And what of the little lame prince, whom everybody seemed so easily to
have forgotten?
Not everybody. There were a few kind souls, mothers of families, who had
heard his sad story, and some servants about the palace, who had been
familiar with his sweet ways--these many a time sighed and said, "Poor
Prince Dolor!" Or, looking at the Beautiful Mountains, which were
visible all over Nomansland, though few people ever visited them, "Well,
perhaps his Royal Highness is better where he is."
They did not know that beyond the mountains, between them and the sea,
lay a tract of country, level, barren, except for a short stunted grass,
and here and there a patch of tiny flowers. Not a bush--not a tree--not
a resting place for bird or beast in that dreary plain. It was not a
pleasant place to live.
The only sign that human creatures had ever been near the spot was a
large round tower which rose up in the centre of the plain. In form it
resembled the Irish round towers, which have puzzled people for so long,
nobody being able to find out when, or by whom they were made. It was
circular, of very firm brickwork, with neither doors nor windows, until
near the top, when you could perceive some slits in the wall, through
which one could not possibly creep in or look out. Its height was nearly
a hundred feet.
The plain was desolate, like a desert, only without sand, and led to
nowhere except the still more desolate sea-coast; nobody ever crossed
it. Whatever mystery there was about the tower, it and the sky and the
plain kept to themselves.
It was a very great secret indeed, a state secret, which none but so
clever a man as the present king of Nomansland would ever have thought
of. How he carried it out, undiscovered, I cannot tell. People said,
long afterwards, that it was by means of a gang of condemned criminals,
who were set to work, and executed immediately after they had done, so
that nobody knew anything, or in the least suspected the real fact.
Within twenty feet of the top, some ingenious architect had planned a
perfect little house, divided into four rooms. By making skylights, and
a few slits in the walls for windows, and raising a peaked roof which
was hidden by the parapet, here was a dwelling complete; eighty feet
from the ground and hard to reach.
Inside it was furnished with all the comfort and elegance imaginable;
with lots of books and toys, and everything that the heart of a child
could desire.
One winter night, when all the plain was white with moonlight, there was
seen crossing it, a great tall, black horse, ridden by a man also big
and equally black, carrying before him on the saddle a woman and a
child. The sad fierce-looking woman was a criminal under sentence of
death, but her sentence had been changed. She was to inhabit the lonely
tower with the child; she was to live as long as the child lived--no
longer. This, in order that she might take the utmost care of him; for
those who put him there were equally afraid of his dying and of his
living. And yet he was only a little gentle boy, with a sweet smile. He
was very tired with his long journey and was clinging to the man's neck,
for he was rather frightened.
The tired little boy was Prince Dolor. He was not dead at all. His grand
funeral had been a pretence; a wax figure having been put in his place,
while he was spirited away by the condemned woman and the black man. The
latter was deaf and dumb, so could tell nothing.
When they reached the foot of the tower, there was light enough to see
a huge chain dangling half way from the parapet. The deaf mute took from
his saddle-wallet a sort of ladder, arranged in pieces like a puzzle,
fitted it together, and lifted it up to meet the chain. Then he mounted
to the top of the tower, and slung from it a chair, in which the woman
and child placed themselves and were drawn up, never to come down again.
The man descended the ladder, took it to pieces and disappeared across
the plain. Every month he came and fastened his horse to the foot of the
tower and climbed it as before, laden with provisions and many other
things. He always saw the Prince, so as to make sure that the child was
alive and well, and then went away until the following month.
Prince Dolor had every luxury that even a Prince could need, and the one
thing wanting--love, never having known, he did not miss. His nurse was
very kind to him, though she was a wicked woman. Perhaps it made her
better to be shut up with an innocent child.
By-and-by he began to learn lessons--not that his nurse had been ordered
to teach him, but she did it partly to amuse herself. She was not a
stupid woman, and Prince Dolor was by no means a stupid child; so they
got on very well.
When he grew older he began reading the books which the mute brought to
him. As they told him of the things in the outside world he longed to
see them.
