At last the Princess confessed herself vanquished. Mathias had been the only one of all her suitors who had managed to get her back every time she had escaped; moreover, she had been quite smitten by his jovial character and convivial ways.
The old King, however, strenuously disapproved of his daughter's choice. Mathias was not a Durchlaucht, he had never written a book, and, moreover, he played patience with his own pack of cards. He, therefore, resolved to oppose his daughter's marriage, and, being an autocrat, his will was law in his own country.
Mathias, however, presented the King with a packet of photographs that he happened to have about him; they were all respectable ladies of his acquaintance, belonging to different corps de ballet. So while the King was trying to find out, with a magnifying-glass, what Miss Mome Fromage had done with her other leg—like the tin soldier in Andersen's tale—Mathias ran off with the Princess.
Then the King got dreadfully angry and ordered his guards to run after the fugitives.
The Princess, hearing the tramp of horses' feet, asked The Man with the Flashing Eyes to look round and see who was pursuing them.
"I see a squadron of cavalry riding full speed," said The Man with the Flashing Eyes.
"It's my father's body-guard."
"Hadn't we better hide in a bush, and leave them to ride on?" asked
Mathias.
"No," replied the Princess.
Seeing the horsemen approach, she took off the long veil she wore at the back of her head, and threw it at them.