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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Christmas Tree Land, by Mary Louisa Molesworth
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Christmas Tree Land
+
+Author: Mary Louisa Molesworth
+
+Release Date: April 4, 2012 [EBook #39375]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTMAS TREE LAND ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Delphine Lettau, Mary Meehan, Clive Pickton
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at
+http://www.pgdpcanada.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                       CHRISTMAS-TREE LAND
+
+                        BY MRS MOLESWORTH
+
+    AUTHOR OF 'CARROTS,' 'CUCKOO CLOCK,' 'TELL ME A STORY.'
+
+[Illustration: THE WHITE CASTLE]
+
+ILLUSTRATED BY WALTER CRANE
+
+    London
+    MACMILLAN AND CO.
+    1884
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Rollo could not help noticing the pretty picture the two
+made.]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                                     PAGE
+
+     CHAPTER I. THE WHITE CASTLE                                        1
+
+    CHAPTER II. IN THE FIR-WOODS                                       18
+
+   CHAPTER III. THE MYSTERIOUS COTTAGE                                 36
+
+    CHAPTER IV. FAIRY HOUSEKEEPING                                     50
+
+     CHAPTER V. THE STORY OF A KING'S DAUGHTER                         70
+
+    CHAPTER VI. THE STORY OF A KING'S DAUGHTER--(_continued_)          87
+
+   CHAPTER VII. A WINDING STAIR AND A SCAMPER                         113
+
+  CHAPTER VIII. THE SQUIRREL FAMILY                                   137
+
+    CHAPTER IX. A COMMITTEE OF BIRDS                                  157
+
+     CHAPTER X. A SAIL IN THE AIR                                     170
+
+    CHAPTER XI. THE EAGLES' EYRIE                                     186
+
+   CHAPTER XII. A VISION OF CHRISTMAS TREES                           203
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+                                                           _To face page_
+
+THE WHITE CASTLE                                               _Vignette_
+
+'ROLLO,' SHE EXCLAIMED, HER EYES SPARKLING, HALF WITH
+FEAR, HALF WITH EXCITEMENT, 'I DO BELIEVE WE'VE GOT INTO
+THE COTTAGE OF THE THREE BEARS'                                        37
+
+ROLLO COULD NOT HELP NOTICING THE PRETTY PICTURE THE TWO MADE          60
+
+'IT WAS THE PRETTIEST SIGHT IN THE WORLD TO SEE AURÉOLE IN
+HER BOWER EVERY MORNING'                                               81
+
+'AURÉOLE COULD NOT HELP SHIVERING AS THE FORM OF THE MONSTER
+CAME IN SIGHT'                                                        108
+
+I DON'T THINK EVER CHILDREN BEFORE HAD SUCH FUN                       149
+
+'ALL RIGHT--WE'RE OFF NOW,' WALDO CALLED OUT, AND AT ONCE,
+WITH A STEADY SWING, THE QUEER SHIP ROSE INTO THE AIR                 180
+
+'SEE, ROLLO,' CRIED MAIA; 'SEE, THERE IS OUR CHRISTMAS TREE'          221
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE WHITE CASTLE.
+
+    'The way was long, long, long, like the journey in a fairy tale.'
+
+    MISS FERRIER.
+
+
+It was not their home. That was easy to be seen by the eager looks of
+curiosity and surprise on the two little faces inside the heavy
+travelling carriage. Yet the faces were grave, and there was a weary
+look in the eyes, for the journey had been long, and it was not for
+pleasure that it had been undertaken. The evening was drawing in, and
+the day had been a somewhat gloomy one, but as the light slowly faded, a
+soft pink radiance spread itself over the sky. They had been driving for
+some distance through a flat monotonous country; then, as the ground
+began to rise, the coachman relaxed his speed, and the children, without
+knowing it, fell into a half slumber.
+
+It was when the chariot stopped to allow the horses breathing time that
+they started awake and looked around them. The prospect had entirely
+changed. They were now on higher ground, for the road had wound up and
+up between the hills, which all round encircled an open space--a sort of
+high up valley, in the centre of which gleamed something white. But this
+did not at first catch the children's view. It was the hills rising ever
+higher and higher, clothed from base to summit with fir-trees,
+innumerable as the stars on a clear frosty night, that struck them with
+surprise and admiration. The little girl caught her breath with a
+strange thrill of pleasure, mingled with awe.
+
+'Rollo,' she said, catching her brother's sleeve, 'it is a land of
+Christmas trees!'
+
+Rollo gazed out for a moment or two without speaking. Then he gave a
+sigh of sympathy.
+
+'Yes, Maia,' he said; 'I never could have imagined it. Fancy, only
+fancy, if they were all lighted up!'
+
+Maia smiled.
+
+'I don't think even the fairies themselves could do that,' she answered.
+
+But here their soft-voiced talking was interrupted. Two attendants, an
+elderly man and a young, rosy-faced woman, whose eyes, notwithstanding
+her healthy and hearty appearance, bore traces of tears, had got down
+from their seat behind the carriage.
+
+'Master Rollo,'--'My little lady,' they said, speaking together; 'yonder
+is the castle. The coachman has just shown it to us. This is the first
+sight of it.'
+
+'The white walls one sees gleaming through the trees,' said the girl,
+pointing as she spoke. 'Marc cannot see it as plainly as I.'
+
+'My eyes are not what they were,' said the old servant apologetically.
+
+'I see it,'--'and so do I,' exclaimed Rollo and Maia. 'Shall we soon be
+there?'
+
+'Still an hour,' replied Marc; 'the road winds about, he says.'
+
+'And already we have been so many, many hours,' said Nanni, the maid, in
+doleful accents.
+
+'Let us hope for a bright fire and a welcome when we arrive,' said old
+Marc cheerfully. 'Provided only Master Rollo and Miss Maia are not too
+tired, _we_ should not complain,' he added reprovingly, in a lower
+voice, turning to Nanni. But Maia had caught the words.
+
+'Poor Nanni,' she said kindly. 'Don't be so sad. It will be better when
+we get there, and you can unpack our things and get them arranged
+again.'
+
+'And then Marc will have to leave us, and who knows how they will treat
+us in this outlandish country!' said Nanni, beginning to sob again.
+
+But just then the coachman looked round to signify that the horses were
+rested, and he was about to proceed.
+
+'Get up, girl--quickly--get up,' said Marc, reserving his scolding, no
+doubt, till they were again in their places and out of hearing of their
+little master and mistress.
+
+The coachman touched up his horses; they seemed to know they were
+nearing home, and set off at a brisk pace, the bells on their harness
+jingling merrily as they went.
+
+The cheerful sound, the quicker movement, had its effect on the
+children's spirits.
+
+'It _is_ a strange country,' said Maia, throwing herself back among the
+cushions of the carriage, as if tired of gazing out. 'Still, I don't see
+that we need be so very unhappy here.'
+
+'Nor I,' said Rollo. 'Nanni is foolish. She should not call it an
+outlandish country. That to _us_ it cannot be, for it is the country of
+our ancestors.'
+
+'But _so_ long ago, Rollo,' objected Maia.
+
+'That does not matter. We are still of the same blood,' said the boy
+sturdily. 'We must love, even without knowing why, the place that was
+home to them--the hills, the trees--ah, yes, above all, those wonderful
+forests. They seem to go on for ever and ever, like the stars, Maia.'
+
+'Yet I don't think them as _pretty_ as forests of different kinds of
+trees,' said Maia thoughtfully. 'They are more _strange_ than beautiful.
+Fancy them always, always there, in winter and summer, seeing the sun
+rise and set, feeling the rain fall, and the snow-flakes flutter down on
+their branches, and yet never moving, never changing. I wouldn't like to
+be a tree.'
+
+'But they _do_ change,' said Rollo. 'The branches wither and then they
+sprout again. It must be like getting new clothes, and very interesting
+to watch, I should think. Fancy how funny it would be if our clothes
+grew on us like that.'
+
+Maia gave a merry little laugh.
+
+'Yes,' she said; 'fancy waking up in the morning and looking to see if
+our sleeves had got a little bit longer, or if our toes were beginning
+to be covered! I suppose that's what the trees talk about.'
+
+'Oh, they must have lots of things to talk about,' said Rollo. 'Think of
+how well they must see the pictures in the clouds, being so high up.
+And the stars at night. And then all the creatures that live in their
+branches, and down among their roots,--the birds, and the squirrels, and
+the field-mice, and the----'
+
+'Yes,' interrupted Maia; 'you have rather nice thoughts sometimes,
+Rollo. After all, I dare say it is not so very stupid to be a tree. I
+should like the squirrels best of all. I do love squirrels! Can you see
+the castle any better now, Rollo? It must be at your side.'
+
+'I don't see it at all just now,' said Rollo, after peering out for some
+moments. 'I'm not sure but what it's got round to _your_ side by now,
+Maia.'
+
+'No, it hasn't,' said Maia. 'It couldn't have done. It's somewhere over
+there, below that rounded hill-top--we'll see it again in a minute, I
+dare say. Ah, see, Rollo, there's the moon coming out! I do hope we
+shall often see the moon here. It would be so pretty--the trees would
+look nearly black. But what are you staring at so, Rollo?'
+
+Rollo drew in his head again.
+
+'There must be somebody living over there,' he said. 'I see smoke
+rising--you can _hardly_ see it now, the light is growing so dim, but
+I'm sure I did see it. There must be a little cottage there somewhere
+among the trees.'
+
+'Oh, how nice!' exclaimed Maia. 'We must find it out. I wonder what sort
+of people live in it--gnomes or wood-spirits, perhaps? There couldn't be
+any real _people_ in such a lonely place.'
+
+'Gnomes and wood-spirits don't need cottages, and they don't make
+fires,' replied Rollo.
+
+'How do _you_ know?' and Rollo's answer was not quite ready. 'I dare say
+gnomes like to come up above sometimes, for a change; and I dare say the
+wood-spirits are cold sometimes, and like to warm themselves. Any way I
+shall try to find that cottage and see who does live in it. I hope she
+will let us go on walks as often as we wish, Rollo.'
+
+'She--who?' said the boy dreamily. 'Oh, our lady cousin! Yes, I hope
+so;' but he sighed as he spoke, and this time the sigh was sad.
+
+Maia nestled closer to her brother.
+
+'I think I was forgetting a little, Rollo,' she said. 'I can't think how
+I could forget, even for a moment, all our troubles. But father wanted
+us to try to be happy.'
+
+'Yes, I know he did,' said Rollo. 'I am very glad if you can feel
+happier sometimes, Maia. But for me it is different; I am so much
+older.'
+
+'Only two years,' interrupted Maia.
+
+'Well, well, I _feel_ more than that older. And then I have to take care
+of _you_ till father comes home; that makes me feel older too.'
+
+'I wish we could take care of each other,' said Maia; 'I wish we were
+going to live in a little cottage by ourselves instead of in Lady
+Venelda's castle. We might have Nanni just to light the fires and cook
+the dinner, except the creams and pastry and cakes--_those_ I would make
+myself. And she might also clean the rooms and wash the dishes--I cannot
+bear washing dishes--and all the rest we would do ourselves, Rollo.'
+
+'There would not be much else to do,' said Rollo, smiling.
+
+'Oh yes, there would. We should need a cow, you know, and cocks and
+hens; those we should take care of ourselves, though Nanni might churn.
+You have no idea how tiring it is to churn; I tried once at our
+country-house last year, and my arms ached so. And then there would be
+the garden; it must be managed so that there should always, all the year
+round, be strawberries and roses. Wouldn't that be charming, Rollo?'
+
+'Yes; but it certainly couldn't be done out of fairyland,' said the boy.
+
+'Never mind. What does it matter? When one is wishing one may wish for
+anything.'
+
+'Then, for my part, I would rather wish to be at our own home again, and
+that our father had not had to go away,' said Rollo.
+
+'Ah, yes!' said Maia; and then she grew silent, and the grave expression
+overspread both children's faces again.
+
+They had meant to look out to see if the white-walled castle was once
+more within sight, but it was now almost too dark to see anything, and
+they remained quietly in their corners. Suddenly they felt the wheels
+roll on to a paved way; the carriage went more slowly, and in a moment
+or two they stopped.
+
+'Can we have arrived?' said Maia. But Rollo, looking out, saw that they
+had only stopped at a postern. An old man, bent and feeble, came out of
+an ivy-covered lodge, round and high like a light-house, looking as if
+it had once been a turret attached to the main building, and pressed
+forward as well as he could to open the gate, which swung back rustily
+on its hinges. The coachman exchanged a few words in the language of the
+country, which the children understood but slightly, and then the
+chariot rolled on again, slowly still, for the road ascended, and even
+had there been light there would have been nothing to see but two high
+walls, thickly covered with creeping plants. In a moment or two they
+stopped again for another gate to be opened--this time more
+quickly--then the wheels rolled over smoother ground, and the coachman
+drew up before a doorway, and a gleam of white walls flashed before the
+children's eyes.
+
+The door was already open. Marc and Nanni got down at the farther side,
+for a figure stood just inside the entrance, which they at once
+recognised as that of the lady of the house come forward to welcome her
+young relatives. Two old serving-men, older than Marc and in well-worn
+livery, let down the ladder of steps and opened the chariot door. Rollo
+got out, waited a moment to help his sister as she followed him, and
+then, leading her by the hand, bowed low before their cousin Venelda.
+
+'Welcome,' she said at once, as she stooped to kiss Maia's forehead,
+extending her hand to Rollo at the same time. Her manner was formal but
+not unkindly. 'You must be fatigued with your journey,' she said.
+'Supper is ready in the dining-hall, and then, no doubt, you will be
+glad to retire for the night.'
+
+'Yes, thank you, cousin,' said both children, and then, as she turned to
+show them the way, they ventured to look up at their hostess, though
+they were still dazzled by the sudden light after the darkness outside.
+Lady Venelda was neither young nor old, nor could one well imagine her
+ever to have been, or as ever going to be, different from what she was.
+She was tall and thin, simply dressed, but with a dignified air as of
+one accustomed to command. Her hair was gray, and surmounted by a high
+white cap, a number of keys attached to her girdle jingled as she went;
+her step was firm and decided, but not graceful, and her voice was
+rather hard and cold, though not sharp. Her face, as Rollo and Maia saw
+it better when she turned to see if they were following her, was of a
+piece with her figure, pale and thin, with nothing very remarkable save
+a well-cut rather eagle nose and a pair of very bright but not tender
+blue eyes. Still she was not a person to be afraid of, on the whole,
+Rollo decided. She might not be very indulgent or sympathising, but
+there was nothing cruel or cunning in her face and general look.
+
+'You may approach the fire, children,' she said, as if this were a
+special indulgence; and Rollo and Maia, who had stood as if uncertain
+what to do, drew near the enormous chimney, where smouldered some
+glowing wood, enough to send out a genial heat, though it had but a poor
+appearance in the gigantic grate, which looked deep and wide enough to
+roast an ox.
+
+Their eyes wandered curiously round the great room or hall in which they
+found themselves. It, like the long corridor out of which opened most of
+the rooms of the house, was painted or washed over entirely in
+white--the only thing which broke the dead uniformity being an
+extraordinary number of the antlered heads of deer, fastened high up at
+regular intervals. The effect was strange and barbaric, but not
+altogether unpleasing.
+
+'What quantities of deer there must be here!' whispered Maia to her
+brother. 'See, even the chairs are made of their antlers.'
+
+She was right. What Rollo had at first taken for branches of trees
+rudely twisted into chair backs and feet were, in fact, the horns of
+several kinds of deer, and he could not help admiring them, though he
+thought to himself it was sad to picture the number of beautiful
+creatures that must have been slain to please his ancestors' whimsical
+taste in furniture; but he said nothing, and Lady Venelda, though she
+noticed the children's observing eyes, said nothing either. It was not
+her habit to encourage conversation with young people. She had been
+brought up in a formal fashion, and devoutly believed it to be the best.
+
+At this moment a bell clanged out loudly in the courtyard. Before it had
+ceased ringing the door opened and two ladies, both of a certain age,
+both dressed exactly alike, walked solemnly into the room, followed by
+two old gentlemen, of whom it could not be said they were exactly alike,
+inasmuch as one was exceedingly tall and thin, the other exceedingly
+short and stout. These personages the children came afterwards to know
+were the two ladies-in-waiting, or _dames de compagnie_, of Lady
+Venelda, her chaplain, and her physician. They all approached her, and
+bowed, and curtseyed; then drew back, as if waiting for her to take her
+place at the long table before seating themselves. Lady Venelda glanced
+at the children.
+
+'How comes it?' she began, but then, seeming to remember something,
+stopped. 'To be sure, they have but just arrived,' she said to herself.
+Then turning to one of the old serving-men: 'Conduct the young gentleman
+to his apartment,' she said, 'that he may arrange his attire before
+joining us at supper. And you, Delphine,' she continued to one of the
+ancient damsels, who started as if she were on wires, and Lady Venelda
+had touched the spring, 'have the goodness to perform the same office
+for this young lady, whose waiting-maid will be doubtless in attendance.
+For this once,' she added in conclusion, this time addressing the
+children, 'the repast shall be delayed for ten minutes; but for this
+once only. Punctuality is a virtue that cannot be exaggerated.'
+
+Rollo and Maia looked at each other; then both followed their respective
+guides.
+
+'Is my lady cousin angry with me?' Maia ventured timidly to inquire. 'We
+did not know--we could not help it. I suppose the coachman came as fast
+as he could.'
+
+'Perfectly, perfectly, Mademoiselle,' replied Delphine in a flutter.
+Poor thing, she had once been French--long, long ago, in the days of her
+youth, which she had well-nigh forgotten. But she still retained some
+French expressions and the habit of agreeing with whatever was said to
+her, which she believed to show the highest breeding. 'Of course
+Mademoiselle could not help it.'
+
+'Then why is my cousin angry?' said Maia, again looking up with her
+bright brown eyes.
+
+'My lady Venelda angry?' repeated Delphine, rather embarrassed how to
+reconcile her loyalty to her patroness, to whom she was devotedly
+attached, with courtesy to Maia. 'Ah, no! My lady is never angry. Pardon
+my plain speaking.'
+
+'Oh, then, I mistook, I suppose,' said Maia, considerably relieved. 'I
+suppose some people seem angry when they're not, till one gets to know
+them.'
+
+And then Maia, who was of a philosophic turn of mind, made Nanni hurry
+to take off her wraps and arrange her hair, that she might go down to
+supper: 'for I'm dreadfully hungry,' she added, 'and it's very funny
+downstairs, Nanni,' she went on. 'It's like something out of a book,
+hundreds of years ago. I can quite understand now why father told us to
+be so particular always to say "our lady cousin," and things like that.
+Isn't it funny, Nanni?'
+
+Nanni's spirits seemed to have improved.
+
+'It is not like home, certainly, Miss Maia,' she replied. 'But I dare
+say we shall get on pretty well. They seem very kind and friendly
+downstairs in the kitchen, and there was a very nice supper getting
+ready. And then, I'm never one to make the worst of things, whatever
+that crabbed old Marc may say.'
+
+Maia was already on her way to go. She only stopped a moment to glance
+round the room. It was large, but somewhat scantily furnished. The walls
+white, like the rest of the house, the floor polished like a
+looking-glass. Maia's curtainless little bed in one corner looked
+disproportionately small. The child gave a little shiver.
+
+'It feels very cold in this big bare room,' she said. 'I hope you and
+Rollo aren't far off.'
+
+'I don't know for Master Rollo,' Nanni replied. 'But this is _my_ room,'
+and she opened a door leading into a small chamber, neatly but plainly
+arranged.
+
+'Oh, that's very nice,' said Maia, approvingly. 'If Rollo's room is not
+far off, we shall not feel at all lonely.'
+
+Her doubts were soon set at rest, for, as she opened the door, Rollo
+appeared coming out of a room just across the passage.
+
+'Oh, that's your room,' said Maia. 'I didn't see where you went to. I
+was talking to Mademoiselle Delphine. I'm so glad you're so near,
+Rollo.'
+
+'Yes,' said Rollo. 'These big bare rooms aren't like our rooms at home.
+I should have felt rather lonely if I'd been quite at the other end of
+the house.'
+
+Then they took each other's hand and went slowly down the uncarpeted
+white stone staircase.
+
+'Rollo,' said Maia, nodding her head significantly as if in the
+direction of the dining-hall, 'do you think we shall like her? Do you
+think she's going to be kind?'
+
+Rollo hesitated.
+
+'I think she'll be kind. Father said she would. But I don't think she
+cares about children, and we'll have to be very quiet, and all that.'
+
+'The best thing will be going long walks in the woods,' said Maia.
+
+'Yes, if she'll let us,' replied Rollo doubtfully.
+
+'Well, I'll tell you how to do. We'll show her we're awfully good and
+sensible, and then she won't be afraid to let us go about by ourselves.
+Oh, Rollo, those lovely Christmas-tree woods! We can't feel dull if only
+we may go about in the woods!'
+
+'Well, then, let's try, as you say, to show how very good and sensible
+we are,' said Rollo.
+
+And with this wise resolution the two children went in to supper.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+IN THE FIR-WOODS.
+
+    ...'Gloomy shades, sequestered deep,
+    ....whence one could only see
+    Stems thronging all around.'...
+
+    KEATS.
+
+
+Supper was a formal and stately affair. The children were placed one on
+each side of their cousin, and helped to such dishes as she considered
+suitable, without asking them what they liked. But they were not greedy
+children, and even at their own home they had been accustomed to much
+more strictness than is _nowadays_ the case, my dear children, for those
+were still the days when little people were expected to be 'seen but not
+heard,' to 'speak when they were spoken to,' but not otherwise. So Rollo
+and Maia were not unduly depressed, especially as there was plenty of
+amusement for their bright eyes in watching the queer, pompous manners
+of Lady Venelda's attendants, and making notes to discuss together
+afterwards on the strange and quaint china and silver which covered the
+table, and even in marvelling at the food itself, which, though all
+good, was much of it perfectly new to them.
+
+Now and then their hostess addressed a few words to them about their
+journey, their father's health when they had left him, and such things,
+to which Rollo and Maia replied with great propriety. Lady Venelda
+seemed pleased.
+
+'They have been well brought up, I see. My cousin has not neglected
+them,' she said in a low voice, as if speaking to herself, which was a
+habit of hers. Rollo and Maia exchanged signals with each other at this,
+which they had of course overheard, and each understood as well as if
+the other had said it aloud, that the meaning of the signals was, 'That
+is right. If we go on like this we shall soon get leave to ramble about
+by ourselves.'
+
+After supper Lady Venelda told the children to follow her into what she
+chose to call her retiring-room. This was a rather pretty room at the
+extreme end of the long white gallery, but unlike that part of the
+castle which the children had already seen. The walls were not white,
+but hung with tapestry, which gave it a much warmer and more
+comfortable look. One did not even here, however, get rid of the poor
+deer, for the tapestry all round the room represented a hunting-scene,
+and it nearly made Maia cry, when she afterwards examined it by
+daylight, to see the poor chased creatures, with the cruel dogs upon
+them and the riders behind lashing their horses, and evidently shouting
+to the hounds to urge them on. It was a curious subject to have chosen
+for a lady's boudoir, but Lady Venelda's tastes were guided by but one
+rule--the most profound respect and veneration for her ancestors, and as
+they had seen fit thus to decorate the prettiest room in the castle, it
+would never have occurred to her to alter it.
