But the Prince answered:
‘Well, you needn’t talk; your head doesn’t wear a crown.’ And from that time forth it didn’t.
While this was being done, the Princess had noticed that a man had been stealing round the corner. He was standing close beside her now, and he seemed quite unconscious of her presence. The Princess looked at him.
‘He must be one of the five they brought in with them,’ she said to herself. So she counted; but to her astonishment she found there were six of them—with him.
‘He must be some one belonging to the Palace,’ she thought, ‘and he may be up to some mischief.’ So she watched him closely. It was evident that the rest thought he was one of themselves, for they took no notice of him in particular.
The man, however, seemed quite innocent; but the Princess noticed that he was fingering a pistol that he had in his belt in a most suspicious way. So she kept quite close to him while they descended the stairs to the cellars. And she was right; for, in the twinkling of a bed-post, he drew the pistol from his belt and aimed straight towards the Prince. But before he could draw the trigger, she lifted up her hand and gave him such a box on the ear that, in his astonishment and pain, he dropped the pistol altogether, and it exploded harmlessly. As for the man, he was so astonished that he sat down on the floor with his mouth and eyes wide open, looking like an expiring frog.
At the report of his pistol every one turned, and Ablot noticed him for the first time.
‘Why, who are you?’ he said.
But the man only gasped.
‘Who is he?’ asked the Prince of the men.