the Prince, who, as the cry reached his
ears, started forward with a hope he hardly dared encourage, holding out
his hands as she came nearer and yet nearer in joyfulness of welcome.

"But she waved him back--then, taking her place where the other
Princesses had stood, she threw her balls, one, two, three; in an
instant they were caught by the Prince, and returned to her like flashes
of lightning over and over again, never failing, never falling, as if
attached by invisible cords, till at last a great cry arose from the
crowds, and the Prince led forward, full in the view of the people, his
beautiful bride, his true Princess.

"Then all her troubles were forgotten, and every on