-LSB- Illustration : Chapter Seventeen -RSB- CHAPTER XVII . -- The Black Cat and the brethren WHO was glad to see the prince , if it was not Lady Rosalind ? The white roses of her cheeks turned to red roses in a moment , and then back to white again , they were so alarmed at the change . So the two went into the gardens together , and talked about a number of things ; but at last the prince told her that , before three days were over , all would be well , or all would be over with him . For either he would have brought his brothers back , sound and well , to Falkenstein , or he would not survive his dishonour . `` It is no more than right , '' he said ; `` for had I gone first , neither of them would have been sent to meet the monster after I had fallen . And I should have fallen , dear Rosalind , if I had faced the Firedrake before I knew you . '' Then when she asked him why , and what good she had done him , he told her all the story ; and how , before he fell in love with her , he did n't believe in fairies , or Firedrakes , or caps of darkness , or anything nice and impossible , but only in horrid useless facts , and chemistry , and geology , and arithmetic , and mathematics , and even political economy . And the Firedrake would have made a mouthful of him , then . So she was delighted when she heard this , almost as much delighted as she was afraid that he might fail in the most difficult adventure . For it was one thing to egg on a Remora to kill a Firedrake , and quite another to find the princes if they were alive , and restore them if they were dead ! But the prince said he had his plan , and he stayed that night at the ambassador 's . Next morning he rose very early , before anyone else was up , that he might not have to say `` Good-bye '' to Lady Rosalind . Then he flew in a moment to the old lonely castle , where nobody went for fear of ghosts , ever since the Court retired to Falkenstein . How still it was , how deserted ; not a sign of life , and yet the prince was looking everywhere for some living thing . He hunted the castle through in vain , and then went out to the stable-yard ; but all the dogs , of course , had been taken away , and the farmers had offered homes to the poultry . At last , stretched at full length in a sunny place , the prince found a very old , half-blind , miserable cat . The poor creature was lean , and its fur had fallen off in patches ; it could no longer catch birds , nor even mice , and there was nobody to give it milk . But cats do not look far into the future ; and this old black cat -- Frank was his name -- had got a breakfast somehow , and was happy in the sun . The prince stood and looked at him pityingly , and he thought that even a sick old cat was , in some ways , happier than most men .
-LSB- Illustration : Page 91 -RSB- `` Well , '' XXXXX the prince at last , `` he could not live long anyway , and it must be done .
brought find give offered said stayed survive taken talked turned