`` How long you have stayed ! '' cried she , gaping , rubbing her eyes and stretching herself as if she had been just waked out of her sleep ; she had not , however , any manner of inclination to sleep since they went from home . `` If thou hadst been at the ball , '' said one of her sisters , `` thou wouldst not have been tired with it . There came thither the finest princess , the most beautiful ever was seen with mortal eyes ; she showed us a thousand civilities , and gave us oranges and citrons . '' Cinderella seemed very indifferent in the matter ; indeed , she asked them the name of that princess ; but they told her they did not know it , and that the King 's son was very uneasy on her account and would give all the world to know who she was . At this Cinderella , smiling , replied : `` She must , then , be very beautiful indeed ; how happy you have been ! Could not I see her ? Ah ! dear Miss Charlotte , do lend me your yellow suit of clothes which you wear every day . '' `` Ay , to be sure ! '' cried Miss Charlotte ; `` lend my clothes to such a dirty Cinderwench as thou art ! I should be a fool . '' Cinderella , indeed , expected well such answer , and was very glad of the refusal ; for she would have been sadly put to it if her sister had lent her what she asked for jestingly . The next day the two sisters were at the ball , and so was Cinderella , but dressed more magnificently than before . The King 's son was always by her , and never ceased his compliments and kind speeches to her ; to whom all this was so far from being tiresome that she quite forgot what her godmother had recommended to her ; so that she , at last , counted the clock striking twelve when she took it to be no more than eleven ; she then rose up and fled , as nimble as a deer . The Prince followed , but could not overtake her . She left behind one of her glass slippers , which the Prince took up most carefully . She got home but quite out of breath , and in her nasty old clothes , having nothing left her of all her finery but one of the little slippers , fellow to that she dropped . The guards at the palace gate were asked : If they had not seen a princess go out . Who said : They had seen nobody go out but a young girl , very meanly dressed , and who had more the air of a poor country wench than a gentlewoman .
When the two sisters returned from the ball Cinderella asked them : If they had been well diverted , and XXXXX the fine lady had been there .
At as behind for if in on than that to