t its
best in early morning I stole through the gates at sundown, and spent
the night in yonder little arbor. I have been wandering ever since among
the flowers, until I heard your voice singing. Then I stole back here to
hide, for I was too happy to risk being discovered and sent away."

"You are a bold, bad fellow, Joyeuse," said Fleurette, laughing; "and I
have a mind to tell the Princess about you and your wanderings."

"Would she be so very angry?" asked the Stranger. "I will not pluck a
single bud. I love them all too dearly, just as you do, dear maiden, for
I have watched you. Ay, I could almost tell which is your favorite
flower--"

"Nay, that you cannot do," said the Princess hastily. "No one knows
that."

"Aha!" cried the lad. "You make a secret of it, even as does your
mistress, the Princess Fleurette. I have heard how she will choose for
her Prince only him who finds the flower which holds her heart. I had
thought one time to find that flower, and become her Prince."

"You!" cried the Princess, starting with surprise.

"Ay, why not? I could fight for her, and defend her with my life, if
need be. I could sing and play to make her merry. I could teach her many
things to make her wise. I am skilled in herbs and lotions, and I could
keep her people in health and happiness. Moreover, I love flowers as
well as she,--better, since I love them at their best in this early
morning: even as you love them, fair maiden. I should not make so poor a
prince for this garden. But now that I have seen you, little flower, I
have no longing to be a prince. I would not win the Princess if I
might. For you must be fairer than she--as you are fairer even than the
flowers, your sisters. Ah, I have an idea! I believe that _you_ are that
very flower, the fairest one, whereon the Princess has set her heart.
Tell me, is it not so?"

"Indeed no!" cried the Princess, turning very pink at his flattery. "How
foolishly you speak! But I must hasten back to the palace, or we shall
be discovered and some one will be punished."

"And shall I see you among the maidens of the Princess when I present
myself before her?" asked Joyeuse eagerly.

"Oh, you must not do that!" exclaimed Fleurette. "You must not try to
see the Princess to-day. This is a bad time. Perhaps to-morrow--" She
hesitated.

"But you will come again to the garden?" he begged.

She shook her head. "No, not to-day, Joyeuse."

"Then to-morrow you will come? Promise tha