On the first story one window was lighted, and John saw on the curtains the shadow of the Princess.
‘I wish myself in the room of the Princess Ludovine,’ said he, and in a second he was there.
The King’s daughter was sitting before a table counting the money that she emptied from the inexhaustible purse.
‘Eight hundred and fifty, nine hundred, nine hundred and fifty—’
‘A thousand,’ finished John. ‘Good evening everybody!’
The Princess jumped and gave a little cry. ‘You here! What business have you to do it? Leave at once, or I shall call—’
‘I have come,’ said the Kinglet, ‘to remind you of your promise. The day after to-morrow is Easter Day, and it is high time to think of our marriage.’
Ludovine burst out into a fit of laughter. ‘Our marriage! Have you really been foolish enough to believe that the daughter of the King of the Low Countries would ever marry the son of a boatman?’
‘Then give me back the purse,’ said John.
‘Never,’ said the Princess, and put it calmly in her pocket.