+
+She seated herself on an antlered couch below one of the windows, which
+by day commanded a beautiful view of the wonderful woods, but was now
+hidden by rather worn curtains of a faded blue, the only light in the
+room coming from a curiously-shaped oil lamp suspended from the ceiling,
+which illumined but here and there parts of the tapestry, and was far
+too dim to have made it possible to read or work. But it was not much
+time that the lady of the castle passed in her bower, and seldom that
+she found leisure to read, for she was a very busy and practical
+person, managing her large possessions entirely for herself, and caring
+but little for the amusements or occupations most ladies take pleasure
+in. She beckoned to the children to come near her.
+
+'You are tired, I dare say,' she said graciously. 'At your age I
+remember the noble Count, my father, took me once a journey lasting two
+or three days, and when I arrived at my destination I slept twelve hours
+without awaking.'
+
+'Oh, but we shall not need to sleep as long as that,' said Rollo and
+Maia together. 'We shall be quite rested by to-morrow morning;' at which
+the Lady Venelda smiled, evidently pleased, even though they had spoken
+so quickly as _almost_ to interrupt her.
+
+'That is well,' she said. 'Then I shall inform you of how I propose to
+arrange your time, at once, though I had intended giving orders that you
+should not be awakened till eight o'clock. At what hour do you rise at
+home?'
+
+'At seven, lady cousin,' said Rollo.
+
+'That is not very early,' she replied. 'However, as it is but for a time
+that you are confided to my care, I cannot regulate everything exactly
+as I could wish.'
+
+'We would like to get up earlier,' said Maia hastily. 'Perhaps not
+_to-morrow_,' she added.
+
+'I will first tell you my wishes,' said Lady Venelda loftily. 'At eight
+o'clock prayers are read to the household in the chapel. You will
+already have had some light refreshment. At nine you will have
+instruction from Mademoiselle Delphine for one hour. At ten the chaplain
+will take her place for two hours. At twelve you may walk in the grounds
+round the house for half an hour. At one we dine. At two you shall have
+another hour from Mademoiselle Delphine. From three to five you may walk
+with your attendants. Supper is at eight; and during the evening you may
+prepare your tasks for the next day.'
+
+Rollo and Maia looked at each other. It was not so very bad; still it
+sounded rather severe. Rollo took courage.
+
+'If we get up earlier and do our tasks, may we stay out later
+sometimes?' he inquired.
+
+'Sometimes--if the weather is very fine and you have been very
+industrious,' their cousin replied.
+
+'And,' added Maia, emboldened by this success, 'may we sometimes ramble
+alone all about the woods? We do so love the woods,' she continued,
+clasping her hands.
+
+Now, if Lady Venelda herself had a weakness, it was for these same
+woods. They were to her a sort of shrine dedicated to the memory of her
+race, for the pine forests of that country had been celebrated as far
+back as there was any record of its existence. So, though she was rather
+startled at Maia's proposal, she answered graciously still:
+
+'They are indeed beautiful, my child. Beautiful and wonderful. There
+have they stood in their solemn majesty for century after century,
+seeing generation after generation of our race pass away while yet they
+remain. They and I alone, my children. I, the last left of a long line!'
+
+Her voice trembled, and one could almost have imagined that a tear
+glittered in her blue eyes. Maia, and Rollo too, felt very sorry for
+her.
+
+'Dear cousin,' said the girl, timidly touching her hand, 'are we not a
+little _little_, relations to you? Please don't say you are all alone.
+It sounds so very sad. Do let Rollo and me be like your little boy and
+girl.'
+
+Lady Venelda smiled again, and this time her face really grew soft and
+gentle.
+
+'Poor children,' she said, in the peculiar low voice she always used
+when speaking to herself, and apparently forgetting the presence of
+others, 'poor children, they too have suffered. They have no mother!'
+Then turning to Maia, who was still gently stroking her hand: 'I thank
+you, my child, for your innocent sympathy,' she said, in her usual tone.
+'I rejoice to have you here. You will cheer my solitude, and at the same
+time learn no harm, I feel sure, from the associations of this ancient
+house.'
+
+Maia did not quite understand her, but as the tone sounded kind, she
+ventured to repeat, as she kissed her cousin's hand for good-night, 'And
+you will let us ramble about the woods if we are very good, won't you?
+And _sometimes_ we may have a whole holiday, mayn't we?'
+
+Lady Venelda smiled.
+
+'All will depend on yourselves, my child,' she said.
+
+But Rollo and Maia went upstairs to bed very well satisfied with the
+look of things.
+
+They _meant_ to wake very early, and tried to coax Nanni to promise to
+go out with them in the morning before prayers, but Nanni was cautious,
+and would make no rash engagements.
+
+'_I_ am very tired, Miss Maia,' she said, 'and I am sure you must be if
+you would let yourself think so. I hope you will have a good long
+sleep.'
+
+She was right. After all, the next morning Rollo and Maia had hardly
+time to finish their coffee and rolls before the great bell in the
+courtyard clanged for prayers, and they had to hurry to the chapel not
+to be too late. Prayers over, they were taken in hand by Mademoiselle
+Delphine, and then by the old chaplain, till, by twelve o'clock, when
+they were sent out for a little fresh air before dinner, they felt more
+sleepy and tired than the night before.
+
+'I don't care to go to the woods now,' said Maia dolefully. 'I am so
+tired--ever so much more tired than with lessons at home.'
+
+'So am I,' said Rollo. 'I don't know what is the matter with me,' and he
+seated himself disconsolately beside his sister on a bench overlooking
+the stiff Dutch garden at one side of the castle.
+
+'Come--how now, my children?' said a voice beside them; 'why are you not
+running about, instead of sitting there like two old invalids?'
+
+'We are so tired,' said both together, looking up at the new-comer, who
+was none other than the short, stout old gentleman who had been
+introduced to them as Lady Venelda's physician.
+
+'Tired; ah, well, to be sure, you have had a long journey.'
+
+'It is not only that. We weren't so tired this morning, but we've had
+such a lot of lessons.' 'Mademoiselle Delphine's French is very hard,'
+said Maia; 'and Mr.--I forget his name--the chaplain says the Latin
+words quite differently from what I've learnt before,' added Rollo.
+
+The old doctor looked at them both attentively.
+
+'Come, come, my children, you must not lose heart. What would you say to
+a long afternoon in the woods and no more lessons to-day, if I were to
+ask the Lady Venelda to give you a holiday?'
+
+The effect was instantaneous. Both children jumped up and clapped their
+hands.
+
+'Oh, thank you, thank you, Mr.--Doctor,' they said, for they had not
+heard his name. 'Yes, that is just what we would like. It did not seem
+any good to go to the woods for just an hour or two. And, oh, Mr.
+Doctor, do ask our cousin to give us one holiday a week--we always have
+that at home. It is so nice to wake up in the morning and know there are
+_no_ lessons to do! And we should be so good all the other days.'
+
+'Ah, well,' said the old doctor, 'we shall see.'
+
+But he nodded his head, and smiled, and looked so like a good-natured
+old owl, that Rollo and Maia felt very hopeful.
+
+At dinner, where they took their places as usual at each side of their
+cousin, nothing was said till the close. Then Lady Venelda turned
+solemnly to the children:
+
+'You have been attentive at your lessons, I am glad to hear,' she said;
+'but you are doubtless still somewhat tired with your journey. My kind
+physician thinks some hours of fresh air would do you good. I therefore
+shall be pleased for you to spend all the afternoon in the woods--there
+will be no more lessons to-day.'
+
+'Oh, thank you, thank you,' repeated the children, and Maia glanced at
+her cousin with some thought of throwing her arms round her and kissing
+her, but Lady Venelda looked so very stiff and stately that she felt her
+courage ebb.
+
+'It is better only to kiss her when we are alone with her,' she said
+afterwards to Rollo, in which he agreed.
+
+But they forgot everything except high spirits and delight when, half an
+hour later, they found themselves with Nanni on their way to the
+longed-for woods.
+
+'Which way shall we go?' said Maia; and indeed it was a question for
+consideration. For it was not on one side only that there were woods,
+but on every side, far as the eye could reach, stretched out the
+wonderful forests. The white castle stood on raised ground, but in the
+centre of a circular valley, so that to reach the outside world one had
+first to descend and then rise again; so the entrance to the woods was
+sloping, for the castle hill was bare of trees, which began only at its
+base.
+
+'Which way?' repeated Rollo; 'I don't see that it matters. We get into
+the woods every way.'
+
+'Except over there,' said Maia, pointing to the road by which they had
+come, gleaming like a white ribbon among the trees, which had been
+thinned a little in that direction.
+
+'Well, we don't want to go there,' said Rollo, but before he had time to
+say more Maia interrupted him.
+
+'Oh, Rollo, let's go the way that we saw the little cottage. No, I don't
+mean that we saw the cottage, but we saw the smoke rising, and we were
+sure there was a cottage. It was--let me see----' and she tried to put
+herself in the right direction; 'yes, it was on my left hand--it must be
+on that side,' and she pointed where she meant.
+
+Rollo did not seem to care particularly about the real or imaginary
+cottage, but as to him all roads were the same in this case, seeing all
+led to the woods, he made no objection, and a few minutes saw the little
+party, already in the shade of the forest, slowly making their way
+upwards. It was milder than the day before; indeed, for early spring it
+was very mild. The soft afternoon sunshine came peeping through the
+branches, the ground was beautifully dry, and their steps made a
+pleasant crackling sound, as their feet broke the innumerable little
+twigs which, interspersed with moss and the remains of last year's
+leaves, made a nice carpet to walk on.
+
+'Let us stand still a moment,' said Maia, 'and look about us. How
+delicious it is! _What_ flowers there will be in a little while!
+Primroses, I am sure, and violets, and later on periwinkle and cyclamen,
+I dare say.'
+
+A sigh from Nanni interrupted her.
+
+'What is the matter?' said the children.
+
+'I am so tired, Miss Maia,' said poor Nanni. 'I haven't got over the
+journey, and I was so afraid of being late this morning that I got up I
+don't know how early--they told me in the kitchen that their lady was so
+angry if any one was late. I think if I were to sit down on this nice
+mossy ground I should really go to sleep.'
+
+'_Poor_ Nanni!' said Maia, laughing. 'Well, do sit down, only I think
+you'd better not go to sleep; you might catch cold.'
+
+'It's beautifully warm here among the trees, somehow,' said Nanni.
+'Well, then, shall I just stay here and you and Master Rollo play about?
+You won't go far?'
+
+'You _would_ get a nice scolding if we were lost,' said Rollo
+mischievously.
+
+'Don't tease her, Rollo,' said Maia; adding in a lower tone, 'If you do,
+she'll persist in coming with us, and it will be such fun to run about
+by ourselves.' Then turning to Nanni, 'Don't be afraid of us, Nanni; we
+shan't get lost. You may go to sleep for an hour or two if you like.'
+
+The two children set off together in great glee. Here and there among
+the trees there were paths, or what looked like paths, some going
+upwards till quite lost to view, some downwards,--all in the most
+tempting zigzag fashion.
+
+'I should like to explore all the paths one after the other, wouldn't
+you?' said Maia.
+
+'I expect they all lead to nowhere in particular,' said Rollo,
+philosophically.
+
+'But we want to go somewhere in particular,' said Maia; 'I want to find
+the cottage, you know. I am sure it must be _somewhere_ about here.'
+
+'Upwards or downwards--which do you think?' said Rollo. 'I say, Maia,
+suppose you go downwards and I upwards, and then we can meet again here
+and say if we've found the cottage or had any adventures, like the
+brothers in the fairy tales.'
+
+'No,' said Maia, drawing nearer Rollo as she spoke; 'I don't want to go
+about alone. You know, though the woods are so nice they're _rather_
+lonely, and there are such queer stories about forests always. There
+must be queer people living in them, though we don't see them. Gnomes
+and brownies down below, very likely, and wood-spirits, perhaps. But I
+think about the gnomes is the most frightening, don't you, Rollo?'
+
+'I don't think any of it's frightening,' he replied. But he was a kind
+boy, so he did not laugh at Maia, or say any more about separating.
+'Which way shall we go, then?'
+
+'Oh, we'd better go on upwards. There can't be much forest downwards,
+for we've come nearly straight up. We'd get out of the wood directly.'
+
+They went on climbing therefore for some way, but the ascent became
+quickly slighter, and in a short time they found themselves almost on
+level ground.
+
+'We can't have got to the top,' said Rollo. 'This must be a sort of
+ledge on the hillside. However, I begin to sympathise with Nanni--it's
+nice to get a rest,' and he threw himself down at full length as he
+spoke. Maia quickly followed his example.
+
+'We shan't do much exploring at this rate,' she said.
+
+'No,' Rollo agreed; 'but never mind. Isn't it nice here, Maia? Just like
+what father told us, isn't it? The scent of the fir-trees is so
+delicious too.'
+
+It was charmingly sweet and peaceful, and the feeling of mystery caused
+by the dark shade of the lofty trees, standing there in countless rows
+as they had stood for centuries, the silence only broken by the
+occasional dropping of a twig or the flutter of a leaf, impressed the
+children in a way they could not have put in words. It was a sort of
+relief when a slight rustle in the branches overhead caught their
+attention, and looking up, their quick eyes saw the bright brown, bushy
+tail of a squirrel whisking out of sight.
+
+Up jumped Maia, clapping her hands.
+
+'A squirrel, Rollo, did you see?'
+
+'Of course I did, but you shouldn't make such a noise. We might have
+seen him again if we'd been quite quiet. I wonder where his home is.'
+
+'So do I. _How_ I should like to see a squirrel's nest and all the
+little ones sitting in a row, each with a nut in its two front paws!
+_How_ nice it would be to have the gift of understanding all the animals
+say to each other, wouldn't it?'
+
+'Yes,' said Rollo, but he stopped suddenly. 'Maia,' he exclaimed, 'I
+believe I smell burning wood!' and he stood still and sniffed the air a
+little. 'I shouldn't wonder if we're near the cottage.'
+
+'Oh, do come on, then,' said Maia eagerly. 'Yes--yes; I smell it too. I
+hope the cottage isn't on fire, Rollo. Oh, no; see, it must be a
+bonfire,' for, as she spoke, a smouldering heap of leaves and dry
+branches came in sight some little way along the path, and in another
+moment, a few yards farther on, a cottage actually appeared.
+
+Such an original-looking cottage! The trees had been cleared for some
+distance round where it stood, and a space enclosed by a rustic fence of
+interlaced branches had been planted as a garden. A very pretty little
+garden too. There were flower-beds in front, already gay with a few
+early blossoms, and neat rows of vegetables and fruit-bushes at the
+back. The cottage was built of wood, but looked warm and dry, with deep
+roof and rather small high-up windows. A little path, bordered primly by
+a thick growing mossy-like plant, led up to the door, which was closed.
+No smoke came out of the chimney, not the slightest sound was to be
+heard. The children looked at each other.
+
+'What a darling little house!' said Maia in a whisper. 'But, Rollo, do
+you think there's anybody there? Can it be _enchanted_, perhaps?'
+
+Rollo went on a few steps and stood looking at the mysterious cottage.
+There was not a sound to be heard, not the slightest sign of life about
+the place; and yet it was all in such perfect order that it was
+impossible to think it deserted.
+
+'The people must have gone out, I suppose,' said Rollo.
+
+'I wonder if the door is locked,' said Maia. 'I am _so_ thirsty, Rollo.'
+
+'Let's see,' Rollo answered, and together the two children opened the
+tiny gate and made their way up to the door. Rollo took hold of the
+latch; it yielded to his touch.
+
+'It's not locked,' he said, looking back at his sister, and he gently
+pushed the door a little way open. 'Shall I go in?' he said.
+
+Maia came forward, walking on her tiptoes.
+
+'Oh, Rollo,' she whispered, '_suppose_ it's enchanted, and that we never
+get out again.'
+
+But all the same she crept nearer and nearer to the tempting half-open
+door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE MYSTERIOUS COTTAGE.
+
+    '"A pretty cottage 'tis indeed,"
+      Said Rosalind to Fanny,
+    "But yet it seems a little strange,
+      I trust there's naught uncanny."'
+
+    _The Wood-Fairies._
+
+
+Rollo pushed a little more, and still a little. No sound was heard--no
+voice demanded what they wanted; they gathered courage, till at last the
+door stood sufficiently ajar for them to see inside. It was a neat,
+plain, exceedingly clean, little kitchen which stood revealed to their
+view. Rollo and Maia, with another glance around them, another instant's
+hesitation, stepped in.
+
+The floor was only sanded, the furniture was of plain unvarnished deal,
+yet there was something indescribably dainty and attractive about the
+room. There was no fire burning in the hearth, but all was ready laid
+for lighting it, and on the table, covered with a perfectly clean,
+though coarse cloth, plates and cups for a meal were set out. It seemed
+to be for three people. A loaf of brownish bread, and a jug filled with
+milk, were the only provisions to be seen. Maia stepped forward softly
+and looked longingly at the milk.
+
+'Do you think it would be wrong to take some, Rollo?' she said. 'I _am_
+so thirsty, and they must be nice people that live here, it looks so
+neat.' But just then, catching sight of the three chairs drawn round the
+table, as well as of the three cups and three plates upon it, she drew
+back with a little scream. '_Rollo_,' she exclaimed, her eyes sparkling,
+half with fear, half with excitement, 'I do believe we've got into the
+cottage of _the three bears_.'
+
+[Illustration: '_Rollo_,' she exclaimed, her eyes sparkling, half with
+fear, half with excitement, 'I do believe we've got into the cottage of
+_the three bears_.']
+
+Rollo burst out laughing, though, to tell the truth, he was not quite
+sure if his sister was in fun or earnest.
+
+'Nonsense, Maia!' he said. 'Why, that was hundreds of years ago. You
+don't suppose the bears have gone on living ever since, do you? Besides,
+it wouldn't do at all. See, there are two smaller chairs and one
+arm-chair here. Two small cups and one big one. It's just the wrong way
+for the bears. It must be two children and one big person that live
+here.'
+
+Maia seemed somewhat reassured.
+
+'Do you think I may take a drink of milk, then?' she said. 'I am _so_
+thirsty.'
+
+'I should think you might,' said Rollo. 'You see we can come back and
+pay for it another day when they're at home. If we had any money we
+might leave it here on the table, to show we're honest. But we haven't
+any.'
+
+'No,' said Maia, as she poured out some milk, taking care not to spill
+any on the tablecloth, 'not a farthing. Oh, Rollo,' she continued,
+'_such_ delicious milk! Won't you have some?'
+
+'No; I'm not thirsty,' he replied. 'See, Maia, there's another little
+kitchen out of this--for washing dishes in--a sort of scullery,' for he
+had opened another door as he spoke.
+
+'And, oh, Rollo,' said Maia, peering about, 'see, there's a little
+stair. Oh, _do_ let's go up.'
+
+It seemed a case of 'in for a penny, in for a pound.' Having made
+themselves so much at home, the children felt inclined to go a little
+farther. They had soon climbed the tiny staircase and were rewarded for
+their labour by finding two little bed-rooms, furnished just alike, and
+though neat and exquisitely clean, as plain and simple as the kitchen.
+
+'Really, Rollo,' said Maia, 'this house might have been built by the
+fairies for us two, and see, isn't it odd? the beds are quite small,
+like ours. I don't know where the big person sleeps whom the arm-chair
+and the big cup downstairs are for.'
+
+'Perhaps there's another room,' said Rollo, but after hunting about they
+found there was nothing more, and they came downstairs again to the
+kitchen, more puzzled than ever as to whom the queer little house could
+belong to.
+
+'We'll come back again, the very first day we can,' said Maia, 'and tell
+the people about having taken the milk,' and then they left the cottage,
+carefully closing the door and gate behind them, and made their way back
+to where they had left Nanni. It took them longer than they had
+expected--either they mistook their way, or had wandered farther than
+they had imagined. But Nanni had suffered no anxiety on their account,
+for, even before they got up to her, they saw that she was enjoying a
+peaceful slumber.
+
+'Poor thing!' said Maia. 'She must be very tired. I never knew her so
+sleepy before. Wake up, Nanni, wake up,' she went on, touching the maid
+gently on the shoulder. Up jumped Nanni, rubbing her eyes, but looking
+nevertheless very awake and good-humoured.
+
+'Such a beautiful sleep as I've had, to be sure,' she exclaimed.
+
+'Then you haven't been wondering what had become of us?' said Rollo.
+
+'Bless you, no, sir,' replied Nanni. 'You haven't been very long away,
+surely? I never did have such a beautiful sleep. There must be something
+in the air of this forest that makes one sleep. And such lovely dreams!
+I thought I saw a lady all dressed in green--dark green and light
+green,--for all the world like the fir-trees in spring, and with long
+light hair. She stooped over me and smiled, as if she was going to say
+something, but just then I awoke and saw Miss Maia.'
+
+'And what do you think _we've_ seen?' said Maia. 'The dearest little
+cottage you can fancy. Just like what Rollo and I would like to live in
+all by ourselves. And there was nobody there; wasn't it queer, Nanni?'
+
+Nanni was much impressed, but when she had heard all about the
+children's adventure she grew a little frightened.
+
+'I hope no harm will come of it,' she said. 'If it were a witch's
+cottage;' and she shivered.
+
+'Nonsense, Nanni,' said Rollo; 'witches don't have cottages like
+that,--all so bright and clean, and delicious new milk to drink.'
+
+But Nanni was not so easily consoled. 'I hope no harm may come of it,'
+she repeated.
+
+By the lengthening shadows they saw that the afternoon was advancing,
+and that, if they did not want to be late for dinner, they must make the
+best of their way home.
+
+'It would not do to be late to-day--the first time they have let us come
+out by ourselves,' said Maia sagely. 'If we are back in very good time
+perhaps Lady Venelda will soon let us come again.'
+
+They _were_ back in very good time, and went down to the dining-hall,
+looking very fresh and neat, as their cousin entered it followed by her
+ladies.
+
+'That is right,' said Lady Venelda graciously.
+
+'You look all the better for your walk, my little friends,' said the old
+doctor. 'Come, tell us what you think of our forests, now you have seen
+the inside of them.'
+
+'They are lovely,' said both children enthusiastically. 'I should like
+to _live_ there,' Maia went on; 'and, oh, cousin, we saw the dearest
+little cottage, _so_ neat and pretty! I wonder who lives there.'
+
+'You went to the village, then,' Lady Venelda replied. 'I did not think
+you would go in that direction.'
+
+'No,' said Rollo, 'we did not go near any village. It was a cottage
+quite alone, over that way,' and he pointed in the direction he meant.
+
+Lady Venelda looked surprised and a little annoyed.
+
+'I know of no cottage by itself. I know of no cottages, save those in my
+own village. You must have been mistaken.'
