So the Princess took off the cap in which she wore the feather, but as soon as it was off Diana vanished; for, you see, it was the feather touching her head that gave Ernalie the power of seeing without being seen, and a goddess is naturally invisible. But the Princess did not think of that.
‘It must be some trick,’ she thought. So she put the feather back in a hurry, but the Goddess had not moved. She was smiling quietly.
‘Can’t you trust me, child?’ she said; ‘for you aren’t much more than a child, you know.’
‘I’m grown up, at any rate,’ said the Princess indignantly. ‘I’m nineteen years old, so I’m not so very young.’
‘And I’m nineteen thousand years old,’ said the Goddess, ‘and I don’t look so very old, do I?’
‘You certainly don’t. But then, you see, you’re a goddess and I’m a mortal, and it makes a difference.’
‘It does,’ said Diana. ‘But do show yourself to me again.’
‘But if I make myself visible, you disappear,’ said Ernalie.
‘Oh, I had forgotten that. However, I’ll make myself visible too.’