From this time a change came over the boy. He began to look sad and
thin, and to shut himself up for hours without speaking. His nurse had
been forbidden, on pain of death, to tell him anything about himself. He
knew he was Prince Dolor, because she always addressed him as "My
prince" and "your Royal Highness," but what a prince was, he had not the
least idea.
He had been reading one day, but feeling all the while that to read
about things which you never can see is like hearing about a beautiful
dinner while you are starving. He grew melancholy, gazing out of the
window-slit.
Not a very cheerful view--just the plain and the sky--but he liked it.
He used to think, if he could only fly out of that window, up to the sky
or down to the plain, how nice it would be! Perhaps when he died--his
nurse had told him once in anger that he would never leave the tower
till he died--he might be able to do this.
"And I wish I had somebody to tell me all about it; about that and many
other things; somebody that would be fond of me, like my poor white
kitten."
Here the tears came into his eyes, for the boy's one friend had been a
little white kitten, which the deaf mute, kindly smiling, once took out
of his pocket and gave him. For four weeks it was his constant companion
and plaything, till one moonlight night it took a fancy for wandering,
climbed on to the parapet of the tower, dropped over and disappeared. It
was not killed, he hoped; indeed, he almost fancied he saw it pick
itself up and scamper away, but he never caught sight of it again.
"Yes, I wish I had a person, a real live person, who would be fond of me
and kind to me. Oh, I want somebody--dreadfully, dreadfully!"
As he spoke, there sounded behind him a slight tap-tap-tap, as of a
cane, and twisting himself around, what do you think he saw? A curious
little woman, no bigger than he might himself have been, had his legs
grown, but she was not a child--she was an old woman with a sweet smile
and a soft voice, and was carrying a cane.
"My own little boy," she said, "I could not come to you until you had
said you wanted me, but now you do want me, here I am."
"And you are very welcome, madam," replied the Prince. "May I ask you
who you are? Perhaps my mother?"
[Illustration: AND TWISTING HIMSELF AROUND, WHAT DO YOU THINK HE SAW?
[PAGE 16.]]
"No, I am not your mother, though she was a dear friend of mine."
"Will you tell her to come and see me then?"
"She cannot; but I daresay she knows all about you and loves you. I love
you, too, and I want to help you, my poor little boy."
"Why do you call me poor?" asked Prince Dolor in surprise.
The little old woman sighed and glanced down at his legs and feet, which
he did not know were different from those of other children, and then to
his sweet, bright face.
"I beg your pardon, My Prince," said she.
"Yes, I am a prince, and my name is Dolor; will you tell me yours,
madam?"
The little old woman laughed like a chime of silver bells.
"I have so many that I don't know which to choose. It was I who gave you
yours, and you will belong to me all your days. I am your godmother."
"Hurrah!" cried the little prince; "I am glad I belong to you, for I
like you very much."
So they sat down and played and talked together.
"Are you very lonesome here?" asked the little old woman.
"Not particularly, thank you, godmother. I have my lessons to do, and my
books to read."
"And you want for nothing?"
"Nothing. Yes, godmother, please bring me a little boy to play with?"
"Just the thing, alas, which I cannot give you."
His godmother took him in her arms and kissed him. By-and-by he kissed
her at first awkwardly and shyly, then with all the strength of his warm
little heart.
"Promise me that you will never go away, godmother."
"I must, but I will leave you a travelling cloak that will take you
wherever you want to go, and show you all that you wish to see."
"I don't need a cloak, for I never go out."
"Hush! the nurse is coming."
A grumpy voice and a rattle of plates and dishes was heard.
"It's my nurse, bringing my dinner; but I don't want dinner. I only want
you. Will her coming drive you away, godmother?"
"Only for a while, only wish for me and I will return."
When the door opened, Prince Dolor shut his eyes; opening them again,
nobody but his nurse was in the room, as his godmother had melted away.
"Such a heap of untidy books; and what's this rubbish?" said she,
kicking a little bundle that lay beside them.
"Give it to me," cried the Prince; and reaching after it, he hid it
under his pinafore.
It was, though she did not know this, his wonderful travelling-cloak.