The children had risen for this introduction. Natalie, inspired, swept a deep courtesy and Alys followed suit. Beth tried to courtesy, but failed; her knees refused to bend and come up again, keeping her balance. “It’s pleasant to meet Will’s children; we like well his plays at court,” said the duchess, performing her part nobly. “Really, prince, I must beg you to return to the floor with us. Do you realize you are guest of honor to-night, that the ball is yours? Dancing is begun, the formal dances, you see. There is to be an Elizabethan play soon. Mrs. Cortlandt is wonderful! Pray come, dear prince.” “You see, new friends of mine, what a price one has to pay for honors in this world,” said the prince, turning to the children with his bright, boyish smile. “Coming, duchess! Good-bye, Lady Alys, Miss Susanna, Master Hamnet. Good-bye, dear little Judith Shakespeare. I hope that we may meet again before I sail. In any case you shall hear from me.” He was gone. Beth gasped, Natalie and Alys began to chatter excitedly, but she was mute. A prince! First a countess, then a prince! Surely this was a Wonder-Winter, a fairy tale, not merely illustrated, but lived! Below on the floor moved the resplendent dances of olden times. At the upper end of the room, right among the spectators, just as Shakespeare’s own company of players acted, without scenery of setting, sometimes in the courtyard of an inn, a short play was enacted while the dancing still went on. It was a kaleidoscope of color and movement and beauty unspeakable. The other three young people forgot the prince in their interest in it, but Beth saw it all only vaguely. Her eyes followed an athletic young figure in white and crimson, and she kept saying over to herself: “The king’s son! The son of a king, and I know him!” At midnight a beautiful series of groups was formed all down the room. Queen Elizabeth stood before her throne; there rang through the room the single voice of a silver trumpet, blown by a picturesque herald in silver and blue at the queen’s side. At its summons all the masks were dropped; the guests stood revealed. Natalie and Alys grew wildly excited identifying those they knew. Beth found the duchess. She was relieved to find that she did not in the least resemble the duchess in “Alice,” whose thick ugliness she unconsciously had in mind. This Duchess of Ravenspur was rather young and decidedly handsome, and Beth was grateful to her for being so. Then Miss Deland appeared and laid a hand on Natalie’s shoulder, saying: “Your mother asked me to tell you, dears, that at midnight all Cinderellas leave a ball and that it is now midnight. She wishes you to return to your ashes in the fireplace; in other words to go to bed! Supper is served the guests now; after that there will be modern dancing until the ball is over. You have seen the best of it.”