+
+'Oh, no, indeed,' said Maia, 'we could not be mistaken, for we----'
+
+'Young people should not contradict their elders,' said Lady Venelda
+freezingly, and poor Maia dared say no more. She was very thankful when
+the old doctor came to the rescue.
+
+'Perhaps,' he said good-naturedly, 'perhaps our young friends sat down
+in the forest and had a little nap, in which they _dreamt_ of this
+mysterious cottage. You are aware, my lady, that the aromatic odours of
+our delightful woods are said to have this tendency.'
+
+Rollo and Maia looked at each other. 'That's true,' the look seemed to
+say, for the old doctor's words made them think of Nanni's beautiful
+dream. Not that _they_ had been asleep, oh, no, that was impossible.
+
+Everything about the cottage had been so real and natural. And besides,
+as Maia said afterwards to Rollo, 'People don't dream _together_ of
+exactly the same things at exactly the same moment, as if they were
+reading a story-book,' with which Rollo of course agreed.
+
+Still, at the time, they were not sorry that their cousin took up the
+doctor's idea, for she had seemed so very vexed before he suggested it.
+
+'To be sure,' she replied graciously; 'that explains it. I have often
+heard of that quality of our wonderful woods. No doubt--tired as they
+were too--the children fell asleep without knowing it. Just so; but
+young people must never contradict their elders.'
+
+The children dared not say any more, and, indeed, just then it would
+have been no use.
+
+'She would not have believed anything we said about it,' said Maia as
+they went upstairs to their own rooms. 'But it isn't nice not to be
+allowed to tell anything like that. _Father_ always believes us.'
+
+'Yes,' said Rollo thoughtfully. 'I don't quite understand why Lady
+Venelda should have taken us up so about it. I don't much like going
+back to the cottage without leave--at least without telling her about
+it, and yet we _must_ go. It would be such a shame not to pay for the
+milk.'
+
+'Yes,' said Maia, 'and they might think there had been _robbers_ there
+while they were out. Oh, we must go back!'
+
+But their perplexities were not decreased by what Nanni had to say to
+them.
+
+'Oh, Master Rollo and Miss Maia!' she exclaimed, 'we should be _very_
+thankful that no harm came to you this afternoon. I've been speaking to
+them in the kitchen about where you were, and, oh, but it must be an
+uncanny place! No one knows who lives there, though 'tis said about 'tis
+a witch. And the queer thing is, that 'tis but very few that have ever
+seen the cottage at all. Some have seen it and told the others about it,
+and when they've gone to look, no cottage could they find. Lady
+Venelda's own maid is one of those who was determined to find it, but
+she never could. And my Lady herself was so put out about it that she
+set off to look for it one day,--for no one has a right to live in the
+woods just hereabout without her leave,--and she meant to turn the
+people, whoever they were, about their business. But 'twas all for no
+use. She sought far and wide; ne'er a cottage could she find, and she
+wandered about the woods near a whole day for no use. Since then she is
+that touchy about it that, if any one dares but to mention a cottage
+hereabouts, save those in the village, it quite upsets her.'
+
+Rollo and Maia looked at each other, but something made them feel it was
+better to say little before Nanni.
+
+'So I do beg you never to speak about the cottage to my Lady,' Nanni
+wound up.
+
+'We don't want to speak about it to her,' said Rollo drily.
+
+'And you won't want to go there again, I do hope,' the maid persisted.
+'Whatever would I do if the witch got hold of you and turned you perhaps
+into blue birds or green frogs, or something dreadful? Whatever _would_
+your dear papa say to me? Oh, Miss Maia, do tell Master Rollo never to
+go there again.'
+
+'Don't be afraid,' said Maia; 'we'll take care of ourselves. I can quite
+promise you we won't be turned into frogs or birds. But don't talk any
+more about it to-night, Nanni. I'm _so_ sleepy, and I don't want to
+dream of horrible witches.'
+
+And this was all the satisfaction Nanni could get.
+
+But the next morning Rollo and Maia had a grand consultation together.
+They did not like the idea of not going to the cottage again, for they
+felt it would not be right not to explain about the milk, and they had
+besides a motive, which Nanni's strange story had no way lessened--that
+of great curiosity.
+
+'It would be a shame not to pay for the milk,' said Rollo. 'I should
+feel uncomfortable whenever I thought of it.'
+
+'So should I,' said Maia; 'even more than you, for it was I that drank
+it! And I do _so_ want to find out who lives there. There _must_ be
+children, I am sure, because of the little beds and chairs and cups, and
+everything.'
+
+'If they are all for children, I don't know what there is for big
+people,' said Rollo. 'Perhaps they're some kind of dwarfs that live
+there.'
+
+'Oh, what fun!' said Maia, clapping her hands. 'Oh, we _must_ go back to
+find out!'
+
+She started, for just as she said the words a voice behind them was
+heard to say, 'Go back; go back where, my children?'
+
+They were walking up and down the terrace on one side of the castle,
+where Mademoiselle Delphine had sent them for a little fresh air between
+their lessons, and they were so engrossed by what they were talking of
+that they had not heard nor seen the old doctor approaching them. It was
+his voice that made Maia start. Both children looked rather frightened
+when they saw who it was, and that he had overheard what they were
+saying.
+
+'Go back where?' he repeated. 'What are you talking about?'
+
+The children still hesitated.
+
+'We don't like to tell you, sir,' said Rollo frankly. 'You would say it
+was only fancy, as you did last night, and we _know_ it wasn't fancy.'
+
+'Oh, about the cottage?' said the old doctor coolly. 'You needn't be
+afraid to tell me about it, fancy or no fancy. Fancy isn't a bad thing
+sometimes.'
+
+'But it _wasn't_ fancy,' said both together; 'only we don't like to talk
+about it for fear of vexing our cousin, and we don't like to go back
+there without leave, and yet we _should_ go back.'
+
+'Why should you?' asked their old friend.
+
+Then Maia explained about the milk, adding, too, the strange things that
+Nanni had heard in the servants' hall. The old doctor listened
+attentively. His face looked quite pleased and good-humoured, and yet
+they saw he was not at all inclined to laugh at them. When they had
+finished, to the children's surprise he said nothing, but drew out a
+letter from his pocket.
+
+'Do you know this writing?' he said.
+
+Rollo and Maia exclaimed eagerly, 'Oh, yes; it is our father's. Do you
+know him? Do you know our father, Mr. Doctor?'
+
+'I have known him,' said the old man, quietly drawing the contents out
+of the cover, 'I have known him since he was much smaller than either of
+you is now. It was by my advice he sent you here for a time, and see
+what he gave me for you.'
+
+He held up as he spoke a small folded paper, which had been inside the
+other letter. It bore the words: 'For Rollo and Maia--to be given them
+when you think well.' 'I think well now,' he went on, 'so read what he
+says, my children.'
+
+They quickly opened the paper. There was not much written inside--just a
+few words:
+
+'Dear children,' they were, 'if you are in any difficulty, ask the
+advice of my dear old friend and adviser, the doctor, and you may be
+sure you will do what will please your father.'
+
+For a moment or two the children were almost too surprised to speak. It
+was Rollo who found his voice first.
+
+'Give us your advice now, Mr. Doctor. May we go back to the cottage
+without saying any more about it to Lady Venelda?'
+
+'Yes,' said the old doctor. 'You may go anywhere you like in the woods.
+No harm will come to you. It is no use your saying any more about the
+cottage to Lady Venelda. She cannot understand it because she cannot
+find it. If you can find it you will learn no harm there, and your
+father would be quite pleased for you to go.'
+
+'Then do you think we may go soon again?' asked the children eagerly.
+
+'You will always have a holiday once a week,' said the doctor. 'It would
+not be good for you to go _too_ often. Work cheerfully and well when you
+are at work, my children. I will see that you have your play.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+FAIRY HOUSEKEEPING.
+
+    'Neat, like bees, as sweet and busy,
+    ·       ·       ·      ·      ·      ·
+    Aired and set to rights the house;
+    Kneaded cakes of whitest wheat--
+    Cakes for dainty mouths to eat.'
+
+    _Goblin Market._
+
+
+The next few days passed rather slowly for the children. There was no
+talk of another expedition to the woods. And they had a good many
+lessons to do, so that short walks in the grounds close round the castle
+were all they had time for. They only saw the old doctor at meal-times,
+but he always smiled at them, as if to assure them he was not forgetting
+them, and to encourage them to patience.
+
+There was one person who certainly did not regret the children's not
+returning to the woods, and that person was Nanni. What she had heard
+from the servants about the mysterious cottage had thoroughly
+frightened her; she felt sure that if they went there again something
+dreadful would happen to them, and yet she was so devoted to them that,
+however terrified, she would never have thought of not following them
+wherever they chose to go. But, as day after day went by, and no more
+was said about it, she began to breathe freely. Her distress was
+therefore the greater when, one afternoon just six days after the last
+ramble, Rollo and Maia rushed upstairs after their lessons in the
+wildest spirits.
+
+'Hurrah for the doctor!' shouted Rollo, and Maia was on the point of
+joining him, till she remembered that if they made such a noise Lady
+Venelda would be sending up to know what was the matter.
+
+'We're to have a whole holiday to-morrow, Nanni,' they explained, 'and
+we're going to spend it in the woods. You're to come with us, and carry
+something in a basket for us to eat.'
+
+'Very well, Miss Maia,' replied Nanni, prudently refraining from
+mentioning the cottage, in hopes that they had forgotten about it, 'that
+will be very nice, especially if it is a fine day, but if not, of course
+you would not go.'
+
+'I don't know that,' said Rollo mischievously; 'green frogs don't mind
+rain.'
+
+'Nor blue birds,' added Maia. 'They could fly away if they did.'
+
+At these fateful words poor Nanni grew deadly pale. 'Oh, my children,'
+she cried; 'oh, Master Rollo and Miss Maia, don't, I beg of you, joke
+about such things. And oh, I entreat you, don't go looking for that
+witch's cottage. Unless you promise me you won't, I shall have to go and
+tell my Lady, however angry she is!'
+
+'No such thing, my good girl,' said a voice at the door. 'You needn't
+trouble your head about such nonsense. Rollo and Maia will go nowhere
+where they can get any harm. I know everything about the woods better
+than you or those silly servants downstairs. Lady Venelda would only
+tell you not to interfere with what didn't concern you if you went
+saying anything to her. Go off to the woods with your little master and
+mistress without misgiving, my good girl, and if the air makes you
+sleepy don't be afraid to take a nap. No harm will come to you or the
+children.'
+
+Nanni stood still in astonishment--the tears in her eyes and her mouth
+wide open, staring at the old doctor, for it was he, of course, who had
+followed the children upstairs and overheard her remonstrances. She
+looked so comical that Rollo and Maia could scarcely help laughing at
+her, as at last she found voice to speak.
+
+'Of course if the learned doctor approves I have nothing to say,' she
+said submissively; though she could not help adding, 'and I only hope no
+harm will come of it.'
+
+Rollo and Maia flew to the doctor.
+
+'Oh, that's right!' they exclaimed. 'We are so glad you have spoken to
+that stupid Nanni. She believes all the rubbish the servants here
+speak.'
+
+The doctor turned to Nanni again.
+
+'Don't be afraid,' he repeated. 'All will be right, you will see. But
+take my advice, do not say anything to the servants here about the
+amusements of your little master and mistress. Least said soonest
+mended. It would annoy Lady Venelda for it to be supposed they were
+allowed to go where any harm could befall them.'
+
+'Very well, sir,' replied Nanni, meekly enough, though she still looked
+rather depressed. She could not help remembering that before he left,
+old Marc, too, had warned her against too much chattering.
+
+The next morning broke fine and bright. The children started in the
+greatest spirits, which even Nanni, laden with a basket of provisions
+for their dinner, could not altogether resist. And before they went,
+Lady Venelda called them into her boudoir, and kissing them, wished them
+a happy holiday.
+
+'It's all that nice old doctor,' said Maia. 'You see, Rollo, she hasn't
+told us not to go to the cottage--he's put it all right, I'm sure.'
+
+'Yes, I expect so,' Rollo agreed; and then in a minute or two he added:
+'Do you know, Maia, though of course I don't believe in witches turning
+people into green frogs, or any of that nonsense, I do think there's
+_something_ funny about that cottage.'
+
+'What sort of something? What do you mean?' asked Maia, looking
+intensely interested. 'Do you mean something to do with fairies?'
+
+'I don't know--I'm not sure. But we'll see,' said Rollo.
+
+'If we can find it!' said Maia.
+
+'I'm _sure_ we shall find it. It's just because of that that I think
+there's something queer. It must be true that some people can't find
+it.'
+
+'Naughty people?' asked Maia apprehensively. 'For you know, Rollo, we're
+not always _quite_ good.'
+
+'No, I don't mean naughty people. I mean more people who don't care
+about fairies and wood-spirits, and things like that--people who call
+all that nonsense and rubbish.'
+
+'I see,' said Maia; 'perhaps you're right, Rollo. Well, any way, that
+won't stop _us_ finding it, for we certainly do care _dreadfully_ about
+fairy things, don't we, Rollo? But what about Nanni?' she went on, for
+Nanni was some steps behind, and had not heard what they were saying.
+
+'Oh, as to Nanni,' said Rollo coolly, 'I shouldn't wonder if she took a
+nap again, as the old doctor said. Any way, she can't interfere with us
+after _his_ giving us leave to go wherever we liked.'
+
+They stopped a little to give Nanni time to come up to them, and Rollo
+offered to help her to carry the basket. It was not heavy, she replied,
+she could carry it quite well alone, but she still looked rather
+depressed in spirits, so the children walked beside her, talking merrily
+of the dinner in the woods they were going to have, so that by degrees
+Nanni forgot her fears of the mysterious cottage, and thought no more
+about it.
+
+It was even a more beautiful day than the one, now nearly a week ago, on
+which they had first visited the woods. There was more sunshine to-day,
+and the season was every day farther advancing; the lovely little new
+green tips were beginning to peep out among the darker green which had
+already stood the wear and tear of a bitter winter and many a frosty
+blast.
+
+'How pretty the fir-trees look!' said Maia. 'They don't seem the least
+dim or gloomy in the sunshine, even though it only gets to them in
+little bits. See there, Rollo,' she exclaimed, pointing to one which got
+more than its share of the capricious gilding. 'Doesn't it look like a
+_real_ Christmas-tree?'
+
+'Like a lighted-up one, you mean,' said Rollo. 'It would be a very nice
+Christmas-tree for a family of giants, and if I could climb up so high,
+I'd be just about the right size for the angel at the top. Let's spread
+our table at the foot of this tree--it looks so nice and dry. I'm sure,
+Nanni,' he went on, 'you'll be glad to get rid of your basket.'
+
+'It's not heavy, Master Rollo,' said Nanni; 'but, all the same, it _is_
+queer how the minute I get into these woods I begin to be so
+sleepy--you'd hardly believe it.'
+
+Rollo and Maia looked at each other with a smile, but they said nothing.
+
+'We'd better have our dinner any way,' observed Rollo, kneeling down to
+unfasten the basket, of which the contents proved very good indeed.
+
+'What fun it is, isn't it?' said Maia, when they had eaten nearly as
+much cold chicken and bread, and cakes and fruit as they wanted. 'What
+fun it is to be able to do just as we like, and say just what we like,
+instead of having to sit straight up in our chairs like two dolls, and
+only speak when we're spoken to, and all that--how nice it would be if
+we could have our dinner in the woods every day!'
+
+'We'd get tired of it after a while, I expect,' said Rollo. 'It wouldn't
+be nice in cold weather, or if it rained.'
+
+'_I_ wouldn't mind,' said Maia. 'I'd build a warm little hut and cover
+it over with moss. We'd live like the squirrels.'
+
+'How do you know how the squirrels live?' said Rollo.
+
+But Maia did not answer him. Her ideas by this time were off on another
+flight--the thought of a little hut had reminded her of the cottage.
+
+'I want to go farther into the wood,' she said, jumping up. 'Come,
+Rollo, let's go and explore a little. Nanni, you can stay here and pack
+up the basket again, can't you?'
+
+'Then you won't be long, Miss Maia,' began Nanni, rather dolefully. 'You
+won't----'
+
+'We won't get turned into green frogs, if that's what you're thinking
+of, Nanni,' interrupted Rollo. 'Do remember what the old doctor said,
+and don't worry yourself. We shall come to no harm. And as you're so
+sleepy, why shouldn't you take a nap as you did the other day? Perhaps
+you'll dream of the beautiful lady again.'
+
+Nanni looked but half convinced.
+
+'It's not _my_ fault, any way,' she said. 'I've done all I could. I may
+as well stay here, for I know you like better to wander about by
+yourselves. But I'm not going to sleep--you needn't laugh, Master Rollo,
+I've brought my knitting with me on purpose,' and she drew out a half
+stocking and ball of worsted with great satisfaction.
+
+The children set off. They were not sure in what direction lay the
+cottage, for they had got confused in their directions, but they had a
+vague idea that by continuing upwards, for they were still on sloping
+ground, they would come to the level space where they had seen the smoke
+of the burning leaves. They were not mistaken, for they had walked but a
+very few minutes when the ground ceased to ascend, and looking round
+they felt sure that they recognised the look of the trees near the
+cottage.
+
+'This way, Rollo, I am sure,' said Maia, darting forward. She was
+right--in another moment they came out of the woods just at the side of
+the cottage. It looked just the same as before, except that no fire was
+burning outside, and instead, a thin column of smoke rose gently from
+the little chimney. The gate of the little garden was also open, as if
+inviting them to enter.
+
+'They must be at home, whoever they are,' said Rollo. 'There is a fire
+in the kitchen, you see, Maia.'
+
+Maia grew rather pale. Now that they were actually on the spot, she
+began to feel afraid, though of what she scarcely knew. Nanni's queer
+hints came back to her mind, and she caught hold of Rollo's arm,
+trembling.
+
+'Oh, Rollo,' she exclaimed, 'suppose it's true? About the witch, I
+mean--or suppose they have found out about the milk and are very angry?'
+
+'Well, we can't help it if they are,' replied Rollo sturdily. 'We've
+done the best thing we could in coming back to pay for it. You've got
+the little purse, Maia?'
+
+'Oh, yes, it's safe in my pocket,' she said. 'But----'
+
+She stopped, for just at that moment the door of the cottage opened and
+a figure came forward. It was no 'old witch,' no ogre or goblin, but a
+young girl--a little older than Maia she seemed--who stood there with a
+sweet, though rather grave expression on her face and in her soft dark
+eyes, as she said gently, 'Welcome--we have been expecting you.'
+
+'Expecting us?' exclaimed Maia, who generally found her voice more
+quickly than Rollo; 'how can you have been expecting us?'
+
+She had stepped forward a step or two before her brother, and now stood
+looking up in the girl's face with wonder in her bright blue eyes, while
+she tossed back the long fair curls that fell round her head. Boys are
+not very observant, but Rollo could not help noticing the pretty picture
+the two made. The peasant maiden with her dark plaits and brown
+complexion, dressed in a short red skirt, and little loose white bodice
+fastened round the waist with a leather belt, and Maia with a rather
+primly-cut frock and frilled tippet of flowered chintz, such as children
+then often wore, and large flapping shady hat.
+
+'How can you have been expecting us?' Maia repeated.
+
+Rollo came forward in great curiosity to hear the answer.
+
+The girl smiled.
+
+'Ah!' she said, 'there are more ways than one of knowing many things
+that are to come. Waldo heard you had arrived at the white castle, and
+my godmother had already told us of you. Then we found the milk gone,
+and----'
+
+Rollo interrupted this time. 'We were so vexed,' he said, 'not to be
+able to explain about it. We have wanted to come every day since to----'
+'To pay for it,' he was going to say, but something in the girl's face
+made him hesitate.
+
+'Not to pay for it,' she said quickly, though smiling again, as if she
+read his words in his face; 'don't say that. We were so glad it was
+there for you. Besides, it is not ours--Waldo and I would have nothing
+but for our godmother. But come in--come in--Waldo is only gone to fetch
+some brushwood, and our godmother, too, will be here soon.'
+
+Too surprised to ask questions--indeed, there seemed so many to ask that
+they would not have known where to begin--Rollo and Maia followed the
+girl into the little kitchen. It looked just as neat and dainty as the
+other day--and brighter too, for a charming little fire was burning in
+the grate, and a pleasant smell of freshly-roasted coffee was faintly
+perceived. The table was set out as before, but with the addition of a
+plate of crisp-looking little cakes or biscuits, and in place of _two_
+small cups and saucers there were _four_, as well as the larger one the
+children had seen before. This was too much for Maia to behold in
+silence. She stopped short, and stared in still greater amazement.
+
+'Why!' she exclaimed. 'You don't mean to say--why, just fancy, I don't
+even know your name.'
+
+'Silva,' replied the girl quietly, but with an amused little smile on
+her face.
+
+'Silva,' continued Maia, 'you _don't_ mean to say that you've put out
+those two cups for _us_--that you knew we'd come.'
+
+'Godmother did,' said Silva. 'She told us yesterday. So we've been very
+busy to get all our work done, and have a nice holiday afternoon. Waldo
+has nothing more to do after he's brought in the wood, and I baked those
+little cakes this morning and roasted the coffee. Godmother told us to
+have it ready early, so that there'll be plenty of time before you have
+to go. Oh, here's Waldo!' she exclaimed joyfully.
+
+Rollo and Maia turned round. There, in the doorway stood a boy, his cap
+in his hand, a pleasant smile on his bright ruddy face.
+
+'Welcome, my friends,' he said, with a kind of gravity despite his
+smile.
+
+He was such a nice-looking boy--just about as much bigger than Rollo as
+Silva was bigger than Maia. You could have told at once that they were
+brother and sister--there was the same bright and yet serious expression
+in their eyes; the same healthy, ruddy complexion; the same erect
+carriage and careless grace in Waldo in his forester's clothes as in
+Silva with her pretty though simple peasant maiden dress. They looked
+what they were, true children of the beautiful woods.
+
+'Thank you,' said Rollo and Maia, after a moment's hesitation. They did
+not know what else to say. Silva glanced at them. She seemed to have a
+curious power of reading in their faces the thoughts that were passing
+in their minds.
+
+'Don't think it strange,' she said quickly, 'that Waldo calls you thus
+"my friends," and that we both speak to you as if we had known you for
+long. We know we are not the same as you--in the world, I mean, we could
+not be as we are here with you, but this is not the world,' and here
+she smiled again--the strange, bright, and yet somehow rather sad smile
+which made her face so sweet--'and so we need not think about it.
+Godmother said it was best only to remember that we are just four
+children together, and when you see her you will feel that what she says
+is always best.'
+
+'We don't need to see her to feel that we like you to call us your
+friends,' exclaimed Rollo and Maia together. The words came from their
+hearts, and yet somehow they felt surprised at being able to say them so
+readily. Rollo held out his hand to Waldo, who shook it heartily, and
+little Maia going close up to Silva said softly, 'Kiss me, please, dear
+Silva.'
+
+And thus the friendship was begun.
