The next instant she saw, as she had foreboded, a man approaching her; indeed, the matter was as bad as could be, for he was young and handsome, finely dressed, carrying a good sword by his side and a brace of pistols mounted in silver in his belt. He held a feathered hat in his hand, and, advancing with a deep bow, knelt on one knee by the Princess's horse, saying: "Madame, if you will, you can do me a great service." "If it be in my power, sir," she answered--for since fate compelled her to meet a man, she would not show him rudeness--"I am at your service." "You see my horse there, madame? He is as dear as my life to me; and I fear I shall lose him, unless I have your aid," and he rose and stood looking at the Princess. "Why, what threatens him?" she asked. "I will tell you, madame. I come from across the frontier, from a secluded village nearly ten miles from here. There I live with my mother, whom I support. There is a rich fellow there, a farmer, Otho by name, who is, saving your presence, a plaguey boastful fellow. And he is to-day to be betrothed." "Do you also love the lady?" asked Osra, thinking she had come at the cause of his trouble. "Not I, madame. But this Otho boasted and vaunted so intolerably of her beauty, and of his own prowess and attraction, that last night I, led away by emulation (nay, I am ashamed to say that I had also drunk a flask of wine) wagered with him my horse against a thousand crowns--though the horse is worth two thousand--that I would bring with me to the feast a girl handsomer than his Lotta. But now it is eleven o'clock, and the feast is at one o'clock, and I have no girl to show, ugly or handsome. And if I lose my horse I must hang myself, for I cannot live without him." "You cannot live without your horse?" she asked in surprise. "At least, madame," he answered in some confusion, "his loss would go near to breaking my heart." "But is this Lotta so handsome that you can find none to surpass her?" "She is, indeed, wonderfully handsome. In the village they call her the most beautiful girl in the world." "Then, sir, it seems to me that your wager was most improvident and rash. For you are certain to lose it." "Alas, yes!" he answered in great distress. "I am certain to lose; for there are, I think, only two ladies in the world who could save me, and one would not." "Two ladies? Who are they?" "Madame," said he, "before you came in sight, I sat desolate and despairing on the ground, and what I said to myself was, 'If what men say is true, there is only one lady who could save me. But how shall I, poor Christian Hantz, come at the Princess Osra? And would she put on a country girl's dress and go to the feast with me? Alas, it is impossible! And there is no other lady in the world beautiful enough.' But then----" "Well, sir, what then?" asked Osra, playing with her whip and smothering a smile.