“You can, my Princess of the Roses,” said a voice, and from behind a curtain stepped a handsome prince, dressed in a suit of gray velvet, with trimmings of silver and pink.
He took from his head a hat with a long plume of pink and bowed low before the Princess Dido, who had dropped her roses and stood blushing as pink as the roses she had dropped.
“This is my castle, the Castle of the Roses,” explained the Prince, “and I vowed I would never marry until I found a princess who loved my roses as well as me, and you have proved you do by coming into all of my rose-garden. Others have been here, but when they found only roses in each room they never came to this floor.
“Behind these curtains is my palace. These halls of roses are but a part of my private rooms. Will you stay, Princess, or shall I call the fairies to take you back to your own castle?” asked the Prince.
“You may call the fairies to take the news to my people that I will live in the Castle of Roses, with the Prince of Roses,” said Princess Dido.
“But who hung the little gold key on the bush?” she asked the Prince.
“Oh! I asked the fairies to help me find a wife,” said the Prince. “They hung it there. You see, we shall live in an enchanted castle, as well as in the Castle of Roses, so there is nothing for us but happiness.”
CATVILLE GOSSIP
Mr. Tommy Kat was in love with Tabby Gray—at least so all the gossips in Catville say, for Tabby was as graceful as a little kit can be. Said Tommy, when he saw her, “She’s just the wife for me.”