+
+The first effect of this seemed to be the setting loose of Maia's
+tongue.
+
+'There are so many things I want to ask you,' she began. 'May I? Do you
+and Waldo live here alone, and have you always lived here? And does your
+godmother live here, for the other day when we went all over the cottage
+we only saw two little beds, and two little of everything, except the
+big chair and the big cup and saucer. And what----'
+
+Here Rollo interrupted her.
+
+'Maia,' he said, 'you really shouldn't talk so fast. Silva could not
+answer all those questions at once if she wanted; and perhaps she
+doesn't want to answer them all. It's rude to ask so much.'
+
+Maia looked up innocently into Silva's face.
+
+'I didn't mean to be rude,' she said, 'only you see I can't help
+wondering.'
+
+'We don't mind your asking anything you like,' Silva replied. 'But I
+don't think I _can_ tell you all you want to know. You'll get to see for
+yourself. Waldo and I have lived here a long time, but not _always_!'
+
+'But your godmother,' went on Maia; 'I do so want to know about her.
+Does _she_ live here? Is it she that the people about call a witch?'
+Maia lowered her voice a little at the last word, and looked up at Rollo
+apprehensively. Would not he think speaking of witches still ruder than
+asking questions? But Silva did not seem to mind.
+
+'I dare say they do,' she said quietly. 'They don't know her, you see. I
+don't think she would care if they did call her a witch. But now the
+coffee is ready,' for she had been going on with her preparations
+meanwhile, 'will you sit round the table?'
+
+'We are not very hungry,' said Rollo, 'for we had our dinner in the
+wood. But the coffee smells so good,' and he drew in his chair as he
+spoke. Maia, however, hesitated.
+
+'Would it not be more polite, perhaps,' she said to Silva, 'to wait a
+little for your godmother? You said she would be coming soon.'
+
+'She doesn't like us to wait for her,' said Silva. 'We always put her
+place ready, for sometimes she comes and sometimes she doesn't--we never
+know. But she says it is best just to go on regularly, and then we need
+not lose any time.'
+
+'I don't think I should like that way,' said Maia. 'Would you, Rollo? If
+father was coming to see us, I would like to know it quite settledly
+ever so long before, and plan all about it.'
+
+'But it isn't quite the same,' said Silva. 'Your father is far away. Our
+godmother is never very far away--it is just a nice feeling that she may
+come any time, like the sunshine or the wind.'
+
+'Well, perhaps it is,' said Maia. 'I dare say I shall understand when
+I've seen her. How very good this coffee is, Silva, and the little
+cakes! Did your godmother teach you to make them so nice?'
+
+'Not exactly,' said Silva; 'but she made me like doing things well. She
+made me see how pretty it is to do things rightly--_quite_ rightly, just
+as they should be.'
+
+'And do you always do things that way?' exclaimed Maia, very much
+impressed. '_I_ don't; I'm very often dreadfully untidy, and sometimes
+my exercise-books are full of blots and mistakes. I wish I had had your
+godmother to teach me, Silva.'
+
+'Well, you're going to have her now. She teaches without one knowing it.
+But _I'm_ not perfect, nor is Waldo! Indeed we're not--and if we thought
+we were it would show we weren't.'
+
+'Besides,' said Waldo, 'all the things we have to do are very simple and
+easy. We don't know anything about the world, and all we should have to
+do and learn if we lived there.'
+
+'Should you like to live there?' asked Maia. Both Waldo and Silva
+hesitated. Then both, with the grave expression in their eyes that came
+there sometimes, replied, 'I don't know;' but Waldo in a moment or two
+added, 'If it had to be, it would be right to like it.'
+
+'Yes,' said Silva quietly. But something in their tone made both Rollo
+and Maia feel puzzled.
+
+'I do believe you're both half fairies,' exclaimed Maia with a little
+impatience; 'I can't make you out at all.'
+
+Rollo felt the same, though, being more considerate than his little
+sister, he did not like to express his feelings so freely. But Waldo and
+Silva only laughed merrily.
+
+'No, no, indeed we're not,' they said more than once, but Maia did not
+seem convinced by any means, and she was going on to maintain that no
+children who _weren't_ half fairies could live like that by themselves
+and manage everything so beautifully, when a slight noise at the door
+and a sudden look of pleasure on Silva's face made her stop short and
+look round.
+
+'Here she is,' exclaimed Waldo and Silva together. 'Oh, godmother,
+darling, we are so glad. And they have come, Rollo and Maia have come,
+just as you said.'
+
+And thus saying they sprang forward. Their godmother stooped and kissed
+both on the forehead.
+
+'Dear children,' she said, and then she turned to the two strangers, who
+were gazing at her with all their eyes.
+
+'_Can_ it be she the silly people about call a witch?' Maia was saying
+to herself. 'It _might_ be, and yet I don't know. _Could_ any one call
+her a witch?'
+
+She was old--of that there was no doubt, at least so it seemed at the
+first glance. Her hair was perfectly white, her face was very pale. But
+her eyes were the most wonderful thing about her. Maia could not tell
+what colour they were. They seemed to change with every word she said,
+with every new look that came over her face. Old as she was they were
+very bright and beautiful, very soft and sweet too, though not the sort
+of eyes--Maia said afterwards to Rollo--'that I would like to look at me
+if I had been naughty.' Godmother was not tall; when she first came into
+the little kitchen she seemed to stoop a little, and did not look much
+bigger than Silva. And she was all covered over with a dark green cloak,
+almost the colour of the darkest of the foliage of the fir-trees.
+
+'One would hardly see her if she were walking about the woods,' thought
+Maia, 'except that her face and hair are so white, they would gleam out
+like snow.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE STORY OF A KING'S DAUGHTER.
+
+    'Gentle and sweet is she;
+    As the heart of a rose is her heart,
+    As soft and as fair and as sweet.'
+
+    _Liliput Lectures._
+
+
+Godmother turned to the little strangers. The two pairs of blue eyes
+were still fixed upon her. _Her_ eyes looked very kind and gentle, and
+yet very 'seeing', as she caught their gaze.
+
+'I believe,' thought Maia, 'that she can tell all we are thinking;' and
+Rollo had something of the same idea, yet neither of them felt the least
+afraid of her.
+
+'Rollo and Maia, dear children, too,' she said, 'we are so pleased to
+see you.'
+
+'And we are very pleased to be here,' said they; 'but----' and then they
+hesitated.
+
+'You are puzzled how it is I know your names, and all about you, are
+you not?' she said, smiling. 'I puzzle most children at first; but isn't
+it rather nice to be puzzled?'
+
+This was a new idea. Thinking it over, they began to find there was
+something in it.
+
+'I think it _is_,' both replied, smiling a little.
+
+'If you knew all about everything, and could see through everything,
+there wouldn't be much interest left. Nothing to find out or to fancy.
+Oh, what a dull world!'
+
+'Are we to find out or to fancy _you_?' asked Maia. She spoke seriously,
+but there was a little look of fun in her eyes which was at once
+reflected in godmother's.
+
+'Whichever you like,' she replied; 'but, first of all, you are to kiss
+me.'
+
+Rollo and Maia both kissed the soft white face. It was _so_ soft, and
+there seemed a sort of fresh, sweet scent about godmother, as if she had
+been in a room all filled with violets, only it was even nicer. She
+smiled, and from a little basket on her arm, which they had not noticed,
+she drew out several tiny bunches of spring flowers, tied with green and
+white ribbon--so pretty; oh, so very pretty!
+
+'So you scented my flowers,' she said. 'No wonder; you have never
+scented any quite like them before. They come from the other country.
+Here, dears, catch,' and she tossed them up in the air, all four
+children jumping and darting about to see who would get most. But at the
+end, when they counted their treasures, it was quite right, each had got
+three.
+
+'Oh, how sweet!' cried Maia. 'May we take them home with us, godmother?'
+It seemed to come quite naturally to call her that, and Maia did it
+without thinking.
+
+'Certainly,' godmother replied; 'but remember this, don't throw them
+away when they seem withered. They will not be really withered; that is
+to say, long afterwards, by putting them in the sunshine, they
+will--some of them, any way--come out quite fresh again. And even when
+dried up they will have a delicious scent; indeed, the scent has an
+added charm about it the older they are--so many think, and I agree with
+them.'
+
+Rollo and Maia looked at their flowers with a sort of awe.
+
+'Then they are _fairy_ flowers?' they half whispered. 'You said they
+came from the other country. Do you come from there too, godmother? Are
+you a fairy?'
+
+Godmother smiled.
+
+'Fancy me one if you like,' she said. 'Fancy me whatever you like best,
+you will not be far wrong; but fairyland is only one little part of that
+other country. You will find that out as you get older.'
+
+'Shall we go there some day, then?' exclaimed Maia. 'Will you take us,
+dear godmother? Have Waldo and Silva ever been?'
+
+'Oh, what a lot of questions all at once!' cried godmother. 'I can't
+answer so many. You must be content to find out some things for
+yourself, my little girl. The way to the other country for one. Shall
+you go there some day? Yes, indeed, many and many a time, I hope.'
+
+Maia clapped her hands with delight.
+
+'Oh, how nice!' she said. 'And when? May we go to-day? Oh, Silva, do ask
+godmother to let us go to-day,' she exclaimed, catching hold of Silva in
+her eagerness. But Silva only smiled, and looked at godmother; and
+somehow, when they smiled, the two faces--the young one with its bright
+rich colour, and the old one, white, so white, except for the wonderful,
+beautiful eyes, that it might have been made of snow--looked strangely
+alike.
+
+'Silva has learned to be patient,' said godmother, 'and so she gets to
+know more and more of the other country. You must follow her example,
+little Maia. Don't be discouraged. How do you know that you are not
+already on the way there? What do you think about it, my boy?' she went
+on, turning to Rollo, who was standing a little behind them listening,
+but saying nothing.
+
+Rollo looked up and smiled.
+
+'I'd like to find the way myself,' he replied.
+
+'That's right,' said godmother. And Maia felt more and more puzzled, as
+it seemed to her that Rollo understood the meaning of godmother's words
+better than she did.
+
+'Rollo,' she exclaimed, half reproachfully.
+
+Rollo turned to her with some surprise.
+
+'You understand and I don't,' she said, with a little pout on her pretty
+lips.
+
+'No,' said Rollo, 'I don't. But I like to think of understanding some
+day.'
+
+'That is right,' said godmother again. 'But this is dull talk for you,
+little people. What is it to be to-day, Silva? What is old godmother to
+do for you?'
+
+Silva glanced out of the window.
+
+'The day will soon be closing into evening,' she said,' and Rollo and
+Maia cannot stay after sunset. We have not very long, godmother--no
+time to go anywhere.'
+
+'Ah, I don't know about that,' godmother replied. 'But still--the first
+visit. What would you like, then, my child?'
+
+'Let us gather round the fire, for it is a little chilly,' said Silva,
+'and you, dear godmother, will tell us a story.'
+
+Maia's eyes and Rollo's, too, brightened at this. Godmother had no need
+to ask if they would like it. She drew the large chair nearer the
+fireplace, and the four children clustered round her in silence waiting
+for her to begin.
+
+'It is too warm with my cloak on,' she said, and she raised her hand to
+unfasten it at the neck and loosen it a little. It did not entirely fall
+off; the dark green hood still made a shade round her silvery hair and
+delicate face, but the cloak dropped away enough for Maia's sharp eyes
+to see that the dress underneath was of lovely crimson stuff, neither
+velvet nor satin, but richer and softer than either. It glimmered in the
+light of the fire with a sort of changing brilliance that was very
+tempting, and it almost seemed to Maia that she caught the sparkle of
+diamonds and other precious stones.
+
+'May I stroke your pretty dress, godmother?' she said softly. Godmother
+started; she did not seem to have noticed how much of the crimson was
+seen, and for a moment Maia felt a little afraid. But then godmother
+smiled again, and the child felt quite happy, and slipped her hand
+inside the folds of the cloak till it reached the soft stuff beneath.
+
+'Stroke it the right way,' said godmother.
+
+'Oh, _how_ soft!' said Maia in delight. 'What _is_ it made of? It isn't
+velvet, or even plush. Godmother,' she went on, puckering her forehead
+again in perplexity, 'it almost feels like _feathers_. Are you perhaps a
+_bird_ as well as a fairy?'
+
+At this godmother laughed. You never heard anything so pretty as her
+laugh. It was something like--no, I could never tell you what it was
+like--a very little like lots of tiny silver bells ringing, and soft
+breezes blowing, and larks trilling, all together and _very_ gently, and
+yet very clearly. The children could not help all laughing, too, to hear
+it.
+
+'Call me whatever you like,' said godmother. 'A bird, or a fairy, or a
+will-o'-the-wisp, or even a witch. Many people have called me a witch,
+and I don't mind. Only, dears,' and here her pretty, sweet voice grew
+grave, and even a little sad, 'never think of me except as loving you
+and wanting to make you happy and good. And never believe I have said or
+done anything to turn you from doing right and helping others to do it.
+That is the only thing that could grieve me. And the world is full of
+people who don't see things the right way, and blame others when it is
+their own fault all the while. So sometimes you will find it all rather
+difficult. But don't forget.'
+
+'No,' said Maia, 'we won't forget, even though we don't quite
+understand. We will some day, won't we?'
+
+'Yes, dears, that you will,' said godmother.
+
+'And just now,' said Silva, 'it doesn't matter. We needn't think about
+the difficult world, dear godmother, while we're _here_--ever so far
+away from it.'
+
+'No, we need not,' said godmother, with what sounded almost like a sigh,
+if one could have believed that godmother _could_ sigh! If it were one,
+it was gone in an instant, and with her very prettiest and happiest
+smile, godmother turned to the children.
+
+'And now, dears,' she said, 'now for the story.'
+
+The four figures drew still nearer, the four pair of eyes were fixed on
+the sweet white face, into which, as she spoke, a little soft pink
+colour began to come. Whether it was from the reflection of the fire or
+not, Maia could not decide, and godmother's clear voice went on.
+
+'Once----'
+
+'Once upon a time; do say "once upon a time,"' interrupted Silva.
+
+'Well, well, once upon a time,' repeated godmother, 'though, by the by,
+how do you know I was _not_ going to say it? Well, then, once upon a
+time, a long ago once upon a time, there lived a king's daughter.'
+
+'A princess,' interrupted another voice, Maia's this time. 'Why don't
+you say a princess, dear godmother?'
+
+'Never mind,' replied godmother. 'I like better to call her a king's
+daughter.'
+
+'And don't interrupt any more, please,' said Waldo and Rollo together,
+quite forgetting that they were actually interrupting themselves.
+
+'And,' continued godmother, without noticing this last interruption,
+'she was very beautiful and very sweet and good, even though she had
+everything in the world that even a king's daughter could want. Do you
+look surprised at my saying "even though," children? You need not; there
+is nothing more difficult than to remain unselfish, which is just
+another word for "sweet and good," if one never knows what it is to have
+a wish ungratified. But so it was with Auréole, for that was the name of
+the fair maiden. Though she had all her life been surrounded with luxury
+and indulgence, though she had never known even a crumpled rose-leaf in
+her path, her heart still remained tender, and she felt for the
+sufferings of others whenever she knew of them, as if they were her own.
+
+'"Who knows?" she would say softly to herself, "who knows but what some
+day sorrow may come to me, and then how glad I should be to find
+kindness and sympathy!"
+
+'And when she thought thus there used to come a look in her eyes which
+made her old nurse, who loved her dearly, tremble and cross herself.
+
+'"I have never seen that look," she would whisper, though not so that
+Auréole could hear it--"I have never seen that look save in the eyes of
+those who were born to sorrow."
+
+'But time went on, and no sorrows of her own had as yet come to Auréole.
+She grew to be tall and slender, with golden fair curls about her face,
+which gave her a childlike, innocent look, as if she were younger than
+her real age. And with her years her tenderness and sympathy for
+suffering seemed to grow deeper and stronger. It was the sure way to her
+heart. In a glade not far from the castle she had a favourite bower,
+where early every morning she used to go to feed and tend her pets, of
+which the best-loved was a delicate little fawn that she had found one
+day in the forest, deserted by its companions, as it had hurt its foot
+and could no longer keep pace with them. With difficulty Auréole and her
+nurse carried it home between them, and tended it till it grew well
+again and could once more run and spring as lightly as ever. And then
+one morning Auréole, with tears in her eyes, led it back to the forest
+where she had found it.
+
+'"Here, my fawn," she said, "you are free as air. I would not keep you a
+captive. Hasten to your friends, my fawn, but do not forget Auréole, and
+if you are in trouble come to her to help you."
+
+'But the fawn would not move. He rubbed himself softly against her, and
+looked up in her face with eyes that almost spoke. She could not but
+understand what he meant to say.
+
+'"I cannot leave you. Let me stay always beside you," was what he tried
+to express. So Auréole let him follow her home again, and from that
+day he had always lived in her bower, and was never so happy as when
+gambolling about her. She had other pets too--numbers of birds of
+various kinds, none of which she kept in cages, for all of them she had
+in some way or other saved and protected, and, like the fawn, they
+refused to leave her. The sweetest, perhaps, were a pair of wood-pigeons
+which she had one day released from a fowler's snare, where they had
+become entangled. It was the prettiest sight in the world to see Auréole
+in her bower every morning, the fawn rubbing his soft head against her
+white dress, and the wood-pigeons cooing to her, one perched on each
+shoulder, while round her head fluttered a crowd of birds of different
+kinds--all owing their life and happiness to her tender care. There was
+a thrush, which she had found half-fledged and gasping for breath,
+fallen from the nest; a maimed swallow, who had been left behind by his
+companions in the winter flight. And running about, though still lame of
+one leg, a tame rabbit which she had rescued from a dog, and ever so
+many other innocent creatures, all with histories of the same kind, and
+each vying with the other to express gratitude to their dear mistress as
+she stood there with the sunshine peeping through the boughs and
+lighting up her sweet face and bright hair.
+
+[Illustration: 'It was the prettiest sight in the world to see Auréole
+in her bower every morning.']
+
+'But summer and sunshine do not always last, and in time sorrow came to
+Auréole as to others.
+
+'Her mother had died when she was a little baby, and her father was
+already growing old. But he felt no anxiety about the future of his only
+child, for it had long been decided that she was to marry the next heir
+to his crown, the Prince Halbert, as by the laws of that country no
+woman could reign. Auréole had not seen Halbert for many years, when, as
+children, they had played together; but she remembered him with
+affection as a bright merry boy, and she looked forward without fear to
+being his wife.
+
+'"Why should I not love him?" she said to herself. "I have never yet
+known any one who was not kind and gentle, and Halbert will be still
+more so to me than any one else, for he will be my king and master."
+
+'And when the day came for the Prince to return to see her again, she
+waited for him quietly and without misgiving. And at first all seemed as
+she had pictured it. Halbert was manly and handsome, he had an open
+expression and winning manners, he was devoted to his gentle cousin. So
+the old King was delighted, and Auréole said to herself, "What have I
+done to deserve such happiness? How can I ever sufficiently show my
+gratitude?"
+
+'She was standing in her bower when she thought thus, surrounded as
+usual by her pets. Suddenly among the trees at some little distance she
+heard a sound of footsteps, and at the same time a harsh voice, which
+she scarcely recognised, speaking roughly and sharply.
+
+'"Out of my way, you cur," it said, and then came the sound of a blow,
+followed by a piteous whine.
+
+'Auréole darted forward, and in another instant came upon Halbert, his
+face dark and frowning, while a poor little dog lay bleeding at his
+feet.
+
+'"Halbert!" exclaimed Auréole. Her cousin started; he had not heard her
+come. "Did _you_ do this? Did _you_ strike the little dog?"
+
+'Halbert turned towards her; he had reddened with shame, but he tried to
+laugh it off.
+
+'"It is nothing," he said; "the creature will be all right again
+directly. Horrid little cur! it rushed out at me from that cottage there
+and yelped and barked just when I was eagerly hastening to your bower,
+Princess."
+
+'But Auréole hardly heard him, or his attempts at excusing himself. She
+was on her knees before the poor dog.
+
+'"Why, Fido," she said, "dear little Fido, do you not know me?" Fido
+feebly tried to wag his tail.
+
+'"Is it _your_ dog?" stammered Halbert. "I had no--not the slightest
+idea----"
+
+'But Auréole flashed back an answer which startled him. "_My_ dog," she
+said. "No. But what has that to do with it? Oh, you cruel man!"
+
+'Then she turned from him, the little dog all panting and bleeding in
+her arms. Halbert was startled by the look on her face.
+
+'"Forgive me, Auréole," he cried. "I did not mean to hurt the creature.
+I am hasty and quick-tempered, but you should not punish so severely an
+instant's thoughtlessness."
+
+'"It was not thoughtlessness. It was cowardly cruelty," replied Auréole
+slowly, turning her pale face towards him. "A man must have a cruel
+nature who, even under irritation, could do what you have done.
+Farewell," and she was moving away when he stopped her.
+
+'"What do you mean by farewell? You are not in earnest?" he exclaimed.
+But Auréole looked at him with indignation.
+
+'"Not in earnest?" she repeated. "Never was I more so in my life!
+Farewell, Halbert."
+
+'"And you will not see me again?" he exclaimed.
+
+'"I will never see you again," Auréole replied, "till you have learnt to
+feel for the sufferings of your fellow-creatures, instead of adding to
+them. And who can say if that day will ever come? Farewell again,
+Halbert."
+
+'The Prince stood thunderstruck, watching her slight figure as it
+disappeared among the trees. He felt like a man in a dream. Then, as he
+gradually became conscious that it was all true, his hot temper broke
+out in anger at Auréole, in mockery at her absurdity and exaggeration,
+and he tried to believe what he said, that no man could be happy with so
+fanciful and unreasonable a wife, and that he had nothing to regret. In
+his heart he was angry with himself, though to this he would not own,
+and conscious also that Auréole's instinct had judged him truly. He was
+selfish and utterly thoughtless for others, and far on the way therefore
+to becoming actually cruel. He had, like Auréole, been surrounded by
+luxury and indulgence all his life, but had not, like her, acquired the
+habit of feeling for others and looking upon his own blessings as to be
+shared with those who were without them.
+
+'Auréole kept to her word. She would not see Halbert again, though the
+King, her father, did his utmost to shake her resolution. She remained
+firm. It was better so for both of them, she repeated. It would kill her
+to be the wife of such a man, and do him no good. So in bitter and angry
+resentment, rather than sorrow, Prince Halbert went away, and Auréole's
+life returned to what it had been before his coming.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE STORY OF A KING'S DAUGHTER
+
+(_Continued_).
+
+    'I have been enchanted, and thou only canst set me free.'
+
+    GRIMM'S _Raven_.
+
+
+'It seemed so at least, but in reality it was very different. Auréole
+had received a shock which she felt deeply, and which she could not
+forget. It grieved her, too, to see her father's distress and
+disappointment, and sometimes she asked herself if perhaps she had done
+wrong in deciding so hastily. But the sight of the little dog Fido,
+which had recovered, though with the loss of one eye, always removed
+these misgivings. "A man who could be so cruel to a harmless little
+creature, would have quickly broken my heart," she said to herself and
+sometimes to her father. And as time went on, and news came that Prince
+Halbert was becoming more and more feared and disliked in his own home
+from the increasing violence of his temper, the old King learnt to be
+thankful that his dear Auréole was not to be at the mercy of such a man.
