“It appears to me,” said Amelia, imperiously, “that to contradict me, and at the same time assert that which is false, is, to say the least, unbecoming your position.  I am not inclined to appear in the toilet of a gardener’s daughter.  To prove this, I will throw these flowers, which you dare to assert I ordered, from the window; with their strong odor they poison the air.”

With a cruel hand, she gathered up the lovely roses, and hastened to the window.  “Look, mademoiselle, these are the flowers which you undertook to prepare for my hair,” said Amelia, with well-assumed scorn, as she threw the bouquet into the garden which surrounded the castle of Monbijou; “look, mademoiselle.”

Suddenly the princess uttered a low cry, and looked, blushing painfully, into the garden.  In her haste, she had not remarked that two gentlemen, at that moment, crossed the great court which led to the principal door of the castle; and the flowers which she had so scornfully rejected, had struck the younger and taller of the gentlemen exactly in the face.  He stood completely amazed, and looked questioningly at the window from which this curious bomb had fallen.  His companion, however, laughed aloud, and made a profound bow to the princess, who still stood, blushing and embarrassed, at the window.

“From this hour I believe in the legend of the Fairy of the Roses,” said the elder of the two gentlemen, who was indeed no other than Baron Pollnitz.  “Yes, princess, I believe fully, and I would not be at all astonished if your highness should at this moment flutter from the window in a chariot drawn by doves, and cast another shower of blossoms in the face of my friend.”

The princess had found time to recover herself, and to remember the haughty part she was determined to play.

“I hope, baron,” she said, sternly, “you will not allow yourself to suppose it was my purpose to throw those roses either to your companion or yourself?  I wished only to get rid of them.”

She shut the window rudely and noisily, and commanded her attendants to complete her toilet at once.  She seated herself sternly before the glass, and ordered her French maid to cover her head with jewels and ribbons.

The two gentlemen still stood in the garden, in earnest conversation.

“This is assuredly an auspicious omen, my friend,” said Pollnitz to the young officer, who was gazing musingly at the roses he held in his hand.  He had raised his eyes from the flowers to the window at which the lovely form of the princess had, for a few moments, appeared.

“Alas!” said he, sighing, and gazing afar off; “she is so wonderfully beautiful—­so lovely; and she is a princess!”

Pollnitz laughed heartily.  “One might think that you regretted that fact!  Listen to me, my young friend; stand no longer here, in a dream.  Come, in place of entering the castle immediately, to pay our respects to the queen-mother, we will take a walk through the garden, that you may allay your raptures and recover your reason.”