"Never," said he to himself, "have I seen anyone so lovely!"
Cinderella was so beautiful, so elegantly dressed, and she danced so well, that the prince fell in love with her. He would dance with no one else.
The evening passed away like a dream. Suddenly Cinderella heard a clock chime three quarters past eleven.
She bade the prince good-night and was soon on her way home in the pumpkin coach.
When Cinderella reached home, she found her Fairy Godmother waiting to hear about the ball.
"It was fine!" said Cinderella. "The prince has invited me to attend the ball to be given to-morrow night. Oh, how I wish that I might go!"
"You may certainly go to the prince's ball to-morrow night. I wish to make you very happy, dear child," said the Fairy Godmother.
By the time the mother and sisters had returned home from the ball, the Fairy Godmother had disappeared.
Cinderella was sitting by the kitchen fire in her rags.
"Do you not wish that you had been to the ball?" asked the sisters. "There was a wonderful princess there. The prince would dance with no one else."