res, shape, and hair."

"Thou pretendest surprise," said the princess, "but I know it was thou
thyself who put it there."

"Who! I, madam?" replied Abricotina. "I protest I never saw the picture
before in my life. Should I be so bold as to conceal from your knowledge
a thing that so nearly concerns you? And by what miracle could I come by
it? I never could paint, nor did any man ever enter this place; yet here
he is painted with you?"

"Some spirit, then, must have brought it hither," cried the princess.

"How I tremble for fear, madam!" said Abricotina. "Was it not rather
some lover? And therefore, if you will take my advice, let us burn it
immediately."

"'Twere a pity to burn it," cried the princess, sighing; "a finer piece,
methinks, cannot adorn my cabinet." And saying these words, she cast her
eyes upon it. But Abricotina continued obstinate in her opinion that
it ought to be burned, as a thing that could not come there but by the
power of magic.

"And these words--'She is better in my heart,'" said the princess;
"must we burn them too?"

"No favor must be shown to anything," said Abricotina, "not even to your
own portrait."

Abricotina ran away immediately for some fire, while the princess went
to look out at the window. Leander, unwilling to let his performance be
burned, took this opportunity to convey it away without being perceived.
He had hardly quitted the cabinet, when the princess turned about to
look once more upon that enchanting picture, which had so delighted her.
But how was she surprised to find it gone! She sought for it all the
room over; and Abricotina, returning, was no less surprised than her
mistress; so that this last adventure put them both in the most terrible
fright.

Leander took great delight in hearing and seeing his incomparable
mistress; even though he had to eat every day at her table with the
tabby-cat, who fared never the worse for that; but his satisfaction was
far from being complete, seeing he durst neither speak nor show himself;
and he knew it was not a common thing for ladies to fall in love with
persons invisible.

The princess had a universal taste for amusement. One day, she was
saying to her attend-ants that it would give her great pleasure to know
how the ladies were dressed in all the courts of the universe. There
needed no more words to send Leander all over the world. He wished
himself in China, where he bought the richest stuffs he could lay his
hands o