So silently the Prince advanced that he stood beside her before she was aware.
“Princess! Princess White Flame!” he cried low, “Here am I, Prince Radiance, come to serve you. Say that you are willing that it should be so.”
At the sound of his voice, the singing of the Princess ceased suddenly. Flashing and trembling at the unexpected appearance of this stranger, she seemed about to take flight.
“Nay, do not leave me,” he besought her. “Tell me, rather, that I too may seek to deliver you from the cruel spell that binds you thus.”
So did his face glow with the love that her voice had awakened in his heart, so did his own voice thrill with tenderness, that a soft and roseate flush passed over the whiteness of the flame, as if in answer. Yet she spoke no word.
“I know what I must do,” pursued the Prince. “A fairy has told me. Even now I was on my way to seek the Wise One, and happily to bring forth the mystic Veil. Do you bid me go?” He paused, and waited for the Princess to speak.
“Here am I, Prince Radiance, come to serve you.”
“Yes,” she whispered softly, “go. But ah—if you should not see this Veil—what then?”