Untitled

124 MOONFOLK.
"
Oh
"
! murmured Princess Dorma ;
and then, for the
first time in a hundred years, she unclosed her great blue
eyes, and fixed them upon the dark ones of the prince.
" Sweetest !
" said he,
" I have wandered the whole
world over to find you."
"And I have waited a hundred years for you to
come, my prince," whispered Dorma, laying
hands in his, and rising from her long, long nap.
But now began a
both her
bustle and confusion through the
whole palace, as strange to listen to in that secluded place
as the dead silence had been fearful. Doors slammed,
the voices of page, and groom, and soldier mingled with
the shrill tones of women and children, the neighing of
horses and barking of dogs, in fact, every manner of
sound to be expected in and about a great palace filled
with attendants. Presently
the curtains were drawn
aside, and a starched, severe-looking lady, wearing a high
cap of stiff muslin and a train four yards in length,
appeared in the doorway. She was Madam Prunella
Prisms, the princess' governess, and the horror of her
life.
" His majesty, your royal highness' father, desires the
pleasure A-h-h-h ! what do I see a m-a-n
"
!
And Madam Prunella Prisms fainted dead away, and
fell
upon the floor, or rather upon her train, much to
the injury
of the stiff muslin cap, which got its crown
most dreadfully mashed.
" Let us go to papa, then," said Dorma, laughing a