ill they
arrived at the fair, which was held in a great public square in the
midst of the city. The courthouse was on one side, and over the door
there was a sign which read "The Hall of Justice." Everybody seemed to
be at the fair: peasants, nobles, soldiers, and citizens;
rope-dancers, quack doctors, waxworks, showmen of all sorts, and bells
rang and flags flew, and altogether it was just the thing for a
gipsy's wedding day.

The quack doctor blew his horn, and everybody surged about him, and
while all that movement and fun were taking place, Devilshoof and
Thaddeus formed a sort of flying wedge on the outskirts of the crowd
and forced a passage for the gipsy band. At that moment Florestein
came along, taking part in the day as all the rest of Presburg were
doing, and the first man his eye lighted upon was that miscreant,
Devilshoof. There stood the man who had stolen his medallion! There
were several gentlemen with Florestein, and he called their attention
to the gipsy group. Meantime Arline, like any gipsy, had been going
about selling flowers and telling fortunes, and while those things
were taking place the old Count Arnheim and some officers of the city
entered and tried to pass through the group to the courthouse, where
the old Count presided as judge. Florestein stopped him.

"Uncle, just stop a bit and look at those gipsies! Do you see that
pretty girl? I am delighted with her. Even an old gentleman like you
should have an eye to a girl as pretty as that," he laughed. This was
not in very good taste, but then, nobody ever accused the little idiot
of having either good taste or good courage.

"I have no eyes for beauty since my Arline was lost to me, nephew,"
the old man returned sadly, and passed to his courtroom. But
Florestein pressed through the crowd till he reached Arline's side.

"You are a pretty girl," he said boldly, ogling her. "Come! you are
teaching others" (Arline had been telling a fortune), "teach me."

"A lesson in politeness, sir?--you need it," and Arline slapped his
face; not at all the sort of thing a countess would do, but then she
had been brought up a gipsy, and couldn't be expected to have all the
graces of her ancestors. The Queen, who had been watching, ready to
make trouble, called Thaddeus's attention to the incident, and
Thaddeus shouldered his way through the crowd just in time to slap
Florestein's face from the other side, as he turned about. The fop was
somewhat disturbed,