+
+'"But what will become of you, my darling, when I am gone?" he would
+say.
+
+'"Fear not for me," Auréole assured him. "I have no fear for myself,
+father, dear. Why, I could live safely in the woods with my dear
+animals. If I had a little hut, and Fido to guard me, and Lello my fawn,
+and the little rabbit, and all my pretty birds, I should be quite
+happy!"
+
+'For the forester to whom Fido belonged had begged Auréole to keep him,
+as even before its hurt the dog had learnt to love her and spring out to
+greet her, and wag his tail with pleasure when she passed his master's
+cottage, which lay on the way to her glade. But though Auréole was not
+afraid for herself, she was often very miserable when she thought of her
+country-people, above all the poor and defenceless ones, in the power of
+such a king as Halbert gave signs of being, after the long and gentle
+rule of her father. Yet there was nothing to be done, so she kept
+silence, fearing to cloud with more sorrow and anxiety the last days of
+the old King.
+
+'They were indeed his last days, for within a year of Halbert's
+unfortunate visit her father died, and the fair Auréole was left
+desolate.
+
+'Her grief was great, even though the King had been very old, and she
+had long known he could not be spared to her for many more years. But
+she had not much time to indulge in it, for already, before her father
+was laid in his grave, her sorrow was disturbed by the strange and
+unexpected events which came to pass.
+
+'These began by a curious dream which came to Auréole the very night of
+her father's death.
+
+'She dreamt that she was standing in her bower with her pets about her
+as usual. She felt bright and happy, and had altogether forgotten about
+her father's death. Suddenly a movement of terror made itself felt among
+her animals--the birds fluttered closer to her, the little rabbit crept
+beneath her skirt, the fawn and Fido looked up at her with startled
+eyes, and almost before she had time to look round their terror was
+explained. A frightful sound was heard approaching them, the terrible
+growl of a bear, and in another moment the monster was within a few
+yards. Even then, in her dream, Auréole's first thought was for her
+pets. She threw her arms round all that she could embrace, and stood
+there calmly, watching the creature with a faint hope that if she
+showed no terror he might pass them by. But he came nearer and nearer,
+till she almost felt his hot breath on her face, when suddenly, to her
+amazement, the monster was no longer there, but in his place the Prince
+Halbert, standing beside her and looking at her with an expression of
+the profoundest misery.
+
+'"I have brought it on myself," he said. "I deserve it; but pity me, oh,
+Auréole! Sweet Auréole, pity and forgive me!" Then a cry of
+irrepressible grief burst from his lips, and at this moment Auréole
+awoke, to find her eyes wet with tears, her heart throbbing fast with
+fear and distress.
+
+'"What can have made me dream of Halbert?" she said to herself. "It must
+have been seeing the messengers start yesterday," and then all came back
+to her memory, which at the first moment of waking had been confused,
+and she remembered her father's death and her own loneliness, and the
+scarcely-dried tears rushed afresh to her eyes.
+
+'"Has any news come from Prince Halbert?" she inquired of her attendants
+when they came at her summons. And when they told her "none," she felt a
+strange sensation of uneasiness. For the messengers had been despatched
+at once on the death of the old King, which had been sudden at the last,
+to summon his successor, and there had been time already for their
+return.
+
+'And as the day went on and nothing was heard of them, every one began
+to think there must be something wrong, till late at night these fears
+were confirmed by the return of the messengers with anxious faces.
+
+'"Has the Prince arrived?" was their first question, and when they were
+told that nothing had been seen of him, they explained the reason of
+their inquiry.
+
+'Halbert, already informed of the illness of the old King, had quickly
+prepared to set out with his own attendants and those who had come to
+summon him. They had ridden through the night, and had nothing untoward
+occurred, they would have ended their journey by daybreak. But the
+Prince had lost his temper with his horse, a nervous and restless
+animal, unfit for so irritable a person to manage.
+
+'"We became uneasy," said the messengers, "on seeing the Prince lashing
+and spurring furiously the poor animal, who, his sides streaming with
+blood, no longer understood what was required of him, and at last,
+driven mad with pain and terror, dashed off at a frantic pace which it
+was hopeless to overtake. We followed him as best we could, guided for
+some distance by the branches broken as they passed and the ploughed-up
+ground, which, thanks to a brilliant moonlight, we were able to
+distinguish. But at last, where the trees began to grow more
+thickly----" and here the speaker, who was giving this report to Auréole
+herself, hesitated--"at last these traces entirely disappeared. We
+sought on in every direction; when the moon went in we waited for the
+daylight, and resumed our search. But all to no purpose, and at last we
+resolved to ride on hither, hoping that the Prince might possibly have
+found his way before us."
+
+'"But this is terrible!" cried Auréole, forgetting all her indignation
+against Halbert in the thought of his lying perhaps crushed and helpless
+in some bypath of the forest which his followers had missed. "We must at
+once send out fresh horsemen in every direction to scour the country."
+
+'The captain who had had command of the little troop bowed, but said
+nothing, and seemed without much hope that any fresh efforts would
+succeed. Auréole was struck with his manner.
+
+'"You are concealing something from me," she said. "Why do you appear so
+hopeless? Even at the worst, even supposing the Prince is killed, he
+must be found."
+
+'"We searched too thoroughly," replied the officer. "Wherever it was
+_possible_ to get, we left not a square yard unvisited."
+
+'"Wherever it was _possible_," repeated Auréole; "what do you mean? You
+do not think----" and she too hesitated, and her pale face grew paler.
+
+'The captain glanced at her.
+
+'"I see that you have divined our fears, Princess," he said in a low
+voice. "Yes, we feel almost without a doubt that the unfortunate Prince
+has been carried into the enchanted forest, from whence, as you well
+know, none have ever been known to return. It is well that his parents
+have not lived to see this day, for, though he brought it on himself, it
+is impossible not to feel pity for such a fate."
+
+'Auréole seemed scarcely able to reply. But she gave orders,
+notwithstanding all she had heard, to send out fresh horsemen to search
+again in every direction.
+
+'"My poor father," she said to herself; "I am glad he was spared this
+new sorrow about Halbert." And as the remembrance of her strange dream
+returned to her, "Poor Halbert," she added, "what may he not be
+suffering?" and she shuddered at the thought.
+
+'For the enchanted forest was the terror of all that country. In reality
+nothing, or almost nothing, was known of it, and therefore the awe and
+horror about it were the greater. It lay in a lonely stretch of ground
+between two ranges of hills, and no one ever passed through it, for
+there was no pathway or entrance of any kind to be seen. But for longer
+than any one now living could remember, it had been spoken of as a place
+to be dreaded and avoided, and travellers in passing by used to tell how
+they had heard shrieks and screams and groans from among its dark
+shades. It was said that a magician lived in a castle in the very centre
+of the forest, and that he used all sorts of tricks to get people into
+his power, whence they could never again escape. For though several were
+known to have been tempted to enter the forest, none of them were ever
+heard of or seen again. And it was the common saying of the
+neighbourhood, that it would be far worse to lose a child by straying
+into the forest than by dying. No one had ever seen the magician, no one
+even was sure that he existed, but when any misfortune came over the
+neighbourhood, such as a bad harvest or unusual sickness, people were
+sure to say that the wizard of the forest was at the bottom of it. And
+Auréole, like every one else, had a great and mysterious terror of the
+place and its master.
+
+'"Poor Halbert!" she repeated to herself many times that day. "Would I
+could do anything for him!"
+
+'The bands of horsemen she had sent out returned one after the other
+with the same tidings,--nothing had been seen or heard of the Prince.
+But late in the day a woodman brought to the castle a fragment of cloth
+which was recognised as having been torn from the mantle of the Prince,
+and which he had found caught on the branch of a tree. When asked where,
+he hesitated, which of itself was answer enough.
+
+'"Close to the borders of the enchanted forest," he said at last,
+lowering his voice. But that was all he had to tell. And from this
+moment all lost hope. There was nothing more to be done.
+
+'"The Prince is as lost to us as is our good old King," were the words
+of every one on the day of the funeral of Auréole's father. "Far better
+for him were he too sleeping peacefully among his fathers than to be
+where he is."
+
+'It seemed as if it would have certainly been better for his people had
+it been so. It was impossible to receive the successor of Halbert as
+king till a certain time had elapsed, which would be considered as equal
+to proof of his death. And the next heir to the crown being but an
+infant living in a distant country, the delay gave opportunity for
+several rival claimants to begin to make difficulties, and not many
+months after the death of the old King the once happy and peaceful
+country was threatened with war and invasion on various sides. Then the
+heads of the nation consulted together, and decided on a bold step. They
+came to Auréole offering her the crown, declaring that they preferred to
+overthrow the laws of the country, though they had existed for many
+centuries, and to make her, at the point of the sword if necessary,
+their queen, rather than accept as sovereign any of those who had no
+right to it, or an infant who would but be a name and no reality.
+
+'Auréole was startled and bewildered, but firm in her refusal.
+
+'"A king's daughter am I, but no queen. I feel no fitness for the task
+of ruling," she replied, "and I could never rest satisfied that I was
+where I had a right to be."
+
+'But when the deputies entreated her to consider the matter, and when
+she thought of the misery in store for the people unless something were
+quickly done, she agreed to think it over till the next day.
+
+'The next day came, Auréole was ready, awaiting the deputies. Their
+hopes rose high as they saw her, for there was an expression on her face
+that had not been there the day before. She stood before them in her
+long mourning robe, but she had encircled her waist with a golden belt,
+and golden ornaments shone on her neck and arms.
+
+'"It is a good sign," the envoys whispered, as they remarked also the
+bright and hopeful light in her eyes, and they stood breathless, waiting
+for her reply. It was not what they had expected.
+
+'"I cannot as yet consent to what you wish," said Auréole; "but be
+patient. I set off to-day on a journey from which I hope to return with
+good news. Till then I entreat you to do your best to keep all peaceful
+and quiet. And I promise you that if I fail in what I am undertaking, I
+will return to be your queen."
+
+'This was all she would say. She was forbidden, she declared, to say
+more. And so resolute and decided did she appear, that the envoys,
+though not without murmuring, were obliged to consent to await her
+return, and withdrew with anxious and uneasy looks.
+
+'And Auréole immediately began to get ready for the mysterious journey
+of which she had spoken. Her preparations were strange. She took off,
+for the first time since her father's death, her black dress, and clad
+herself entirely in white. Then she kissed her old nurse and bade her
+farewell, at the same time telling her to keep up her courage and have
+no fear, to which the old dame could not reply without tears.
+
+'"I do not urge you to tell me the whole, Princess," she said, "as it
+was forbidden you to do so. But if I might but go with you." Auréole
+shook her head.
+
+'"No, dear nurse," she replied. "The voice in my dream said, 'Alone,
+save for thy dumb friends.' That is all I can tell you," and kissing
+again the poor nurse, Auréole set off, none knew whither, and she took
+care that none should follow her. Some of her attendants saw her going
+in the direction of her bower, and remarked her white dress. But they
+were so used to her going alone to see her pets that they thought no
+more of it. For no one knew the summons Auréole had received. The night
+before, after tossing about unable to sleep, so troubled was she by the
+request that had been made to her, she at last fell into a slumber, and
+again there came to her a strange dream. She thought she saw her cousin;
+he seemed pale and worn with distress and suffering.
+
+'"Auréole," he said, "you alone can rescue me. Have you courage? I ask
+it not only for myself, but for our people."
+
+'And when in her sleep she would have spoken, no words came, only she
+felt herself stretching out her arms to Halbert as if to reach and save
+him.
+
+'"Come, then," said his voice; "but come alone, save for thy dumb
+friends. Tell no one, but fear not." But even as he said the words he
+seemed to disappear, and again the dreadful, the panting roar she had
+heard in her former dream reached Auréole's ears, in another moment the
+terrible shape of the monster appeared, and shivering with horror she
+awoke. Yet she determined to respond to Halbert's appeal. She told no
+one except her old nurse, to whom she merely said that she had been
+summoned in a dream to go away, but that no harm would befall her. She
+clad herself in white, as a better omen of success, and when she reached
+her bower, all her creatures welcomed her joyfully. So, with Fido, Lello
+the fawn, and the little rabbit gambolling about her feet, the
+wood-pigeons on her shoulders, and all the strange company of birds
+fluttering about her, Auréole set off on her journey, she knew not
+whither.
+
+'But her pets knew. Whenever she felt at a loss Fido would give a little
+tug to her dress and then run on barking in front, or Lello would look
+up in her face with his pleading eyes and then turn his head in a
+certain direction, while the birds would sometimes disappear for a few
+moments and then, with a great chirping and fluttering, would be seen
+again a little way overhead, as if to assure her they had been to look
+if she was taking the right way. So that when night began to fall,
+Auréole, very tired, but not discouraged, found herself far from home in
+a part of the forest she had never seen before, though with trembling
+she said to herself that for all she knew she might already be in the
+enchanter's country.
+
+'"But what if it be so?" she reflected. "I must not be faint-hearted
+before my task is begun."
+
+'She was wondering how she should spend the night when a sharp bark from
+Fido made her look round. She followed to where it came from, and found
+the little dog at the door of a small hut cleverly concealed among the
+trees. Followed by her pets Auréole entered it, when immediately, as if
+pulled by an invisible hand, the door shut to. But she forgot to be
+frightened in her surprise at what she saw. The hut was beautifully made
+of the branches of trees woven together, and completely lined with moss.
+A small fire burned cheerfully in one corner, for the nights were still
+chilly; a little table was spread with a snow-white cloth, on which were
+laid out fruits and cakes and a jug of fresh milk; and a couch of the
+softest moss covered with a rug made of fur was evidently arranged for
+Auréole's bed. And at the other side of the hut sweet hay was strewn for
+the animals, and a sort of trellis work of branches was ready in one
+corner for the birds to roost on.
+
+'"How pleasant it is!" said Auréole, as she knelt down to warm herself
+before the fire. "If this is the enchanted forest I don't think it is at
+all a dreadful place, and the wizard must be very kind and hospitable."
+
+'And when she had had some supper and had seen that her pets had all
+they wanted, she lay down on the mossy couch feeling refreshed and
+hopeful, and soon fell fast asleep. She had slept for some hours when
+she suddenly awoke, though what had awakened her she could not tell. But
+glancing round the hut, by the flickering light of the fire, which was
+not yet quite out, she saw that all her pets were awake, and when she
+gently called "Fido, Fido," the little dog, followed by the fawn and the
+rabbit, crept across the hut to her, and when she touched them she felt
+that they were all shaking and trembling, while the birds seemed to be
+trying to hide themselves all huddled together in a corner. And almost
+before Auréole had time to ask herself what it could be, their fear was
+explained, for through the darkness outside came the sound she had twice
+heard in her dreams--the terrible panting roar of the monster! It came
+nearer and nearer. Auréole felt there was nothing to do. She threw her
+arms round the poor little trembling creatures determined to protect
+them to the last. Suddenly there came a great bang at the door, as if
+some heavy creature had thrown itself against it, and Auréole trembled
+still more, expecting the door to burst open. But the mysterious hand
+that had shut it had shut it well. It did not move. Only a low
+despairing growl was heard, and then all was silent till a few minutes
+after, when another growl came from some distance off, and then Auréole
+felt sure the danger was past: the beast had gone away, for, though she
+had not seen him, she was certain he was none other than the monster of
+her dreams. The poor animals cowered down again in their corner, and
+Auréole, surprised at the quickness with which her terror had passed,
+threw herself on her couch and fell into a sweet sleep. When she woke,
+the sun was already some way up in the sky; the door was half open, and
+a soft sweet breeze fluttered into the hut. All was in order; the little
+fire freshly lighted, the remains of last night's supper removed, and a
+tempting little breakfast arranged. Auréole could scarcely believe her
+eyes. "Some one must have come in while I was asleep," she said, and
+Fido seemed to understand what she meant. He jumped up, wagging his
+tail, and was delighted when Auréole sat down at the little table to eat
+what was provided. All her pets seemed as happy as possible, and had
+quite forgotten their fright. So, after breakfast, Auréole called them
+all about her and set off again on her rambles. Whither she was to go
+she knew not; she had obeyed the summons as well as she could, and now
+waited to see what more to do. The animals seemed to think they had got
+to the end of their journey, and gambolled and fluttered about in the
+best of spirits. And even Auréole herself felt it impossible to be sad
+or anxious. Never had she seen anything so beautiful as the forest, with
+its countless paths among the trees, each more tempting than the other,
+the sunshine peeping in through the branches, the lovely flowers of
+colours and forms she had never seen before, the beautiful birds
+warbling among the trees, the little squirrels and rabbits playing
+about, and the graceful deer one now and then caught sight of.
+
+'"Why," exclaimed Auréole, "_this_ the terrible enchanted forest! It is
+a perfect fairyland."
+
+'"You say true," said a voice beside her, which made her start. "To such
+as _you_ it is a fairyland of delight. But to _me_!" and before Auréole
+could recover herself from her surprise, there before her stood the
+Prince Halbert! But how changed! Scarcely had she recognised him when
+every feeling was lost in that of pity.
+
+'"Oh, poor Halbert," she cried, "so I have found you! Where have you
+been? What makes you look so miserable and ill?"
+
+'For Halbert seemed wasted to a shadow. His clothes, torn and tattered,
+hung loosely about him. His face was pale and thin, and his eyes sad and
+hopeless, though, as he saw the pitying look in her face, a gleam of
+brightness came into his.
+
+'"Oh, Auréole, how good of you to come! It is out of pity for _me_, who
+so little deserve it. But will you have strength to do all that is
+required to free me from this terrible bondage?"
+
+'"Explain yourself, Halbert," Auréole replied. "What is it you mean?
+What bondage? Remember I know nothing; not even if this is truly the
+enchanted forest."
+
+'Halbert glanced at the sun, now risen high in the heavens. "I have but
+a quarter of an hour," he said. "It is only one hour before noon that I
+am free."
+
+'And then he went on to relate as quickly as he could what had come over
+him. Fallen into the power of the invisible spirits of the enchanted
+land, whose wrath he had for long incurred by his cruelty to those
+beneath him, among whom were poor little Fido, and the unhappy horse who
+had dropped dead beneath him as soon as they entered the forest, his
+punishment had been pronounced to him by a voice in his dreams. It was a
+terrible one. For twenty-three hours of the twenty-four which make the
+day and night, he was condemned to roam the woods in the guise of a
+dreadful monster, bringing terror wherever he came. "I have to be in
+appearance what I was formerly in heart," he said bitterly. "You cannot
+imagine how fearful it is to see the tender innocent little animals
+fleeing from me in terror, though I would now die rather than injure one
+of them. And even you, Auréole, if you saw me you too would rush from me
+in horror."
+
+'"I have seen you," she replied. "I have twice seen you in my dreams,
+and now that I know all I shall not fear you."
+
+'"Do you indeed think so?" he exclaimed eagerly. "Your pity and courage
+are my only hope. For I am doomed to continue this awful life--for
+hundreds of years perhaps--till twelve dumb animals mount on my back and
+let me carry them out of this forest. In my despair, when I heard this
+sentence, I thought of you and your favourites, whom I used to mock at
+and ill-treat more than you knew. They love and trust you so much that
+it is possible you may make them do this. But I fear for your own
+courage."
+
+'"No," said Auréole, "that will not fail. And Fido is of a most
+forgiving nature. See here," she went on, calling to the little dog,
+"here is poor Halbert, who wants you to love him. Stroke him, Halbert,"
+and as the Prince gently did so, Fido looked up in his face with wistful
+eyes, and began timidly to wag his tail, while Lello and the rabbit drew
+near, and the birds fluttered, chirping above their heads. It was a
+pretty picture.
+
+'"See," said Auréole, raising her bright face from caressing the good
+little creatures, "see, Halbert, how loving and gentle they are! It will
+not be difficult. In many ways they are wiser than we. But I can never
+again believe that the spirits of the forest are evil or mischievous.
+Rather do I now think them good and benevolent. How happy seem all the
+creatures under their care!"
+
+'"I know no more than I have told you," said Halbert; "but I too believe
+they must be good, cruelly as they have punished me, for I deserved it.
+And doubtless all those who are said to have disappeared in the forest
+have been kept here for good purposes. And such as you, Auréole, have
+nothing to fear in any country or from any spirits. But I must go," he
+exclaimed. "I would not have you _yet_ see me in my other form. You must
+reflect over what I have said, and prepare yourself for it."
+
+'"And when, then, shall I see you again?" she asked.
+
+'"To-night, at sunset, at the door of your hut, you will see--alas, not
+_me_!" he whispered, and then in a moment he had disappeared.
+
+'At sunset that evening Auréole sat at the door of the little hut,
+surrounded by her animals. She had petted and caressed them even more
+than usual, so anxious was she to prepare them for their strange task.
+She had even talked of it to Fido and Lello with a sort of vague idea
+that they might understand a little, though their only answer was for
+Fido to wag his tail and Lello to rub his soft nose against her. But
+suddenly both pricked up their ears, and then clinging more closely to
+their mistress, began to tremble with fear, while the birds drew near in
+a frightened flock.
+
+'"Silly birds," said Auréole, trying to speak in her usual cheerful
+tone, "what have _you_ to fear? Bears don't eat little birds, and you
+can fly off in a moment. Not that I want you to fly away;" and she
+whistled and called to them, at the same time caressing and encouraging
+the animals, whose quick ears had caught sooner than she had done the
+dreadful baying roar which now came nearer and nearer. It was exactly
+the scene of her dreams, and notwithstanding all her determination,
+Auréole could not help shivering as the form of the monster came in
+sight. "Suppose it is not Halbert," she thought. "Suppose it is all a
+trick of the spirits of this enchanted country for my destruction!" And
+the idea nearly made her faint as the dreadful beast drew near. He
+was so hideous, and his roars made him seem still more so. His great red
+tongue hung out of his mouth, his eyes seemed glaring with rage. It was
+all Auréole could do to keep her pets round her, and she felt that her
+terror would take away all her power over them.
+
+[Illustration: Auréole could not help shivering as the form of the
+monster came in sight.]
+
+'"Oh, Halbert," she exclaimed, "_is_ it you? I know you cannot speak,
+but can you not make some sign to show me that it is you? I am so
+frightened." She had started up as if on the point of running away. The
+monster, who was close beside her, opened still wider his huge mouth,
+and gave a roar of despair. Then an idea seemed to strike him--he bent
+his clumsy knees, and rubbed his great head on the ground at her feet;
+Auréole's courage returned. She patted his head, and he gave a faint
+groan of relief. Then by degrees, with the greatest patience, she coaxed
+the animals to draw near, and at last placed Fido and Lello on the
+beast's immense back. But though they now seemed less frightened they
+would not stay there, but jumped off again, and pressed themselves close
+against her. It was no use; after hours, at least so it seemed to
+Auréole, spent in trying, she had to give it up.
