“Come with me!” I cried. “You shall all return with me to my father’s castle. Will you consent to that?” “Well,” said the elderly Highwayman,-- “Though anxious to accommodate, I fear it’s growing rather late, I seldom stay out after eight--” “Oh, father!” cried his daughters, nine of them, together, “it would be perfectly jolly!” “It would suit me to perfection,” said the One-Armed Sorcerer. “Oh, _won’t_ it be jolly? It _will_ be jolly, won’t it? Wouldn’t it be perfectly jolly?” cried the nine young damsels, clapping their hands. “Will you come home with me?” I whispered to the fairest of the ten, who had said nothing. “If you wish it,” she whispered, blushing again. “Oh, aren’t they just the dearest things?” cried her nine sisters. “It’s love at first sight--oh, the dear things! Aren’t they just simply too dear for anything? They _are_ perfectly dear, now, aren’t they? Really now, aren’t they just too perfectly _dear_?” _The Prince Leads His Beloved Home_ Well, the long and the short of it is, we reached my father’s castle late that night, under a starry sky. The attendants whom I had left in the forest had returned without me, and the castle was a-twitter with anxiety. But when I led my fair lady into the great hall and presented her to my father, the King, and her nine sisters and the elderly Highwayman and the One-Armed Sorcerer stood bowing behind us, there was joy, I can tell you, and the rafters rang again. My father, after a long look at the beautiful damsel at my side, and then at me, gave a long, slow whistle, without making a sound, and stooped and kissed her on both cheeks, nudging me with his elbow at the same time. A cheer went up again, and my father took me aside and whispered in my ear. “You rascal,” said he, “I never thought you had it in you to-- Really! You don’t say so! You astonish me! A Highwayman’s daughter! Well, well, think of that! Very original of you, my son; I’m sure I never would have thought of such a thing at your age. She’s got a fine eye, my boy; there’s a look in it I’ve seen in your mother’s eye; a will of her own, you can’t fool me about that look,--yes, yes, very beautiful,--but a will of her own, remember I told you. A Highwayman’s daughter! That’s good. Highly original. Well, well, it might have been the Hangman’s daughter--but remember what I told you about that look in the eye, I’ve seen it before,--your mother used to--but she’s certainly beautiful all the same--when does the wedding come off?” _The Magic Doublet Is Presented at the Wedding_