“Water, water, for the love of heaven, a few drops of water!”
“Poor man,” said tender-hearted Marie, and she soon brought him some water in her hat from the stream near by.
“You do not know me,” moaned the man, “but I know you, you are Marie of ‘Sunny Farm.’”
“MARIE FINDING THE MAN.”
Of course Marie asked her usual question, and this time she got an answer. The man told her that he was Prince Claude. This she could not believe at first, for he was dressed in rags. He told her what he had done to Prince Charlie, how he had also gone to the palace, and had been crowned King, but that his conscience had troubled him so much that he had done many wicked and foolish things to try and forget his sin. He told her, too, how his subjects had rebelled against him, and had driven him away from the palace, and that robbers had set upon him, robbed and beaten him, taken away his good clothes, and put those rags upon him, and had then tied him to a tree, where, all through the hot day, he had been in sight of the water, and could not get a drop.
“You have been very wicked,” said Marie, “but at least you have told me where to look for dear Prince Charlie. I cannot cut the leather which binds you to the tree, so, before I set out to find Prince Charlie, I shall run back to the farm, and get my father to come and set you free.”
The farmer came, but long before he arrived Prince Claude was dead, and all that could be done for the wretched man was to bury him.