The Enchanted Castle | Page 7

they really were not at all sure that it was not a
Princess who lay there as still as the sunshine. Every stage of the
adventure the cave, the wonderful gardens, the maze, the clew, had
deepened the feeling of magic, till now Kathleen and Gerald were
almost completely bewitched.
"Lift the veil up," Jerry, said Kathleen in a whisper, "if she isn't
beautiful we shall know she can't be the Princess.
"Lift it yourself," said Gerald.
"I expect you're forbidden to touch the figures," said Jimmy.
"It's not wax, silly," said his brother.
"No," said his sister, "wax wouldn't be much good in this sun. And,

besides, you can see her breathing. It's the Princess right enough." She
very gently lifted the edge of the veil and turned it back. The Princess's
face was small and white between long plaits of black hair. Her nose
was straight and her brows finely traced. There were a few freckles on
cheekbones and nose.
"No wonder," whispered Kathleen, "sleeping all these years in all this
sun! Her mouth was not a rosebud. But all the same "Isn't she lovely!"
Kathleen murmured. "Not so dusty," Gerald was understood to reply.
"Now, Jerry," said Kathleen firmly, "you're the eldest."
"Of course I am," said Gerald uneasily.
"Well, you've got to wake the Princess."
"She's not a Princess," said Jimmy, with his hands in the pockets of his
knickerbockers; "she's only a little girl dressed up."
"But she's in long dresses," urged Kathleen.
"Yes, but look what a little way down her frock her feet come. She
wouldn't be any taller than Jerry if she was to stand up."
"Now then," urged Kathleen. "Jerry, don't be silly. You've got to do it."
"Do what?" asked Gerald, kicking his left boot with his right.
"Why, kiss her awake, of course."
"Not me!" was Gerald's unhesitating rejoinder.
"Well, someone's got to."
"She'd go for me as likely as not the minute she woke up," said Gerald
anxiously.
"I'd do it like a shot," said Kathleen, "but I don't suppose it ud make
any difference me kissing her."

She did it; and it didn't. The Princess still lay in deep slumber.
"Then you must, Jimmy. I dare say you'll do. Jump back quickly before
she can hit you."
"She won't hit him, he's such a little chap," said Gerald.
"Little yourself!" said Jimmy. "I don't mind kissing her. I'm not a
coward, like Some People. Only if I do, I'm going to be the dauntless
leader for the rest of the day."
"No, look here hold on!" cried Gerald, "perhaps I'd better " But, in the
meantime, Jimmy had planted a loud, cheerful-sounding kiss on the
Princess's pale cheek, and now the three stood breathless, awaiting the
result.
And the result was that the Princess opened large, dark eyes, stretched
out her arms, yawned a little, covering her mouth with a small brown
hand, and said, quite plainly and distinctly, and without any room at all
for mistake:
"Then the hundred years are over? How the yew hedges have grown!
Which of you is my Prince that aroused me from my deep sleep of so
many long years?"
"I did," said Jimmy fearlessly, for she did not look as though she were
going to slap anyone.
"My noble preserver!" said the Princess, and held out her hand. Jimmy
shook it vigorously.
"But I say," said he, "you aren't really a Princess, are you?"
"Of course I am," she answered; "who else could I be? Look at my
crown!" She pulled aside the spangled veil, and showed beneath it a
coronet of what even Jimmy could not help seeing to be diamonds.
"But " said Jimmy.

"Why," she said, opening her eyes very wide, "you must have known
about my being here, or you'd never have come. How did you get past
the dragons?"
Gerald ignored the question. "I say," he said, "do you really believe in
magic, and all that?"
"I ought to," she said, "if anybody does. Look, here's the place where I
pricked my finger with the spindle." She showed a little scar on her
wrist.
"Then this really is an enchanted castle?"
"Of course it is," said the Princess. "How stupid you are!" She stood up,
and her pink brocaded dress lay in bright waves about her feet.
"I said her dress would be too long," said Jimmy.
"It was the right length when I went to sleep," said the Princess; "it
must have grown in the hundred years."
"I don't believe you're a Princess at all," said Jimmy; "at least "
"Don't bother about believing it, if you don't like," said the Princess. "It
doesn't so much matter what you believe as what I am. She turned to
the others.
"Let's go back to the castle," she