+
+'"I cannot do it, Halbert," she said. A groan was his reply. Then
+another thought struck her.
+
+'"I will climb on your back myself," she exclaimed; "and then perhaps I
+can coax the animals to stay there."
+
+'The poor beast tried to stoop down still lower to make it easier for
+Auréole to get on. She managed it without much difficulty, and
+immediately Fido and Lello and the rabbit saw her mounted, up they
+jumped, for they had no idea of being left behind. The wood-pigeons came
+cooing down from the branch where they had taken refuge in their fright,
+and perched on her shoulders. Auréole looked up, and called and whistled
+to the other birds. Down they came as if bewitched, and settled round
+her, all the seven of them on the beast's furry back.
+
+'"Off, Halbert," cried Auréole, afraid to lose an instant, and off,
+nothing loth, the beast set. It was hard work to keep on. He plunged
+along so clumsily, and went so fast in his eagerness, that it was like
+riding on an earthquake. But when now and then he stopped, and gave a
+low pitiful roar, as if begging Auréole's pardon for shaking her so, she
+always found breath to say: "On, Halbert, on; think not of me."
+
+'And so at last, after hours of this terrible journey, many times during
+which Auréole's heart had been in her mouth at the least sign of
+impatience among the animals, they reached the borders of the enchanted
+country, and as the panting beast emerged from the forest with his
+strange burden, poor Auréole slipped fainting off his back. Her task was
+done.
+
+'When she came back to her senses and opened her eyes, her first thought
+was for the beast, but he had disappeared. Fido and Lello, and all the
+others were there, however; the dog licking her hands, the fawn nestling
+beside her, and at a little distance stood a figure she seemed to know,
+though no longer miserable and wretched as she had last seen him. It was
+Halbert, strong and handsome and happy again, but with a look in his
+eyes of gentleness and humility and gratitude that had never been there
+in the old days.
+
+'"Halbert," said Auréole, sitting up and holding out her hand to him,
+"is all then right?"
+
+'"All is right," he replied; "you can see for yourself. But, oh,
+Auréole, how can I thank you? My whole life would not be long enough to
+repay or----"
+
+'"Think not about thanking me," interrupted Auréole. "My best reward
+will be the delight of restoring to my dear country-people a king whose
+first object will _now_, I feel assured, be their happiness;" and her
+eyes sparkled with delight at the thought.
+
+'She was right. Nothing could exceed the joy of the nation at the return
+of Auréole, and thanks to her assurances of his changed character, they
+soon learned to trust their new king as he deserved.
+
+'No one ever knew the true history of his disappearance, but all admired
+and respected the noble and unselfish courage of Auréole in braving the
+dangers of the enchanted forest itself. Her pets all lived to a good old
+age, and had every comfort they could wish for. It was said that
+Halbert's only sorrow was that for long he could not persuade Auréole to
+fulfil her father's wishes by marrying him. But some years later a
+rumour came from the far-off country where these events happened,
+telling of the beautiful "king's daughter" having at last consented to
+become a king's wife as well, now that she knew Halbert to be worthy of
+her fullest affection.
+
+'And if this is true, I have no doubt it was for their happiness as well
+as for that of their subjects, among whom I include the twelve faithful
+animals.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+A WINDING STAIR AND A SCAMPER.
+
+    'But children, to whom all is play,
+      And something new each hour must bring,
+    Find everything so strange, that they
+      Are not surprised at anything.'
+
+    _The Fairies' Nest._
+
+
+Godmother's voice stopped. For a moment or two there was silence.
+
+'I hope it _was_ true,' said Maia, the first to find her tongue. 'Poor
+Halbert, I think he deserved to be happy at the end. I think Auréole was
+rather--rather--_cross_, don't you, Silva?'
+
+Silva considered. 'No,' she said. 'I can't bear people that are cruel to
+little animals. Oh!' and she clasped her hands, 'if only Rollo and Maia
+could see some of our friends in the wood! May they not, godmother?'
+
+'All in good time,' said godmother, rather mysteriously.
+
+Maia looked at her. 'Godmother,' she said, 'how funny you are! I believe
+you like puzzling people better than anything. There are such a lot of
+things I want to ask you about the story. Who was it lived in the
+forest? _Was_ it a wizard? I think that would be much nicer than
+invisible spirits, even though it is rather frightening. And who was it
+made Auréole's breakfast and shut the door, and all that? I am sure you
+know, godmother. I believe you've been in the enchanted forest yourself.
+_Have_ you?'
+
+Godmother smiled. 'Perhaps,' she said. But when Maia went on
+questioning, she would not say any more. 'Keep something to puzzle
+about,' she said. 'Remember that that is half the pleasure.'
+
+And then she took Maia up on her knee and gave her such a sweet kiss
+that the child could not grumble.
+
+'You are _very_ funny, godmother,' she repeated.
+
+Suddenly Rollo started.
+
+'Maia,' he exclaimed, 'I am afraid we are forgetting about going home
+and meeting Nanni and everything. It must be getting very late. It is so
+queer,' he added with a sigh, glancing round the dear little kitchen, 'I
+seemed to have forgotten that _this_ isn't our home, and yet we have
+only been here an hour or two, and----'
+
+'Yes,' said Maia, 'I feel just the same. Indeed Auréole and her pets
+seem far more real to me now than Lady Venelda and the white castle.'
+
+'And the old doctor and all the lessons you have to do,' said godmother;
+and somehow the children no longer felt surprised at her knowing all
+about everything. 'But you are right, my boy, good boy,' she went on,
+turning to Rollo. 'There is a time for all things, and now it is time to
+go back to your other life. Say good-bye to each other, my children,'
+and when they had done so--very reluctantly, you may be sure--she took
+Rollo by one hand and Maia by the other, Waldo and Silva standing at the
+cottage-door to see them off, and led them across the little clearing,
+away into the now darkening alleys of the wood.
+
+'Are you going with us to where Nanni is?' asked Maia.
+
+'Not to where you left her. I will take you by a short cut,' said
+godmother, who, since they had left the cottage, had seemed to grow into
+just an ordinary-looking old peasant woman, very bent and small, for any
+one at least who did not peep far enough inside her queer hood to see
+her wonderful eyes and gleaming hair, and whom no one would have
+suspected of the marvellous crimson dress under the long dark cloak.
+Maia kept peeping up at her with a strange look in her face.
+
+'What is it, my child?' said godmother.
+
+'I don't quite know,' Maia replied. 'I'm not quite sure, godmother, if
+I'm not a little--a very little--frightened of you. You change so. In
+the cottage you seemed a sort of a young fairy godmother--and now----'
+she hesitated.
+
+'And now do I seem very old?'
+
+'_Rather_,' said Maia.
+
+'Well, listen now. I'll tell you the real truth, strange as it may seem.
+I am _very_ old--older than you can even fancy, and yet I am and I
+always shall be young.'
+
+'In fairyland--in the other country, do you mean?' asked Rollo.
+
+Godmother turned her bright eyes full upon him. 'Not only there, my
+boy,' she said. 'Here, too--everywhere--I am both old and young.'
+
+Maia gave a little sigh.
+
+'You are very nice, godmother,' she said, 'but you are _very_ puzzling.'
+But she had no time to say more, for just then godmother stopped.
+
+'See, children,' she said, pointing down a little path among the trees,
+'I have brought you a short cut, as I said I would. At the end of that
+alley you will find your faithful Nanni. And that will not be the end of
+the short cut. Twenty paces straight on in the same direction you will
+come out of the wood. Cross the little bridge across the brook and you
+will only have to climb a tiny hill to find yourselves at the back
+entrance of the castle. All will be right--and now good-bye, my dears,
+till your next holiday. Have you your flowers?'
+
+'Oh, yes,' exclaimed both, holding up the pretty bunches as they spoke;
+'but how are we to----'
+
+'Don't trouble about how you are to see me again,' she interrupted,
+smiling. 'It will come--you will see,' and then before they had time to
+wonder any more, she turned from them, waving her hand in farewell, and
+disappeared.
+
+'Rollo,' said Maia, rubbing her eyes as if she had just awakened,
+'Rollo, is it all _real_? Don't you feel as if you had been dreaming?'
+
+'No,' said Rollo. 'I feel as if _it_'--and he nodded his head backwards
+in the direction of the cottage--'were all real, and the castle and our
+cousin and Nanni and all _not_ real. You said so too.'
+
+'Yes,' said Maia meditatively, 'while I was there with them, I felt
+like that. But now I don't. It seems not real, and I don't want to begin
+to forget them.'
+
+'Suppose you scent your flowers,' said Rollo; 'perhaps that's why
+godmother gave them to us.'
+
+Maia thought it a good idea.
+
+'Yes,' she said, poking her little nose as far as it would go in among
+the fragrant blossoms, 'yes, Rollo, it comes back to me when I scent the
+flowers. I think it is because godmother's red dress was scented the
+same way. Oh, yes!' shutting her eyes, 'I can _feel_ her soft dress now,
+and I can hear her voice, and I can see Waldo and Silva and the dear
+little kitchen. How glad I am you thought of the flowers, Rollo!'
+
+'But we must run on,' said Rollo, and so they did. But they had not run
+many steps before the substantial figure of Nanni appeared; she was
+looking very comfortable and contented.
+
+'You have not stayed very long, Master Rollo and Miss Maia,' she said,
+'but I suppose it is getting time to be turning home.'
+
+'And have you spent a pleasant afternoon, Nanni?' asked Rollo quietly.
+'How many stockings have you knitted?'
+
+'How many!' repeated Nanni; 'come, Master Rollo, you're joking. You've
+not been gone more than an hour at the most, but it is queer--it must be
+the smell of the fir-trees--as soon as ever I sit down in this wood, off
+I go to sleep! I hadn't done more than two rounds when my head began
+nodding, so I had to put my knitting away for fear of running the
+needles into my eyes. And I had such pleasant dreams.'
+
+'About the beautiful lady again?' asked Maia.
+
+'I think so, but I can't be sure,' said Nanni. 'It was about all sorts
+of pretty things mixed up together. Flowers and birds, and I don't know
+what. And the flowers smelt, for all the world, just like the roses
+round the windows of my mother's little cottage at home. I could have
+believed I was there.'
+
+Rollo and Maia looked at each other. It was all godmother's doing, they
+felt sure. How clever of her to know just what Nanni would like to dream
+of.
+
+By this time they were out of the wood. The light was brighter than
+among the trees, but still it was easy to see that more than Nanni's
+'hour' must have passed since they left her.
+
+'Dear me,' she exclaimed, growing rather frightened, 'it looks later
+than I thought! And we've a long way to go yet,' she went on, looking
+round; 'indeed,' and her rosy face grew pale, 'I don't seem to know
+exactly where we are. We must have come another way out of the wood--oh,
+dear, dear----'
+
+'Don't get into such a fright, Nanni,' said Rollo; 'follow me.'
+
+He sprang up the hilly path that godmother had told them of, Maia and
+Nanni following. It turned and twisted about a little, but when they got
+to the top, there, close before them, gleamed the white walls of the
+castle, and a few steps more brought them to a back entrance to the
+terrace by which they often came out and in.
+
+'Well, to be sure!' exclaimed Nanni, 'you are a clever boy, Master
+Rollo. Who ever would have guessed there was such a short cut, and
+indeed I can't make it out at all which way we've come back. But so long
+as we're here all in good time, and no fear of a scolding, I'm sure I'm
+only too pleased, however we've got here.'
+
+As they were passing along the terrace the old doctor met them.
+
+'Have you had a pleasant holiday?' he asked.
+
+'Oh, _very_,' answered both Rollo and Maia, looking up in his face,
+where, as they expected, they saw the half-mysterious, half-playful
+expression they had learnt to know, and which seemed to tell that their
+old friend understood much more than he chose to say.
+
+'Did you find any pretty flowers?' he asked, with a smile, 'though it is
+rather early in the year yet--especially for scented ones--is it not?'
+
+'But we _have_ got some,' said Maia quickly, and glancing round to see
+if Nanni were still by them. She had gone on, so Maia drew out her
+bunch, and held them up. '_Aren't_ they sweet?' she said.
+
+The old man pressed them to his face almost as lovingly as Maia herself.
+'Ah, how _very_ sweet!' he murmured. 'How much they bring back! Cherish
+them, my child. You know how?'
+
+'Yes, _she_ told us,' said Maia. 'You know whom I mean, don't you, Mr.
+Doctor?'
+
+The old doctor smiled again. Maia drew two or three flowers out of her
+bunch, and Rollo did the same. Then they put them together and offered
+them to their old friend.
+
+'Thank you, my children,' he said; 'I shall add the thought of you to
+many others, when I perceive their sweet scent.'
+
+'And even when they're withered and dried up, Mr. Doctor, you know,'
+said Maia eagerly, 'the scent, _she_ says, is even sweeter.'
+
+'I know,' said the doctor, nodding his head. 'Sweeter, I truly think,
+but bringing sadness with it too; very often, alas!' he added in a lower
+voice, so low that the children could not clearly catch the words.
+
+'We must go in, Maia,' said Rollo; 'it must be nearly supper-time.'
+
+'Yes,' said Maia; 'but first, Mr. Doctor, I want to know when are we to
+have another holiday? Lady Venelda will do any way you tell her, you
+know.'
+
+'All in good time,' replied the doctor, at which Maia pouted a little.
+
+'I don't like all in good time,' she said.
+
+'But you have never known me to forget,' said the old doctor.
+
+'No, indeed,' said Rollo eagerly, and then Maia looked a little ashamed
+of herself, and ran off smiling and waving her hand to the doctor.
+
+Lady Venelda asked them no questions, and made no remarks beyond saying
+she was glad they had had so fine a day for their ramble in the woods.
+She seemed quite pleased so long as the children were well and sat up
+straight in their chairs without speaking at meal-times, and there were
+no complaints from their teachers. That was the way _she_ had been
+brought up, and she thought it had answered very well in her case. But
+she was really kind, and the children no longer felt so lonely or dull,
+now that they had the visits to the wood to look forward to. Indeed,
+they had brought back with them a fund of amusement, for now their
+favourite play was to act the story which godmother had told them, and
+as they had no other pets, they managed to make friends with the castle
+cat, a very dignified person, who had to play the parts of Fido and
+Lello and the rabbit all in one; while the birds were represented by
+bunches of feathers they picked up in the poultry-yard, and the great
+furry rug with which they had travelled turned Rollo into the unhappy
+monster. It was very amusing, but after a few days they began to wish
+for other companions.
+
+'If Silva and Waldo were here,' said Rollo, 'what fun we could have! I
+wonder what they do all day, Maia.'
+
+'They work pretty hard, I fancy,' said Maia. 'Waldo goes to cut down
+trees in the forest a good way off, I know, and Silva has all the house
+to take care of, and everything to cook and wash, and all that. But _I_
+should call that play-work, not like lessons.'
+
+'And _I_ should think cutting down trees the best fun in the world,'
+said Rollo. 'That kind of work can't be as tiring as lessons.'
+
+'Lessons, lessons! What is all this talk about lessons? Are you so
+terribly overworked, my poor children? What should you say to a ramble
+in the woods with me for a change?' said a voice beside them, which made
+the children start.
+
+It was the doctor. He had come round the corner of the wall without
+their seeing him, for they were playing on the terrace for half an hour
+between their French lesson with Mademoiselle and their history with the
+chaplain.
+
+'A walk with you, Mr. Doctor!' exclaimed Maia. 'Oh, yes, it _would_ be
+nice. But it isn't a holiday, and----'
+
+'How do _you_ know it isn't a holiday, my dear young lady,' interrupted
+the doctor. 'How do you know that I have not represented to your
+respected cousin that her young charges had been working very hard of
+late, and would be the better for a ramble? If you cannot believe me,
+run in and ask Lady Venelda herself; if you are satisfied without doing
+so, why then, let us start at once!'
+
+'Of course we are satisfied,' exclaimed Rollo and Maia together; 'but
+we must go in to get our thick boots and jackets, and our nicer hats,'
+added Maia, preparing to start off.
+
+'Not a bit of it,' said the doctor, stopping her. 'You are quite right
+as you are. Come along;' and without giving the children time for even
+another 'but,' off he strode.
+
+To their amazement, however, he turned towards the house, which he
+entered by a side door that the children had never before noticed, and
+which he opened with a small key.
+
+'Doctor,' began Maia, but he only shook his head without speaking, and
+stalked on, Rollo and his sister following. He led them some way along a
+rather narrow passage, where they had never been before, then, opening a
+door, signed to them to pass in in front of him, and when they had done
+so, he too came in, and shut the door behind him. It was a queer little
+room--the doctor's study evidently, for one end was completely filled
+with books, and at one side, through the glass doors of high cupboards
+in the wall, all kinds of mysterious instruments, chemical tubes and
+globes, high bottles filled with different-coloured liquids, and ever so
+many things the children had but time to glance at, were to be
+perceived. But the doctor had evidently not brought them there to pay
+him a visit. He touched a spring at the side of the book-shelves, and a
+small door opened.
+
+'Come, children,' he said, speaking at last, 'this is another short cut.
+Have no fear, but follow me.'
+
+Full of curiosity, Rollo and Maia pressed forward. The doctor had
+already disappeared--all but his head, that is to say--for a winding
+staircase led downwards from the little door, and Rollo first, then
+Maia, were soon following their old friend step by step, holding by one
+hand to a thick cord which supplied the place of a handrail. It was
+almost quite dark, but they were not frightened. They had perfect trust
+in the old doctor, and all they had seen and heard since they came to
+the white castle had increased their love of adventure, without
+lessening their courage.
+
+'Dear me,' said Maia, after a while, for it was never easy for her to
+keep silent for very long together, 'it isn't a _very_ short cut! We
+seem to have been going down and down for a good while. My head is
+beginning to feel rather turning with going round and round so often.
+How much farther are we to go before we come out, Mr. Doctor?'
+
+But there was no answer, only a slight exclamation from Rollo just in
+front of her, and then all of a sudden a rush of light into the
+darkness made Maia blink her eyes and for a moment shut them to escape
+the dazzling rays.
+
+'Good-bye,' said a voice which she knew to be the doctor's; 'I hope you
+will enjoy yourselves.'
+
+Maia opened her eyes. She had felt Rollo take her hand and draw her
+forwards a little. She opened her eyes, but half shut them again in
+astonishment.
+
+'_Rollo!_' she exclaimed.
+
+'And you said it was not much of a short cut,' replied Rollo, laughing.
+
+No wonder Maia was astonished. They were standing a few paces from the
+cottage door! The sun was shining brightly on the little garden and
+peeping through the trees, just in front of which the children found
+themselves.
+
+'Where have we come from?' said Maia, looking round her confusedly.
+
+'Out of here, I think,' said Rollo, tapping the trunk of a great tree
+close beside him. 'I think we must have come out of a door hidden in
+this tree.'
+
+'But we kept coming _down_,' said Maia.
+
+'At first; but the last part of the time it seemed to me we were going
+up; we must have come down the inside of the hill and then climbed up a
+little way into the tree.'
+
+'Oh, I am sure we weren't going _up_,' said Maia. 'I certainly was
+getting quite giddy with going round and round, but I'm _sure_ I could
+have told if we'd been going up.'
+
+'Well, never mind. If godmother is a witch, I fancy the doctor's a
+wizard. But any way we're here, and that's the principal thing. Come on,
+quick, Maia, aren't you in a hurry to know if Waldo and Silva are at
+home?'
+
+He ran on to the cottage and Maia after him. The door was shut. Rollo
+knocked, but there was no answer.
+
+'Oh, what a pity it will be if they are not in!' said Maia. 'Knock
+again, Rollo, louder.'
+
+Rollo did so. Still there was no answer.
+
+'What shall we do?' said the children to each other. 'It would be too
+horrid to have to go home and miss our chance of a holiday.'
+
+'We might stay in the woods by ourselves,' suggested Rollo.
+
+'It would be very dull,' said Maia disconsolately. 'I don't think the
+old doctor should have brought us without knowing if they would be here.
+If he knows so much he might have found that out.'
+
+Suddenly Rollo gave an exclamation. He had been standing fumbling at the
+latch.
+
+'What do you say?' asked Maia.
+
+'The door isn't locked. Suppose we go in? It would be no harm. They
+weren't a bit vexed with us for having gone in and drunk the milk the
+first time.'
+
+'Of course not,' said Maia; 'they wouldn't be the least vexed. I quite
+thought the door was locked all this time. Open it, Rollo. I can't reach
+so high or I would have found out long ago it wasn't locked.'
+
+With a little difficulty Rollo opened the door.
+
+Everything in the tiny kitchen looked as they had last seen it, only, if
+that were possible, still neater and cleaner. Maia stared round as if
+half expecting to see Waldo or Silva jump out from under the chairs or
+behind the cupboard, but suddenly she darted forward. A white object on
+the table had caught her attention. It was a sheet of paper, on which
+was written in round clear letters:
+
+'Godmother will be here in a quarter of an hour.'
+
+'See, Rollo,' exclaimed Maia triumphantly, 'this must be meant for _us_.
+What a good thing we came in! I don't mind waiting a quarter of an
+hour.'
+
+'But that paper may have been here all day. It may have been sent for
+Waldo and Silva,' said Rollo. 'You know they told us godmother only
+comes sometimes to see them.'
+
+'I don't care,' said Maia, seating herself on one of the high-backed
+chairs. 'I'm going to wait a quarter of an hour, and just _see_.
+Godmother doesn't do things like other people, and I'm sure this message
+is for us.'
+
+Rollo said no more, but followed Maia's example. There they sat, like
+two little statues, the only distraction being the tick-tack of the
+clock, and watching the long hand creep slowly down the three divisions
+of its broad face which showed a quarter of an hour. It seemed a very
+long quarter of an hour. Maia was so little used to sitting still,
+except when she was busy with lessons, to which she was obliged to give
+her attention, that after a few minutes her head began to nod and at
+last gave such a jerk that she woke up with a start.
+
+'Dear me, isn't it a quarter of an hour _yet_?' she exclaimed.
+
+'No, it's hardly five minutes,' said Rollo, rather grumpily, for he
+thought this was a very dull way of spending a holiday, and he would
+rather have gone out into the woods than sit there waiting. Maia leant
+her head again on the back of her chair.
+
+'Suppose we count ten times up to sixty,' she said. 'That would be ten
+minutes if we go by the ticks of the clock, and if she isn't here then,
+I won't ask you to wait any longer.'
+
+'We can see the time,' said Rollo; 'I don't see the use of counting it
+loud out.'
+
+Maia said nothing more. Whether she took another little nap; whether
+Rollo himself did not do so also I cannot say. All I know is that just
+exactly as the hand of the clock had got to fourteen minutes from the
+time they had begun watching it, both children started to their feet and
+looked at each other.
+
+'Do you hear?' said Maia.
+
+'It's a carriage,' exclaimed Rollo.
+
+'How could a carriage come through the wood? There's no path wide
+enough.'
+
+'But it _is_ a carriage;' and to settle the point both ran to the door
+to see.
