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But, as too often occurs, they were taking one particular fly which was on the water, and would look at nothing else.

“Oh, bother them!” cried Ricardo.  “I can’t find a fly in my book in the least like that little black one they are feeding on!”

He tried half-a-dozen different fly-hooks, but all to no purpose; he lost his temper, got his tackle entangled in Jaqueline’s hair and then in the landing-net; and, though such a big boy, he was nearly crying with vexation.

The Princess Jaqueline, with great pains and patience, disentangled the casting line, first from her hair, which Ricardo was anxious to cut (the great stupid oaf,—her pretty hair!) then from the landing-net; but Dick had grown sulky.

“It’s no use,” he said; “I have not a fly that will suit.  Let’s go home,” and he threw a tin can at a rising trout.

“Now, Dick,” said Jaqueline, “you know I can help you.  I did not learn magic for nothing.  Just you look the other way for a minute or two, and you will find the right fly at the end of your line.”

Dick turned his head away (it is not proper to look on at magical arts), and then in a moment, saw the right hook on his cast; but Jaqueline was not in the boat.  She had turned herself into an artificial fly (a small black gnat), and Dick might set to his sport again.

“What a trump that girl is,” he said aloud.  “Clever, too!” and he began casting.  He got a trout every cast, great big ones, over a pound, and soon he had a basketful.  But he began to feel rather bored.

“There’s not much fun taking them,” he said, “when they are so silly.”

At that very moment he noticed that the fly was off his cast, and Jaqueline was sitting at the oars.

“You see, Ricardo,” she said, “I was right after all.  There is not much pleasure in sport that is easy and certain.  Now, apply this moral to dragon-killing with magic instruments.  It may be useful when one is obliged to defend oneself, but surely a prince ought not to give his whole time to nothing else!”

Dick had no answer ready, so he only grumbled:

“You’re always preaching at me, Jack; everybody always is.  I seem to have been born just to be preached at.”

Some people are; and it does grow rather tedious in the long run.  But perhaps what

Jaqueline said may have made some impression on Ricardo, for he stuck to his books for weeks, and was got into decimal fractions and Euclid.

All this, of course, pleased the king very much, and he began to entertain hopes of Ricardo’s becoming a wise and learned prince, and a credit to his illustrious family.

Things were not always to go smoothly, far from it; and it was poor Jaqueline who fell into trouble next.  She had been very ready to lecture Dick, as we saw, and took a good deal of credit to herself for his steadiness.  But one day King Prigio happened to meet Jaqueline’s maid, Rosina, on the stairs; and as Rosina was a pretty girl, and the king was always kind to his dependents, he stopped to have a chat with her.

“Why, Rosina, what a pretty little silver cross you are wearing,” he said, and he lifted a

curious ornament which hung from a chain on Rosina’s neck.  It consisted of seven drops of silver, set like this:

 “May I look at it?” his Majesty asked, and Rosina, all in a flutter, took it off and gave if to him.  “H’m!” said the king.  “Very curious and pretty!  May I ask you where you got this, Rosina?”

Now Rosina generally had her answer ready, and I am very sorry to say that she did not always speak the truth when she could think of anything better.  On this occasion she was anxious to think of something better, for fear of getting Jaqueline into a scrape about the chemical experiment in her bedroom.  But Rosina was fluttered, as we said, by the royal

kindness, and she could think of nothing but to curtsy, and say:

“Please, your Majesty, the princess gave me the drops.”

“Very interesting,” said the king.  “There is a little white moon shining in each of them!  I wonder if they shine in the dark?”

He opened the door of a cupboard which had no windows, where the housemaid kept her mops and brooms, and shut himself in.  Yes, there was no mistake; the darkness was quite lighted up with the sheen of the seven little moons in the silver.  The king looked rather grave.

“If you can trust me with this cross till to-morrow, Rosina, I should like to have it examined and analysed.  This is no common silver.”

Of course Rosina could only curtsy, but she was very much alarmed about the consequences to her mistress.

After luncheon, the king asked Jaqueline to come into his study, as he often did, to help him with his letters.  When they had sat down his Majesty said:

“My dear Jaqueline, I never interfere with your pursuits, but I almost doubt whether Cornelius Agrippa is a good book for a very young lady to read.  The Fairy Paribanou, I am sure, taught you nothing beyond the ordinary magical accomplishments suited to your rank; but there are a great many things in the Cornelius which I think you should not study till you are older and wiser.”

“What does your Majesty mean?” said poor Jaqueline, feeling very uncomfortable; for the king had never lectured her before.

“Why,” said his Majesty, taking the silver cross out of his pocket, “did you not give this to Rosina?”

“Yes, sire, I did give her the drops.  She had them made up herself.”

“Then give it back to her when you see her next.  I am glad you are frank, Jaqueline.  And you know, of course, that the drops are not ordinary silver?  They are moon silver, and that can only be got in one way, so far as I know, at least—when one spills the water when he, or she, is drinking the moon.  Now, there is only one book which tells how that can be done, and there is only one reason for doing it; namely, to find out what is some other person’s secret.  I shall not ask you whose secret you wanted to find out, but I must request you never to do such a thing again without consulting me.  You can have no reason for it, such as a great king might have whose enemies are plotting against his country.”

“Oh, sire, I will tell you everything!” cried Jaqueline.

“No, don’t; I don’t want to know.  I am sure you will make no use of your information which you think I should not approve of.  But there is another thing—that eclipse of the moon!  Oh, Jaqueline, was it honourable, or fair to the astronomers and men of science, to say nothing about it?  Their European reputations are seriously injured.”

Poor Jaqueline could only cry.

“Never mind,” said his Majesty,