“What! go?  I’m not such a fool as that comes to!  You think I love my horn better than you?  No indeed!”

“But then it isn’t right, Philip.”

“Not right? why not, my beauty? there is nothing against kissing in the ten commandments.”

“Why, if we could marry, perhaps you might—­but you know very well we can’t marry, and—­”

“Not marry? why not?  You can marry me any day you like.”

“Philip!—­why will you talk such folly?  You know we must not think of such a thing.”

“But I think very seriously about it—­if you would consent.”

“You are unkind to speak thus.  Ah, Philip, I had a dream last night.”

“A dream—­what was it?”

“You had won a prize in the lottery; we were both so happy! you had bought a beautiful garden, handsomer than any in the city.  It was a little paradise of flowers—­and there were large beds of vegetables, and the trees were laden with fruit.  And when I awoke, Philip, I felt so wretched—­I wished I had not dreamed such a happy dream.  You’ve nothing in the lottery, Philip, have you?  Have you really won anything?  The drawing took place to-day.”

“How much must I have gained to win you too?”

“Ah, Philip, if you had only gained a thousand dollars, you might buy such a pretty garden!”

“A thousand dollars!  And what if it were more?”

“Ah, Philip—­what? is it true? is it really?  Don’t deceive me! ’twill be worse than the dream.  You had a ticket! and you’ve won!—­ own it! own it!”

“All you can wish for.”

Rose flung her arms around his neck in the extremity of her joy, and kissed him.

“More than the thousand dollars? and will they pay you the whole?”

Her kiss made the Prince forget to answer.  It was so strange to hold a pretty form in his arms, receive its caresses, and to know they were not meant for him.

“Answer me, answer me!” cried Rose, impatiently.  “Will they give you all that money?”

“They’ve done it already—­and if it will add to your happiness I will hand it to you this moment.”

“What! have you got it with you?”

The Prince took out his purse, which he had filled with money in expectation of some play.

“Take it and weigh it, my girl,” he said, placing it in her hand and kissing her again.  “This, then, makes you mine!”

“Oh, not this—­nor all the gold in the world, if you were not my own dear Philip!”

“And how if I had given you twice as much as all this money, and yet were not your own dear Philip?”

“I would fling the purse at your feet, and make you a very polite curtsey,” said Rose.

A door now opened; the light streamed down the steps, and the laughing voices of girls were heard.  Rose whispered: 

“In half an hour, at St. Gregory’s,” and ran up the steps, leaving the Prince in the darkness.  Disconcerted by the suddenness of the parting, and his curiosity excited by his ignorance of the name of his new acquaintance, and not even having had a full view of her face, he consoled himself with the rendezvous at St. Gregory’s Church door.  This he resolved to keep, though it was evident that all the tenderness which had been bestowed on him was intended for his friend the watchman.