That day, when he made up the bouquets, Michael hid the branch
with the silver drops in the nosegay intended for the youngest
Princess.

When Lina discovered it she was much surprised. However,
she said nothing to her sisters, but as she met the boy by accident
while she was walking under the shade of the elms, she suddenly
stopped as if to speak to him; then, altering her mind, went on her
way.

The same evening the twelve sisters went again to the ball, and
the Star Gazer again followed them and crossed the lake in Lina's
boat. This time it was the Prince who complained that the boat
seemed very heavy.

`It is the heat,' replied the Princess. `I, too, have been feeling
very warm.'

During the ball she looked everywhere for the gardener's boy,
but she never saw him.

As they came back, Michael gathered a branch from the wood
with the gold-spangled leaves, and now it was the eldest Princess
who heard the noise that it made in breaking.

`It is nothing,' said Lina; `only the cry of the owl which roosts
in the turrets of the castle.'


XI