+
+It came swiftly along, in and out among the trees without difficulty, so
+small was it. The two tiny piebald ponies that drew it shook their wavy
+manes as they danced along, the little bells on their necks ringing
+softly. A funny idea struck Maia as she watched it. It looked just like
+a toy meant for some giant's child which had dropped off one of the
+huge Christmas-trees, waiting there to be decked for Santa Claus's
+festival! But the queerest part of the sight for them was when the
+carriage came near enough for them to see that godmother herself was
+driving it. She did look so comical, perched up on the little seat and
+chirrupping and wo-wohing to her steeds, and she seemed to have grown so
+small, oh, so small! Otherwise how could she ever have got into a
+carriage really not much too large for a baby of two years old?
+
+On she drove, and drew up in grand style just in front of where the
+children were standing.
+
+'Jump in,' she said, nodding off-handedly, but without any other
+greeting.
+
+'But how----?' began Maia. 'How can Rollo and I possibly get into that
+tiny carriage?' were the words on her lips, but somehow before she began
+to say them, they melted away, and almost without knowing how, she found
+herself getting into the back seat of the little phaeton, with Rollo
+beside her, and in another moment--crack! went godmother's whip, and off
+they set.
+
+They went so fast, oh, so fast! There did not seem time to consider
+whether they were comfortable or not, or how it was they fitted so well
+into the carriage, small as it was, or anything but just the delicious
+feeling of flying along, which shows that they must have been very
+comfortable, does it not? In and out among the great looming pine-trees
+their strange coachman made her way, without once hesitating or
+wavering, so that the children felt no fear of striking against the
+massive trunks, even though it grew darker and gloomier and the
+Christmas-trees had certainly never looked anything like so enormous.
+
+'Or _can_ it be that we have really grown smaller?' thought Maia; but
+her thoughts were quickly interrupted by a merry cry from godmother,
+'Hold fast, children, we're going to have a leap.'
+
+Godmother was certainly in a very comical humour. But for her voice and
+her bright eyes when they peeped out from under her hood the children
+would scarcely have known her. She was like a little mischievous old
+sprite instead of the soft, tender, mysterious being who had petted them
+so sweetly and told them the quiet story of gentle Auréole the other
+day. In a different kind of way Maia felt again almost a _very_ little
+bit afraid of her, but Rollo's spirits rose with the fun, his cheeks
+grew rosier and his eyes brighter, though he was very kind to Maia too,
+and put his arm round her to keep her steady in preparation for
+godmother's flying leap, over they knew not what. But it was
+beautifully managed; not only the ponies, but the carriage too, seemed
+to acquire wings for the occasion, and there was not the slightest jar
+or shock, only a strange lifting feeling, and then softly down again,
+and on, on, through trees and brushwood, faster and faster, as surely no
+ponies ever galloped before.
+
+'Are you frightened, Rollo?' whispered Maia.
+
+'Not a bit. Why should I be? Godmother can take care of us, and even if
+she wasn't there, one couldn't be frightened flying along with those
+splendid little ponies.'
+
+'What was it we jumped over?' asked Maia.
+
+Godmother heard her and turned round.
+
+'We jumped over the brook,' she said. 'Don't you remember the little
+brook that runs through the wood?'
+
+'The brook that Rollo and I go over by the stepping stones? It's a very
+little brook, godmother. I should think the carriage might have driven
+over without jumping.'
+
+'Hush!' said godmother, 'we're getting into the middle of the wood and I
+must drive carefully.'
+
+But she did not go any more slowly; it got darker and darker as the
+trees grew more closely together. The children saw, as they looked
+round, that they had never been so far in the forest before.
+
+'I wonder when we shall see Silva and Waldo,' thought Maia, and somehow
+the thought seemed to bring its answer, for just as it passed through
+her mind, a clear bright voice called out from among the trees:
+
+'Godmother, godmother, don't drive too far. Here we are waiting for
+you.'
+
+'Waldo and Silva!' exclaimed the children. The ponies suddenly stopped,
+and out jumped or tumbled into the arms of their friends Rollo and Maia.
+
+'Oh, Waldo! oh, Silva!' they exclaimed. 'We've had _such_ a drive!
+Godmother has brought us along like the wind.'
+
+Silva nodded her head. 'I know,' she said, smiling. 'There is no one so
+funny as godmother when she is in a wild humour. You may be glad you are
+here all right. She would have thought nothing of driving on to----'
+Silva stopped, at a loss what place to name.
+
+'To where?' said the children.
+
+'Oh, to the moon, or the stars, or down to the bottom of the sea, or
+anywhere that came into her head!' said Silva, laughing. 'For, you know,
+she can go _anywhere_.'
+
+'_Can_ she?' exclaimed Maia. 'Oh, what wonderful stories we can make her
+tell us, then! Godmother, godmother, do you hear what Silva says?' she
+went on, turning round to where she thought the carriage and ponies and
+godmother were standing. But----
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE SQUIRREL FAMILY.
+
+    'How extremely pretty!
+    Won't you jump again?'
+
+    _Child-World._
+
+
+----Godmother was no longer there. She and the carriage and the ponies
+had completely disappeared. Maia opened her eyes and mouth with
+amazement, and stood staring. Waldo and Silva and Rollo too could not
+help bursting out laughing; she looked so funny. Maia felt a little
+offended.
+
+'I don't see what there is to laugh at,' she said; 'especially for
+_you_, Rollo. Aren't you astonished too?'
+
+'I don't think I should ever be astonished at anything about godmother,'
+said Rollo. 'Besides, I saw her drive off while you were kissing Silva.
+She certainly went like the wind.'
+
+'And where are we?' asked Maia, looking round her for the first time;
+'and what are we going to do, Silva?'
+
+'We are going to pay a visit,' said Silva. 'Waldo and I had already
+promised we would when we got the message that you were coming, so
+godmother said she would go back and fetch you.'
+
+'But who brought you a message that we were coming?' asked Maia.
+
+'One of godmother's carrier-pigeons. Ah, I forgot, you haven't seen them
+yet!'
+
+'And _where_ are we going?'
+
+'To spend the afternoon with the squirrel family. It's close to here,
+but we must be quick. They will have been expecting us for some time.
+You show us the way, Waldo; you know it best.'
+
+It was dark in the wood, but not so dark as it had been when they were
+driving with godmother, for a few steps brought them out into a little
+clearing, something like the one where the cottage stood, but smaller.
+The mossy grass here was particularly beautiful, so bright and green and
+soft that Maia stooped down to feel it with her hand.
+
+'I suppose no one ever comes this way?' she said. 'Is it because no one
+ever tramples on it that the moss is so lovely?'
+
+'Nobody but us and the squirrels,' said Silva. 'Sometimes we play with
+them out here, but to-day we are going to see them in their house.
+Sometimes they have parties, when they invite their cousins from the
+other side of the wood. But I don't think any of them are coming
+to-day.'
+
+Silva spoke so simply that Maia could not think she was making fun of
+her, and yet it was very odd to speak of squirrels as if they were
+_people_. Maia could not, however, ask any more, for suddenly Waldo
+called out:
+
+'Here we are! Silva, you are going too far.'
+
+Rollo and Maia looked round, but they saw nothing except the trees.
+Waldo was standing just in front of one, and as the others came up to
+him he tapped gently on the trunk.
+
+'Three times,' said Silva.
+
+'I know,' he replied. Then he tapped twice again, Rollo and Maia looking
+on with all their eyes. But it was their ears that first gave them
+notice of an answer to Waldo's summons. A quick pattering sound, like
+the rush of many little feet, was heard inside the trunk, then with a
+kind of squeak, as if the hinges were somewhat rusty, a door, so
+cleverly made that no one could have guessed it was there, for it was
+covered with bark like the rest of the trunk, slowly opened from the
+inside, showing a dark hollow about large enough for one child at a time
+to creep into on hands and knees.
+
+'Who will go first?' said Waldo, lifting his little red cap as he looked
+at Maia.
+
+'What nice manners he has,' she thought to herself. 'I think you had
+better go first, please,' she said aloud. For though she would not own
+it, the appearance of the dark hole rather alarmed her.
+
+'But we can't _all_ get in there,' said Rollo.
+
+'Oh, yes,' replied Waldo. 'I'll go first, and when I call out "all
+right," one of you can come after me. The passage gets wider directly,
+or--any way there's lots of room--you'll see,' and, ducking down, he
+crept very cleverly into the hollow, and after a moment his voice was
+heard, though in rather muffled tones, calling out 'all right.' Rollo,
+not liking to seem backward, went next, and Maia, who was secretly
+trembling, was much comforted by hearing him exclaim, 'Oh, how
+beautiful!' and when Silva asked her to go next, saying 'Maia might like
+to know she was behind her,' she plunged valiantly into the dark hole.
+She groped with her hands for a moment or two, till the boys' voices a
+little way above her led her to a short flight of steps, which she
+easily climbed up, and then a soft light broke on her eyes, and she
+understood why Rollo had called out, 'Oh, how beautiful!'
+
+They stood at the entrance of a long passage, quite wide enough for two
+to walk abreast comfortably. It was entirely lined and carpeted with
+moss, and the light came from the roof, though _how_ one could not tell,
+for it too was trellised over with another kind of creeping plant,
+growing too thickly for one to see between. The moss had a sweet fresh
+fragrance that reminded the children of the scent of their other world
+flowers, and it was, besides, deliciously soft and yet springy to walk
+upon.
+
+Waldo and Rollo came running back to meet the little girls, for Silva
+had quickly followed Maia.
+
+'Isn't this a nice place?' said Rollo, jumping up and down as he spoke.
+'We might run races here all the afternoon.'
+
+'Yes; but we must hasten on,' said Silva. 'They're expecting us, you
+know. But we can run races all the same, for we've a good way along here
+to go. You and Waldo start first, and then Maia and I.'
+
+So they did, and never was there a race pleasanter to run. They felt as
+if they had wings on their feet, they went so fast and were so untired.
+The moss gallery resounded with their laughter and merry cries, though
+their footfalls made no sound on the floor.
+
+'What was the pattering we heard after Waldo knocked?' asked Maia
+suddenly.
+
+'It was the squirrels overhead. They all have to run together to pull
+open the door,' said Silva. 'The rope goes up to their hall. But you
+will see it all for yourself now. This is the end of the gallery.'
+
+'This' was a circular room, moss-lined like the passage, with a wide
+round hole in the roof, from which, as the children stood waiting,
+descended a basket, fitted with moss cushions, and big enough to hold
+all of them at once. In they got, and immediately the basket rose up
+again and stopped at what, in a proper house, one would call the next
+floor. And even before it stopped a whole mass of brown heads were to be
+seen eagerly watching for it, and numbers of little brown paws were
+extended to help the visitors to step out.
+
+'Good-day, good-day,' squeaked a multitude of shrill voices; 'welcome to
+Squirrel-Land. We have been watching for you ever so long, since the
+pigeon brought the news. And the supper is all ready. The acorn cakes
+smelling so good and the chestnut pasties done to a turn.'
+
+'Thank you, thank you, Mrs. Bushy!' said Silva. 'I am sure they will be
+excellent. But first, I must introduce our friends and you to each
+other. Maia and Rollo, this is Mrs. Bushy,' and as she said so the
+fattest and fussiest of the squirrels made a duck with its head and a
+flourish with its tail, which were meant for the most graceful of
+curtsies. 'Mr. Bushy----' she stopped and looked round.
+
+'Alas! my dear husband is very lame with his gout to-day,' said Mrs.
+Bushy. 'He took too much exercise yesterday. I'm sure if he went once to
+the top of the tree he went twenty times--he is _so_ active, you know;
+so he's resting in the supper-room; but you'll see him presently. And
+here are my dear children, Miss Silva. Stand forward, my dears, you have
+nothing to be ashamed of. _Do_ look at their tails--though I say it that
+shouldn't, _did_ you ever see such tails?' and Mrs. Bushy's bright eyes
+sparkled with maternal pride. 'There they are, all nine of them: Nibble,
+Scramble, Bunchy, Friskit, and Whiff, my dear boys; and Clamberina,
+Fluffy, Tossie, and sweet little Curletta, my no less beloved
+daughters.'
+
+Whereupon each one of the nine, who had collected in a row, made the
+same duck with its head and flourish with its tail as Mrs. Bushy,
+though, of course, with somewhat less perfection of style and finish
+than their dear mamma.
+
+'Such manners, such sweet manners!' she murmured confidentially to Silva
+and Maia.
+
+Maia was by this time nearly choking with laughter--'Though I say it
+that shouldn't say it, I am sure you young ladies must be pleased with
+their sweet manners.'
+
+'Very pleased, dear Mrs. Bushy,' said Silva; 'I'm sure they've learned
+to duck their heads and wave their tails beautifully.'
+
+'Beautifully,' said Maia, at which Mrs. Bushy looked much gratified.
+
+'And shall we proceed to supper, then?' she said. 'I am sure you must be
+hungry.'
+
+'Yes, I think we are,' said Waldo; 'and I know your chestnut cakes are
+very good, Mrs. Bushy.'
+
+Rollo and Maia looked at each other. _Chestnuts_ were very nice, but
+what would chestnut cakes be like? Besides, it wasn't the season for
+chestnuts; they must be very old and stale.
+
+'How can you have chestnuts now?' asked Maia. Mrs. Bushy looked at her
+patronisingly.
+
+'Ah, to be sure,' she said, 'the young lady does not know all about our
+magic preserving cupboards, and all the newest improvements. To be sure,
+it is her first visit to Squirrel-Land,' she added encouragingly; 'we
+can make allowance. Now, lead the way, my dears, lead the way,' she said
+to her nine treasures, who thereupon set off with a rush, jumping and
+frisking and scuttering along, till Maia could hardly help bursting out
+laughing again, while she and Silva and Rollo and Waldo followed them
+into the supper-room, where, at the end of a long narrow table, covered
+with all sorts of queer-looking dishes, decorated with fern leaves, Papa
+Bushy, in a moss arm-chair, his tail comfortably waving over him like an
+umbrella, was already installed.
+
+'I beg your pardon, my dear young friends,' he began, in a rather
+deeper, though still squeaky voice, 'for receiving you like this. Mrs.
+Bushy will have made my apologies. This unfortunate attack of gout! I
+am, I fear, too actively inclined, and have knocked myself up!'
+
+'Ah, yes,' said Mrs. Bushy, shaking her head; 'I'm sure if Mr. Bushy
+goes once a day to the top of the tree, he goes twenty times.'
+
+'But what does he go for if it makes him ill?' exclaimed Maia.
+
+Mrs. Bushy looked at her and gasped, Mr. Bushy shut his eyes and waved
+his paws about as if to say, 'We must excuse her, she knows no better,'
+and all the young Bushys ducked their heads and squeaked
+faintly,--evidently Maia had said something very startling. At last,
+when she had to some extent recovered her self-control, Mrs. Bushy said
+faintly, looking round her for sympathy:
+
+'Poor child! Such deplorable ignorance; but we must excuse it. Imagine
+her not knowing--imagine _any one_ not knowing what would happen if Mr.
+Bushy did not go to the top of the tree!'
+
+'What _would_ happen?' said Maia, not sure if she felt snubbed or not,
+but not inclined to give in all at once.
+
+'My poor child,' said Mrs. Bushy, in the most solemn tone her squeaky
+voice was capable of, '_the world would stop_!'
+
+Maia stared at her, but what she was going to say I cannot tell you, for
+Silva managed to give her a little pinch, as a sign that she had better
+make no more remarks, and Mrs. Bushy, feeling that she had done her
+duty, requested everybody to take their places at table. The dishes
+placed before them were so comical-looking that Rollo and Maia did not
+know what to reply when asked what they would have.
+
+'An apple, if you please!' said Maia, catching sight at last of
+something she knew the name of. But when Mrs. Bushy pressed her to try a
+chestnut cake she did not like to refuse, and seeing that Waldo and
+Silva were careful to eat like the squirrels, holding up both hands
+together like paws to their mouths, she and Rollo did the same, which
+evidently gave the Bushy family a better opinion of the way in which
+they had been brought up. The chestnut cakes were rather nice, but poor
+Rollo, having ventured on some fried acorns which smelt good, could not
+help pulling a very wry face. Supper, however, was soon over, and then
+Waldo and Silva asked leave very politely to go 'up the tree,' which in
+squirrel language was much the same as if they had asked to go out to
+the garden, and Mrs. Bushy, with many excuses for not accompanying them
+on account of her household cares, and Mr. Bushy, pleading his gout,
+told her nine darlings to escort the visitors upstairs.
+
+Now began the real fun of the afternoon. A short flight of steps, like a
+little ladder, led them to the outside of the tree. The nine Bushys
+scampered and rushed along, squeaking and chattering with the greatest
+good-nature, followed more slowly by the four children. For a moment or
+two, when Rollo and Maia found themselves standing on a branch very near
+the top of the tree, though, strange to say, they found it wide enough
+to hold them quite comfortably, they felt rather giddy and frightened.
+
+'How dreadfully high up we seem!' said Maia. 'Rollo, I'm _sure_ we must
+have grown smaller. The trees never looked so big as this before. It
+makes me giddy to look either up or down.'
+
+'You'll get used to it in a minute,' said Waldo. 'Silva and I don't mind
+it the least now. Look at the Bushys, Maia, isn't it fun to see them?'
+
+And Maia forgot her fears in watching the nine young squirrels. Had Mrs.
+Bushy been with them, her maternal vanity would have been gratified by
+the admiration their exploits drew forth. It really was the funniest
+and prettiest sight in the world to see them at their gambols. No
+dancers on the tight-rope were ever half so clever. They swung
+themselves up by the branches to the very top of the tree, and then in an
+instant--flash!--there they were ever so far below where the children
+were standing. And in another instant, like a brown streak, up they
+were again, darting hither, there, and everywhere, so that one felt as
+if the whole tree were alive. When they had a little worked off their
+spirits they squeaked to the children to join them; Waldo and Silva did
+so at once, for they were used to these eccentric gymnastics, and to
+Rollo and Maia they looked nearly as clever as the squirrels themselves,
+as, holding on by their companions' paws and tails, they jumped and
+clambered and slid up and down. So in a little while the new-comers too
+took courage and found the performances, like many other things, not
+half so hard as they looked. And oh, how they all laughed and screamed,
+and how the squirrels squeaked with enjoyment! I don't think ever
+children before had such fun. Fancy the pleasure of swaying in a branch
+ever so far overhead quite safe, for there were the nine in a circle
+ready to catch you if you slipped, and then hand in hand, or rather hand
+in paw, dancing round the trunk by hopping two and two from branch to
+branch, nine squirrels and four children--a merry baker's dozen. Then
+the sliding down the tree, like a climber on a May-pole, was great fun
+too, for the Bushys had a way of twisting themselves round it so as to
+avoid the sticking-out branches that was really very clever. So that
+when suddenly, in the middle of it all, a little silvery tinkling bell
+was heard to ring, and they all stood still looking at each other, Rollo
+and Maia felt quite vexed at the interruption.
+
+[Illustration: I don't think ever children before had such fun.]
+
+'Go on,' said Maia, 'what are you all stopping for?'
+
+'The summons,' said Waldo and Silva together. 'We must go. Good-night,
+all of you,' to the squirrels. Had their mother been there, I fancy they
+would have addressed Clamberina and her brothers and sisters more
+ceremoniously. 'Good-bye, and thank you for all the fun.'
+
+'Good-bye, and thank you,' said Rollo and Maia, rather at a loss as to
+whether they should offer to shake paws, or if that was not squirrel
+fashion. But before they had time to consider, 'Quick,' said a voice
+behind them, which they were not slow to recognise, 'slide down the
+tree,' and down they slid, all four, though, giving one glance upwards,
+they caught sight of the nine squirrels all seated in a row on a branch,
+each with their pocket-handkerchief at their eyes, weeping copiously.
+
+'Poor things,' said Maia, 'how tender-hearted they are!'
+
+'They always do that when we come away,' said Waldo; 'it's part of
+their manners. But they are very good-natured.'
+
+'And where's godmother,' said Maia, when they found themselves on
+terra-firma again. 'Wasn't it her voice that spoke to us up on the tree,
+and told us to come down?'
+
+'Yes,' said Silva; 'but she called up through a speaking-trumpet. I
+don't know where she is herself. She may be a good way off. But that
+doesn't matter. We can tell what to do. Lay your ear to the ground,
+Waldo.'
+
+Waldo did so.
+
+'Are they coming,' asked Silva.
+
+'Yes,' said Waldo, getting up; 'they'll be here directly;' and almost
+before he had left off speaking the pretty sound of tinkling bells was
+heard approaching, nearer and nearer every second, till the children, to
+their delight, caught sight of the little carriage and the tiny piebald
+ponies, which came dancing up to them all of themselves, and stood
+waiting for them to get in.
+
+'But where's godmother?' exclaimed Maia; 'how can we get home without
+her?'
+
+'All right,' said Waldo; 'she often lends Silva and me her ponies. I can
+drive you home quite safely, you'll see. Get in, Maia and Silva
+behind--Rollo and I will go in front.'
+
+And off they set. It was not quite such a harum-scarum drive as it had
+been coming. Waldo did not take any flying leaps--indeed, I think nobody
+but godmother herself could have managed that! but it was very
+delightful all the same.
+
+'Oh, Silva,' exclaimed Maia, 'I do so wish we need not go back to the
+white castle and Lady Venelda and our lessons! I do so wish we might
+live in the cottage with you and Waldo, _always_.'
+
+Silva looked a little sorry when Maia spoke thus.
+
+'Don't say that, Maia,' she said. 'Godmother wouldn't like it. We want
+to make you happy while you're here--not to make you impatient. If you
+and Rollo were always at the cottage, you wouldn't like it half so much
+as you do now, coming sometimes. You would soon get tired of it, unless
+you worked hard like Waldo and me.'
+
+'Do you work hard?' said Maia, with some surprise.
+
+'Yes, of course we do. You only see us at our play-time. Waldo goes off
+to the forester's at the other side of the wood every morning at six,
+and I take him his dinner every day, and then I stay there and work in
+the dairy till we come home together in the evening.'
+
+'But you sometimes have holidays,' said Maia.
+
+'Yes, of course we do,' said Silva, smiling. 'Godmother sees to that.'
+
+'How?' asked Maia. 'Does she know the forester and his wife? Does she go
+and ask them to give you a holiday?'
+
+'Not exactly,' said Silva, smiling. 'I can't tell you how she does it.
+She has her own ways for doing everything. How does she get you _your_
+holidays?'
+
+'Does _she_ get us them?' said Maia, astonished. 'Why, Lady Venelda
+never speaks of her. Do you think she knows her?'
+
+'I can't tell you,' said Silva, again smiling in the same rather strange
+way as before, and somehow when she smiled like that she reminded Maia
+of godmother herself; 'but she does know _somebody_ at the white castle,
+and somebody there knows her.'
+
+'The old doctor!' exclaimed Maia, clapping her hands. 'I'm _sure_ you
+mean the old doctor. Ah! that's how it is, is it? Godmother sends to the
+old doctor or writes to him, or--or--I don't know what--and then he
+finds out we need a holiday, and--oh, he manages it somehow, I suppose!'
