_In the center of the room stood Mortimer the Executioner. He was wearing an unfinished garment without any sleeves, fastened together with pins, and basted with white thread along the seams. He looked extremely foolish._ _“Oh!” said Solario, covered with confusion. “Pray come in, come in! Her majesty herself! This is indeed an honor! I will find more chairs in the next room. I am overpowered by this honor. Pray be seated, your majesty. Mortimer, the fitting is postponed. Pray be seated, your majesty. I do not know when I have received the honor of such a visit. Pray be seated. Mortimer, bring in some chairs. I beg your majesty to take the other chair; it is far more comfortable. Mortimer, divest yourself; divest yourself.”_ _Mortimer, red with embarrassment, took off the unfinished garment and put on his old one. Solario ran from chair to chair, assisting each of the party to a seat._ _“We have come for a story,” said Prince Bilbo, “and I hope that you will be so good as to--”_ _“We want to hear about Montesango’s Cave!” cried Bojohn._ _“Or the Blind Giant!” said Bodkin._ _“I beg your pardon,” said Solario, “perhaps her majesty would deign to--”_ _“Ask him for Montesango’s Cave, grandmother!” cried Bojohn._ _“Dear me,” said the Queen, “I hardly know what to-- It’s a very pleasant room you have here, Solario; do you ever play dominoes here? Dear me!”_ _“I’ll tell you what I should like,” said the Princess Dorobel. “I should like to hear how the goldsmith’s son won the Princess. Bojohn has been telling us about Alb and the Princess Hyla, and I understand there is a story, a love story--you know I dearly like love stories.”_ _“It isn’t precisely a love story,” said Solario, “but if her majesty will permit me, I will--”_ _“Dear me, yes,” said the Queen. “A very comfortable room it is, to be sure.”_ _Solario, after receiving the Queen’s permission to be seated, sat himself cross-legged on his table, and all of the others, Mortimer the Executioner, Bodkin, Prince Bilbo, Bojohn, the Princess Dorobel, and the Queen, drew up their chairs before him in a row._ _“I will relate to you, seeing that you wish it,” said Solario, “the story told me by Alb, the goldsmith’s son, regarding the winning of the Princess Hyla. Shall I proceed?”_ _“I wish I had brought my knitting,” said the Queen, “but never mind.”_ _Solario picked up his shears, and gazing at them thoughtfully for a moment, cleared his throat._ _“This, then,” said he, “is the story told me by Alb, regarding_ “THE RAGPICKER AND THE PRINCESS.” When I was sixteen years old (said Alb the Fortunate) and my dear Princess Hyla fourteen, the King, her father, sojourned for a time at his castle of Ventamere, beside the sea; and you may be sure that the Princess was with him there, for he could never bear to be parted from her for a single day.