the next morning at the same hour joyeuse was wandering through the paths of the garden, seeking his flower-maiden. he looked for her first near the arbor of morning-glories, but fleurette was not there. he had to search far and wide before he found her at last in quite another part of the garden, among the lilies. she wore a white lily in her yellow locks.

"ah!" cried joyeuse, when he spied her, "it is a lily to-day. but yesterday i thought[17] i guessed your favorite flower. now i find that i was wrong. surely, this is your choice. so fair, so pure,—a princess herself could choose no better."

fleurette smiled brightly at him, shaking her hair from side to side in a golden shower. "one cannot so easily read my thoughts as he may suppose," she cried saucily.

"dear maiden," said joyeuse, coming nearer and taking her hand, "i have no wonderful garden like this where i can invite you to dwell as its little princess. but come with me, and we will make a tiny one of our very own, where no one shall forbid us at any hour, and where we will play at being prince and princess, as happy as two butterflies."

but fleurette shook her head and said: "no, i can never leave the garden and my princess. she could not live without me. i shall dwell here always and always, so long as the flowers and i are a-blooming."

"then i, too, must live here always and always!" declared joyeuse. "perhaps the princess will take me for her minstrel, or her[18] soldier, or her man of medicine,—anything that will keep me near you, so that we can play together here in the garden. would that please you, little flower?"

fleurette looked thoughtful. "i should be sorry to have you go," she said; "you love the flowers so dearly, it would be a pity."

"yes, indeed i love them!" cried joyeuse. "let us then go to the princess and ask her to keep me in her service."

the princess looked long at joyeuse, and at last she said: "how do i know what manner of minstrel you are? i cannot take you to her without some promise of your skill, for she is a princess who cares only for the best. come, let us go into the wilder part of the garden, where no one can hear us, and i will listen to your music."

so they went into a wild part of the garden, and sat down under a tree beside the little brook. and there he played and sang for her such sweet and beautiful music that she clapped her hands for joy. and when he had finished he said,[19]—

"well, dear maiden, do you think i am worthy to be your lady's minstrel? have i the skill to make her happy?"

"truly, joyeuse, you have made me very happy, and you are a prince of minstrels," she answered. "yet—i cannot tell. that is not enough. but hark! i hear the chapel bell. i must hasten back to the palace. to-morrow i will come again and listen to another song. meanwhile do not try to see the princess."

"i care not for the princess, i," he called after her, "so long as i may see you, little flower!" and for an answer her laughter came back to him over the flowers.

so that day went by; and early the next morning joyeuse took his lute and sought the flower-maiden in the garden. this time he sought her long and long before he found her among the roses. there was a crimson rose in her hair, and one upon either cheek when she glanced up, hearing his footsteps on the grass. there was also a crimson spot upon her white hand.[20]

"see!" she cried, "a cruel thorn has pricked me. let me test your skill in herbs, sir doctor."

with a sorry face, for it gave him pain to see her pain, joyeuse ran to find the leaf of a certain plant which he knew. presently he returned, and, taking a bit of linen from his scrip, tenderly bound the leaf about the poor wounded finger.

"now will it be cured," he said. "this is a remedy which never fails."

"how wise you are," murmured fleurette, "a very prince of doctors!"

"say, may i not then hope to be the doctor of the princess?" he asked eagerly.

but fleurette shook her head. "we must see how the finger is to-morrow morning. if it is quite healed then, perhaps— but hark! that is the gardener's whistle. it is late, and i must return to the palace, or he will find us trespassing." and away she ran, before joyeuse had time to say another word.

now when the morrow arrived, joyeuse sought fleurette in the garden, long and long.[21] but at last he found her among the lavender. her finger indeed was healed, so that she smiled upon him, and she said,—

"now you shall teach me to play the lute. the princess, i know, would fain master the lute. but i must see first what sort of teacher you make before i take you to her."

so they sat down beside a marble fountain in the fairest part of the garden; and there joyeuse taught her how to pluck the lute and to make sweet music. he taught her so well, and they passed the time so pleasantly, that they forgot how the hours were flying.

"joyeuse, you are the very prince of teachers!" said fleurette.

at that moment a shadow fell upon the grass beside them, and lo! there stood the head gardener, who had heard the sound of the music, and had hurried to see who might be in the princess's garden at this forbidden hour. the princess gave a little cry, and without a word slipped away through an opening in the hedge that she knew, before the gardener had a chance to see her face.[22]

"huh!" grunted the gardener. "she has escaped, whoever she is. but we shall soon know her name. you shall tell us that and other things, you minstrel fellow."

"that i will never tell you!" cried joyeuse.

"huh! we shall see about that, too," retorted the gardener surlily. "you shall not escape, sirrah. i will take you to my lady the princess, and you will have a chance to explain how you came to be here playing the lute in her garden at a forbidden hour. come along!" and he advanced to seize joyeuse by the collar. he was a huge, burly fellow, almost a giant in size.

but joyeuse laid his hand on his sword and said: "keep back, gardener, and do not attempt to lay hands on me! i promise to follow wherever you may lead, but you shall not touch me to make me prisoner."

"huh! a valiant minstrel!" sneered the gardener. but he looked twice at the stranger's flashing eyes and at his strong right arm, and decided to accept his promise. at once he[23] led the way through the winding paths of the garden until they came to the palace gate. now joyeuse was shut into a dark dungeon to wait the hour when the princess was wont to hold council, to listen to the prayers of her suitors and the wishes of her people.

poor joyeuse! "this is the end of my happy time," he said to himself. "the princess will now dismiss me, if she does no worse. she will have no charity for a trespasser in her garden, of which she is so jealous. i may not tell her how her fair maiden met me there and urged me to remain. i cannot tell; for that might bring trouble upon the flower-maiden, whom, alas, i may never see again!"

so he mused, wondering wistfully that she should have left him without a word. but there was no blame for her in his heart; he loved her so very dearly.