XI
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Lang, Andrew
As soon as she got up she found the branch in her bouquet. When the sisters went down she stayed a little behind and said to the cow-boy: ‘Where does this branch come from?’
‘Your Royal Highness knows well enough,’ answered Michael.
‘So you have followed us?’
‘Yes, Princess.’
‘How did you manage it? we never saw you.’
‘I hid myself,’ replied the Star Gazer quietly.
The Princess was silent a moment, and then said:
‘You know our secret!—keep it. Here is the reward of your discretion.’ And she flung the boy a purse of gold.
‘I do not sell my silence,’ answered Michael, and he went away without picking up the purse.
For three nights Lina neither saw nor heard anything extraordinary; on the fourth she heard a rustling among the diamond-spangled leaves of the wood. That day there was a branch of the trees in her bouquet.
She took the Star Gazer aside, and said to him in a harsh voice:
‘You know what price my father has promised to pay for our secret?’
‘I know, Princess,’ answered Michael.
‘Don’t you mean to tell him?’
‘That is not my intention.’
‘Are you afraid?’
‘No, Princess.’
‘What makes you so discreet, then?’
But Michael was silent.