“‘Tell us one, then,’ cried Cissy eagerly,—‘one you’ve never told us before.’
“There was silence then for a few minutes, and as I gazed up in Kate’s face I saw her eyes close, and a sort of spasm twitch her lips; but the next minute she was quite calm, and then with the leaves whispering round us, and the twittering of the birds coming now and again from the distance, she said in a low, sweet, musical voice—
“‘Once upon a time, in the days of long ago, when people were very, very happy on this earth, there lived a prince who was young, and handsome, and true. Nearly every one loved him, he was so manly and yet so gentle.’
“‘And he loved a beautiful princess,’ put in Cissy.
“I saw the spasm cross cousin Kate’s face again, but it was calm directly after, and she went on.
“‘No, dear,’ she said, ‘he did not love a beautiful princess, but a poor simple girl who loved him too, with all her heart, and they were so, so happy. When the flowers blossomed they seemed to blossom only for them, and the birds sang their sweetest songs for them in the bright sunshiny days.’
“‘Yes, and they were married, and lived happy ever after,’ cried Cissy. ‘Go on.’
“There was once more that piteous look upon cousin Kate’s face, seen only by me; but it passed off, and she went on.
“‘No, Cissy, they were not, for the poor, handsome young prince had enemies—cruel, bitter enemies—who slandered him, and said that he had made false keys, and opened the treasure-chests of a great man, and stolen away his gold and precious stones.’
“‘Oh!’ whispered Cissy, now deeply interested.