ank, but
upon making inquiries he found to his horror that the young lady was
the daughter of a magician who had never liked our family.

"My father did everything in his power to try and persuade my brother
to give up the idea of marrying the lady, saying that she would no
doubt have some of her father's secrets and might be dangerous, but my
brother would not listen, and was married almost immediately, taking
his bride to a castle of his own which was near the royal palace.

"In a short time the new Princess began to show what she was. Not that
she was ever disagreeable, but she was too nice. My wife and I began
to suspect her of magic at once, and were quite sure of it when we saw
her effect on my brother. He became so unfriendly that he actually
would not speak to me at all, and gradually many of the ministers were
the same. My father was so broken-hearted over the affair that he died
inside of a year, and I ascended the throne.

"Hardly had the Queen and I been crowned when there began to be strange
murmurings among the nobles. They said that my brother was such a
clever fellow, and I so stupid, that he should be reigning in my stead.
As he had always been noted throughout the kingdom as a very athletic
young man, who found learning a great trouble, I was convinced that my
sister-in-law was at the bottom of this opinion.

"By accident I found out how she accomplished her evil purpose. She
had a little gold snuff box full of a magic powder, which when thrown
into people's eyes made them see everything just as she wished they
should.

"One day the Queen was seated in the garden reading, and I was walking
towards her, when I saw my sister-in-law creep noiselessly across the
lawn behind the Queen's chair, open a little gold box, and take out a
pinch of something, which she was just in the act of throwing into the
Queen's eyes when I screamed at her. In her fright she dropped the
snuff box and ran away, and upon opening it we found that it contained
a rose-colored powder. We guessed what it was for, and walking to the
river bank we threw box and all into the stream, but the incident you
may be sure made us very uneasy.

"After that my sister-in-law did not try to hide her hatred for us, and
it was only a few weeks later, when we were one day out driving, that
we were set upon by a large band of men in disguise, among whom I
recognized my own brother and many of the gentlemen of my court.

"We were seized