In a moment she was up on the bed and had darted behind the curtains which she immediately drew closely till she was well hidden. Montagu and Edmund looked at one another. What in the world did this portend? Presently the curtains were parted a little, and a round, rosy face appeared in the aperture. The boys stood at the end of the bed looking awkward and sheepish. "Go on," she said impatiently; and she stamped her foot. "You must _say_ it now." "But we don’t know what to say. Is it a game like proverbs, or what?" asked Edmund. Herrick sighed, and stepped out from behind the curtains. "I suppose I must esplain," she said, "but I thought everybody knowed that game; it’s my most favourite play. This," she said, waving her hand dramatically, "is a _gloomy_ wood"—mere printers’ ink can never depict the darkness and density of that wood as portrayed in Herrick’s voice—"and you are a wandering prince." "Which of us?" asked Edmund; "or are we both princes?" "No, there can’t be two, there can only be one. You’d better be him," she said, pointing to Montagu, "you’re the biggest, and the littler one can be his servant." "A varlet," Montagu, who was just then much under the influence of Sir Walter Scott, suggested helpfully. "A Scotch varlet, mind," Edmund stipulated. "And presently you see," continued the little girl as though there had been no interruption of any kind, "a most frowning sort of castle, but just as you’re wondering what you’ll do there appears at the window——" "Castles haven’t got windows," Edmund objected, "only kind of slits." "This castle has a casement," Herrick responded with dignity. "Don’t interrupt—and the curtains are drawn, but pesenly they are drawn back, and then you see _the_ most beautiful princess you ever dreamed of——" "And then?" asked Montagu. "Why, you go down on your knees, of course, and say so. Now, let’s begin; you do need such a lot of esplanation." The princess retired behind her curtains; the prince and the varlet, who manifested an unseemly inclination to giggle, marched about the room. "By my halidome!" exclaimed the prince, who had determined to play the part after the fashion of his then favourite characters, "this place is stoutly fortified." "Will we win through, think ye?" asked the varlet familiarly. "Hush!" said a voice from behind the curtains. They were parted. First the ravishingly lovely countenance (it really was an adorably pretty little face, intensely solemn and earnest) appeared, then more of the princess, till she stood revealed in short embroidered muslin frock and a blue sash. Flump! Prince and varlet went down on their knees. "What light from yonder window breaks?" exclaimed the prince, who had been doing "Romeo and Juliet" at school, and thought the quotation appropriate. "An’ wha’ll yon lassie be, prince?" asked the varlet. "I," said the princess slowly and solemnly, "_I_ am the Princess Hildegarde——" "Losh me!" interjected the varlet.