+
+'Yes,' said Silva; 'but as long as you get your holiday it's all right.
+When godmother tells us of anything we're to do, or that she has
+settled for us, we're quite pleased without asking her all the little
+bits about it.'
+
+'I see,' said Maia; 'but then, Silva, you're different from me.'
+
+'Of course I am,' said Silva; 'but it wouldn't be at all nice if
+everybody was the same. That's one of the things godmother always says.'
+
+'Yes, like what she says about how stupid it would be if we knew
+everything, and if there was nothing more to puzzle and wonder about. It
+_is_ nice to wonder and puzzle sometimes, but not always. Just now I
+don't mind about anything except about the fun of going so fast, with
+those dear little ponies' bells tinkling all the way. I shall be so
+sorry to get to the cottage, for we shan't have time to go in, Silva. We
+shall have to hurry home not to be too late for supper.'
+
+Just as she spoke Waldo pulled up sharply.
+
+'What's the matter?' called out Maia. She had been talking so much to
+Silva that she had not noticed the way they were going. Now she looked
+about her, and it seemed to her that she recognised the look of the
+trees, which were much less close and thick than in the middle of the
+forest. But before she had time to think more about it a voice close at
+hand made both her and Rollo start.
+
+'Well, young people,' it said, 'you have had, I hope, a pleasant day?
+You, too, Waldo and Silva? It is some time since I have seen you, my
+children.'
+
+It was, of course, the voice of the doctor. All the four jumped out of
+the little carriage and ran forward to their old friend, for to Rollo's
+and Maia's surprise, the two forest children seemed to know him quite as
+well as they did themselves.
+
+He seemed delighted to see them all, and his kind old face shone with
+pleasure as he patted the curly heads of the boys and Maia, and stroked
+gently Silva's pretty, smooth hair.
+
+'But you must go home,' he said to Waldo and Silva. 'Good-night, my
+children;' and quickly bidding their little friends farewell, the
+brother and sister sprang up again into the tiny carriage, and in
+another moment the more and more faintly-tinkling bells were all left of
+them, as Rollo and Maia stood a little sadly, gazing in the direction in
+which they had disappeared.
+
+'And you have been happy?' said the old doctor.
+
+'_Very_ happy,' both replied together. 'We have had such fun.' But
+before they had time to tell their old friend anything more he
+interrupted them.
+
+'You, too, must hurry home,' he said. 'You see where you are? Up the
+path to the right and you will come out at the usual place just behind
+the castle wall at the back.'
+
+Rollo and Maia hastened to obey him.
+
+'How queer he is!' said Maia. 'He doesn't seem to care to hear what
+we've been doing--he never asks anything but if we've been happy.'
+
+'Well, what does it matter?' said Rollo. 'I like only to talk to
+ourselves of the queer things we see when we're with Waldo and Silva. I
+wonder what they will show us or where they will take us the next time?'
+
+'So do I,' said Maia.
+
+'Waldo said something about the eagles that live up in the high rocks at
+the edge of the forest,' said Rollo. 'He did not exactly say so, but he
+spoke as if he had been there. Wouldn't you like to see an eagles' nest,
+Maia?'
+
+'I should think so, indeed!' replied Maia eagerly. 'But I don't think
+that's what they call it, Rollo; there's another name.'
+
+'Yes, I think there is, but I can't remember it,' he answered. 'But
+never mind, Maia, here we are at the gate. We must run in and get ready
+for supper.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+A COMMITTEE OF BIRDS.
+
+               'Then a sound is heard,
+    A sudden rushing sound of many wings.'
+
+
+Nothing was asked of the children as to where or how they had spent
+their day. Lady Venelda looked at them kindly as they took their places
+at the supper-table, and she kissed them when they said good-night as if
+she were quite pleased with them. They were not sorry to go to bed; for
+however delightful squirrel gymnastics are, they are somewhat fatiguing,
+especially to those who are not accustomed to them, and I can assure you
+that Rollo and Maia slept soundly that night; thanks to which, no doubt,
+they woke next morning as fresh as larks.
+
+Their lessons were all done to the satisfaction of their teachers, so
+that in the afternoon, when, as they were setting off with Nanni for
+their usual walk, they met the old doctor on the terrace, he nodded at
+them good-humouredly.
+
+'That's right,' he said; 'holidays do you no harm, I see.'
+
+'And we may have another before very long, then, mayn't we?' said Maia,
+whose little tongue was always the readiest.
+
+'All in good time,' said the old man, and as they had found his memory
+so good hitherto, the children felt that they might trust him for the
+future.
+
+They did not go in the direction of the cottage to-day. Though they had
+not exactly been told so, they had come to understand that when
+godmother wanted them, or had arranged some pleasure for them and her
+forest children, she would find some means of letting them know, and the
+sort of desire to please and obey her which they felt seemed even
+stronger than if her wishes had been put down in plain rules. And when
+Nanni was with them they now took care not to speak of the cottage or
+their friends there, for she could not have understood about them, and
+she would only have been troubled and frightened. But yet the thought of
+Waldo and Silva and godmother and the cottage, and all the pleasure and
+fun they had had, seemed never quite away. It hovered about them like
+the impression of a happy dream, which seems to make the whole day
+brighter, though we can scarcely tell how.
+
+The spring was now coming on fast; and what _can_ be more delightful
+than spring-time in the woods? With the increasing warmth and sunshine
+the scent of the pines seemed to waft out into the air, the primroses
+and violets opened their eyes, and the birds overhead twittered and
+trilled in their perfect happiness.
+
+'How can any one be so cruel as to shoot them?' said Maia one afternoon
+about a week after the visit to the squirrels.
+
+'I don't think any one would shoot these tiny birds,' said Rollo.
+
+'I am afraid they do in some countries,' said Maia. 'Not here; I don't
+think godmother would let them. I think nobody can do anything in these
+woods against her wishes,' she went on in a lower tone, glancing in
+Nanni's direction. But that young woman was knitting away calmly, with
+an expression of complete content on her rosy face.
+
+'Rollo,' Maia continued, 'come close to me. I want to speak in a
+whisper;' and Rollo, who, like his sister, was stretched at full length
+on the ground, thickly carpeted with the tiny dry-brown spikes which
+had fallen from the fir-trees during the winter, edged himself along by
+his elbows without getting up, till he was near enough to hear Maia's
+lowest murmur.
+
+'Lazy boy,' she said, laughing. 'Is it too much trouble to move?'
+
+'It's too much trouble to stand up any way,' replied Rollo. 'What is it
+you want to say, Maia? I do think there's something in these woods that
+puts one to sleep, as Nanni says.'
+
+'So do I,' said Maia, and her voice had a half sleepy sound as she
+spoke. 'I don't quite know what I wanted to say, Rollo. It was only
+something about _them_, you know.'
+
+'You needn't be the least afraid--Nanni can't hear,' said Rollo, without
+moving.
+
+'Well, I only wanted to talk a little about them. Just to wonder, you
+know, if they won't soon be sending for us--making some new treat. It
+seems such a long time since we saw them.'
+
+'Only a week,' said Rollo, sleepily.
+
+'Well, a week's a good while,' pursued Maia; 'and I'm sure we've done
+our lessons _very_ well all this time, and nobody's had to scold us for
+anything. _Rollo_----'
+
+'Oh, I do wish you'd let me take a little sleep,' said poor Rollo.
+
+'Oh, very well, then! I won't talk if you want to go to sleep,' said
+Maia, in a slightly offended tone; 'though I must say I think it is very
+stupid of you when we've been shut up at our lessons all the morning,
+and we have only an hour to stay out, to want to spend it all in
+sleeping.'
+
+But she said no more, for by this time Rollo was quite asleep, and the
+click-click of Nanni's knitting-needles grew fainter and fainter, till
+Maia, looking round to see why she was stopping, discovered that Nanni
+too had given in to the influence of the woods. She was asleep, and
+doubtless dreaming pleasantly, for there was a broad smile on her
+good-natured face.
+
+'Stupid things!' thought Maia to herself. And then she began wondering
+what amusement she could find till it was time to go home again. 'For
+_I'm_ not sleepy,' she said; 'it is only the twinkling way the sunshine
+comes through the trees that makes my eyes feel rather dazzled. I may as
+well shut them a little, and as I have no one to talk to I will try to
+say over my French poetry, so that I shall know it _quite_ well for
+Mademoiselle Delphine to-morrow morning.'
+
+The French poetry was long and dull. The complaint of a shepherdess for
+the loss of her sheep was the name of it, and Maia had not found it easy
+to learn, for, like many things it was then the custom to teach
+children, it was neither interesting nor instructive. But if it did her
+good in no other way, it was a lesson of patience, and Maia had worked
+hard at it. She now began to say it over to herself from the beginning
+in a low monotonous voice, her eyes closed as she half lay, half sat,
+leaning her head on the trunk of one of the great trees. It seemed to
+her that her poetry went wonderfully well. Never before had it sounded
+to her so musical. She really felt quite a pleasure in softly murmuring
+the lines, and quite unconsciously they seemed to set themselves to an
+air she had often been sung to sleep to by her nurse when a very little
+girl, till to her surprise Maia found herself singing in a low but
+exquisitely sweet voice.
+
+'I _never_ knew I could sing so beautifully,' she thought to herself; 'I
+must tell Rollo about it.' But she did not feel inclined to wake him up
+to listen to it. She had indeed forgotten all about him being asleep at
+her side--she had forgotten everything but the beauty of her song and
+the pleasure of her newly-discovered talent. And on and on she sang,
+like the bewitched Princess, though what she was singing about she could
+not by this time have told, till all of a sudden she became aware that
+she was not singing alone--or, at least, not without an accompaniment.
+For all through her singing, sometimes rising above it, sometimes gently
+sinking below, was a sweet trilling warble, purer and clearer than the
+sound of a running brook, softer and mellower than the music of any
+instrument Maia had ever heard.
+
+'What can it be?' thought Maia. She half determined to open her eyes to
+look, but she refrained from a vague fear that if she did so it might
+perhaps scare the music away. But unconsciously she had stopped singing,
+and just then a new sound as of innumerable wings close to her made her
+forget all in her curiosity to see what it was. She opened her eyes in
+time to see fluttering downwards an immense flock of birds--birds of
+every shape and colour, though none of them were very big, the largest
+being about the size of a parrot. There lay Rollo, fast asleep, in the
+midst of the crowd of feathered creatures, and something--an instinct
+she could not explain--made Maia quickly shut her eyes again. She was
+not afraid, but she felt sure the birds would not have come so near had
+they not thought her asleep too. So she remained perfectly still,
+leaning her head against the trunk of the tree and covering her face
+with her hand, so that she could peep out between the fingers while yet
+seeming to be asleep.
+
+The flutter gradually ceased, and the great flock of birds settled
+softly on the ground. Then began a clear chirping which, to Maia's
+delight, as she listened with all her ears, gradually seemed to shape
+itself into words which she could understand.
+
+'Do you think they liked our music?' piped a bird, or several birds
+together--it was impossible to say which.
+
+'I think so,' answered some other; '_he_'--and Maia understood that they
+were speaking of Rollo--'has heard it but dimly--he is farther away. But
+_she_ was nearer us and will not forget it.'
+
+'They seem good children,' said in a more squeaky tone a black and white
+bird, hopping forward a little by himself. He appeared to Maia to be
+some kind of crow or raven, but she disliked his rather patronising
+tone.
+
+'Good children,' she said to herself. 'What business has an old crow to
+talk of us as good children!'
+
+'Ah, yes!' replied a little brown bird which had established itself on
+a twig just above Rollo's head. 'If they had not been so, you may be
+sure _she_ would have had nothing to do with them, instead of making
+them as happy as she can, and giving orders all through the forest that
+they are to be entertained. I hear they amused themselves very well at
+the squirrels' the other day.'
+
+'Ah, indeed! A party?'
+
+'Oh, no--just a simple gambolade. Had it been a party, of course _our_
+services would have been retained for the music.'
+
+'Naturally,' replied the little brown bird. 'Of course no musical
+entertainment would be complete without _you_, Mr. Crow.'
+
+The old black bird giggled. He seemed quite flattered, and was evidently
+on the point of replying to his small brown friend by some amiable
+speech, when a soft cooing voice interrupted him. It was that of a
+wood-pigeon, who, with two or three companions, came hopping up to them.
+
+'What are we to do?' she said. 'Shall we warble a slumber-song for them?
+They are sleeping still.'
+
+The old crow glanced at the children.
+
+'I fancy they have had enough music for to-day,' he said. 'I think we
+should consult together seriously about what we can do for their
+entertainment. It won't do to let the squirrels be the only ones to show
+them attention. Besides, children who come to our woods and amuse
+themselves without ever robbing a nest, catching a butterfly, or causing
+the slightest alarm to even a hare--such children _deserve_ to be
+rewarded.'
+
+'What can we do for them?' chirruped a brisk little robin. 'We have
+given them a concert, which has had the effect'--and he made a
+patronising little bow in the direction of Rollo and Maia--'the
+effect--of sending them to sleep.'
+
+'I beg your pardon,' said a sparrow pertly. 'They were asleep before our
+serenade began. It was _intended_ to lull their slumbers. That was _her_
+desire.'
+
+'Doubtless,' said the crow snappishly. 'Mr. Sparrow is always the best
+informed as to matters in the highest quarters. And, of
+course--considering his world-wide fame as a songster----'
+
+'No sparring--no satirical remarks, gentlemen,' put in a bird who had
+not yet spoken. It was a blackbird, and all listened to him with
+respect. 'We should give example of nothing but peace and unity to
+these unfeathered visitors of ours, otherwise they might carry away a
+most mistaken idea of our habits and principles and of the happiness in
+which we live.'
+
+'Certainly--certainly,' agreed the crow. 'It was but a little amiable
+repartee, Mr. Blackbird. My young friend Sparrow has not quite thrown
+off the--the slight--sharpness of tone acquired, almost unconsciously,
+by a long residence in cities.'
+
+'And you, my respected friend,' observed the sparrow, 'are
+naturally--but we can all make allowance for each other--not altogether
+indisposed to croak. But these are trifling matters in no way
+interfering with the genuine brotherliness and good feeling in which we
+all live together in this favoured land.'
+
+A gentle but general buzz, or twitter rather, of applause greeted this
+speech.
+
+'And now to business,' said the robin. 'What are we to arrange for the
+amusement of our young friends?'
+
+'A remark reached my ears--I may explain, in passing, that some members
+of my family have a little nest just under the eaves of the castle,
+and--and--I now and then hear snatches of conversation--not, of course,
+that we are given to _eavesdropping_--of course, none of my family could
+be suspected of such a thing--but, as I was saying, a remark reached my
+ears that our young friends would like to visit what, in human language,
+would be called our king's palace--that is to say, the eyrie of the
+great eagle at the summit of the forest,' said a swallow, posing his
+awkward body ungracefully on one leg and looking round for approval.
+
+'Nothing easier,' replied the robin. 'We are much obliged to you for the
+suggestion, Mr. Swallow. If it meets with approval in the highest
+quarters, I vote that we should carry it out.'
+
+Another twitter of approval greeted this speech.
+
+'And when shall the visit take place?' asked the wood-pigeon softly,
+'and how shall it be accomplished?'
+
+'As to _when_, that is not for us to decide,' said the robin. 'As to
+_how_, I should certainly think a voyage through the air would be far
+the greatest novelty and amusement. And this, by laying our wings all
+together, we can easily arrange. The first thing we have to do is to
+submit the idea for approval, and then we can all meet together again
+and fix the details. But now I think we should be on the wing to regain
+our nests. Besides, our young friends will be awaking soon. It would not
+do for them to see us here assembled in such numbers. It might alarm
+them.'
+
+'That is true,' said the crow. 'Their education in some respects has
+been neglected. They have not enjoyed the unusual advantages of Waldo
+and Silva. But still--they are very good children, in their way.'
+
+This last speech made Maia so angry that, forgetting all pretence of
+being asleep, she started up to give the old crow a bit of her mind.
+
+'You impertinent old croaker,' she began to say, but to her amazement
+there was neither crow nor bird of any kind to be seen! Maia rubbed her
+eyes--was she, or had she been dreaming? No, it was impossible. But yet,
+how had all the birds got away so quickly, without the least flutter or
+bustle, and in less than half a second? She turned to Rollo and gave him
+a shake.
+
+'Rollo,' she said, 'do wake up, you lazy boy. Where have they all gone
+to?'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+A SAIL IN THE AIR.
+
+    'Bright are the regions of the air,
+    And among the winds and beams
+    It were delight to wander there.'
+
+    SHELLEY.
+
+
+'What are you talking about?' said Rollo, sitting up, and in his turn
+rubbing his eyes. 'Where have "who" gone to?'
+
+'The birds, of course,' replied Maia. 'You can't be so stupid, Rollo, as
+not to have seen them.'
+
+'I've been asleep,' said the poor boy, looking rather ashamed of
+himself. 'What birds were they? Did you see them? I have a queer sort of
+feeling,' and he hesitated, looking at Maia as if she could explain it,
+'as if I had dreamt something about them--as if I heard some sort of
+music through my sleep. What did _you_ see, Maia? do tell me.'
+
+Maia described it all to him, and he listened with the greatest
+interest. But at the end he made an observation which roused her
+indignation.
+
+'I believe you were dreaming too,' he said. 'Nobody ever heard of birds
+speaking like that.'
+
+'And yet you say you heard something of it through your sleep? Is it
+likely we both dreamt the same thing all of ourselves?'
+
+'But I didn't dream that birds were talking,' objected Rollo. 'They
+can't talk.'
+
+Maia glanced at him with supreme contempt.
+
+'Can squirrels talk?' she said. 'Would anybody believe all the things we
+have seen and done since we have been in this Christmas-tree land? Think
+of our drives in godmother's carriage; think of our finding our way
+through a tree's trunk; think of godmother herself, with her wonderful
+ways and her beautiful dress, and yet that she can look like a poor old
+woman! Would anybody believe all that, do you think? And we know it's
+all true; and yet you can't believe birds can talk! Oh, you are too
+stupid.'
+
+Rollo smiled; he did not seem vexed.
+
+'I don't see that all that prevents it being possible that you were
+dreaming all the same,' he said. 'But dreams are true sometimes.'
+
+'Are they?' said Maia, looking puzzled in her turn. 'Well, what was the
+use of going on so about birds never talking, then? Never mind, now;
+just wait and see if what I've told you doesn't come true. _I_ shall go,
+Rollo; if the birds come to fetch us to go to see the eagle, _I_ shall
+go.'
+
+'So shall I,' said Rollo coolly. 'I never had the slightest intention of
+not going. But we must go home now, Maia; it's getting late, and you
+know we were not to stay long to-day.'
+
+'Where's Nanni?' said Maia.
+
+'Perhaps the birds have flown off with her,' said Rollo mischievously.
+But for a moment or two neither he nor Maia could help feeling a little
+uneasy, for no Nanni was to be seen! They called her and shouted to her,
+and at last a sort of grunt came in reply, which guided them to where,
+quite hidden by a little nest of brushwood, Nanni lay at full length,
+blinking her eyes as if she had not the slightest idea where she was.
+
+As soon as she saw them, up she jumped.
+
+'Oh, I am so ashamed,' she cried. 'What could have come over me to fall
+asleep like that, just when I thought I should have got such a great
+piece of Master Rollo's stockings done! And you have been looking for
+me, lazy girl that I am! But I can assure you, Miss Maia, when I first
+sat down I was not here--I was sitting over there,' and she pointed to
+another tree-stump a little way off, 'not asleep at all, and knitting so
+fast. There are fairies in the wood, Miss Maia,' she added in a lower
+voice. 'I've thought it many a time, and I'm more sure than ever of it
+now. I don't think we should come into the woods at all, I really
+don't.'
+
+'We shouldn't have anywhere to walk in, then,' said Rollo. 'I don't see
+why you should be afraid of fairies, Nanni, even supposing there are
+any. They've never done us any harm. Now, have they?'
+
+But though she could not say they had, Nanni did not look happy. She was
+one of those people that did not like anything she did not understand.
+Maia gave Rollo's sleeve a little pull as a sign to him that he had
+better not say any more, and then they set off quickly walking back to
+the castle.
+
+For some days things went on as usual, though every morning when she got
+up and every evening when she went to bed Maia wondered if the summons
+would not come soon. She went all round the castle, peeping up into the
+eaves to see if she could find the swallows' nest; but she did not
+succeed, and it was no wonder, for the solitary nest was hidden away in
+a corner where even Maia's sharp eyes could not penetrate, and the
+swallows flew out and in through a hole in the parapet round the roof
+which no one suspected.
+
+'I know there _are_ swallows here,' she said to Rollo, 'for I've seen
+them. But I can't fancy where they live.'
+
+'Nanni would say they were fairies,' said Rollo, smiling. He was more
+patient than his sister, and he was quite sure that godmother would not
+forget them. And by degrees Maia began to follow his example, especially
+after Rollo happened to remark one day that he had noticed that it was
+always when they had been working the most steadily at their lessons,
+and thinking the least of holidays and treats that the holidays and
+treats came. This counsel Maia took to heart, and worked so well for
+some days that Mademoiselle Delphine and the old chaplain had none but
+excellent reports to give of both children, and Lady Venelda smiled on
+them so graciously that they felt sure her next letter to their father
+would be a most satisfactory one.
+
+One evening--it was the evening of a most lovely spring day--when Rollo
+and Maia had said good-night in the usual ceremonious way to Lady
+Venelda, they were coming slowly along the great corridor, white like
+the rest of the castle, which led to their own rooms, when a sound at
+one of the windows they were passing made them stop.
+
+'What was that?' said Maia. 'It sounded like a great flutter of wings.'
+
+Rollo glanced out of the window. It was nearly dark, but his eyes were
+quick.
+
+'It was wings,' he said. 'Quite a flight of birds have just flown off
+from under the roof.'
+
+'Ah,' said Maia, nodding her head mysteriously, 'I thought so. Well,
+Rollo, _I_ don't intend to go to sleep to-night, whether you do or not.'
+
+Rollo shook his head.
+
+'I shall wake if there's anything to wake for,' he said. 'I'm much more
+sure of doing that than you can be of keeping awake.'
+
+'Why, I couldn't _go_ to sleep if I thought there was going to be
+anything to wake for,' said Maia.
+
+Before long they were both in bed. Rollo laid his head on the pillow
+without troubling himself about keeping awake or going to sleep. Maia,
+on the contrary, kept her eyes as wide open as she could. It was a
+moonlight night; the objects in the room stood out in sharp black
+shadow against the bright radiance, seeming to take queer fantastic
+forms which made her every minute start up, feeling sure that she saw
+some one or something beside her bedside. And every time that she found
+it a mistake she felt freshly disappointed. At last, quite tired with
+expecting she knew not what, she turned her face to the wall and shut
+her eyes.
+
+'Stupid things that they all are!' she said to herself. 'Godmother, and
+the birds, and Waldo, and Silva, and the old doctor, and everybody.
+They've no business to promise us treats, and then never do anything
+about them. I shan't think any more about it, that I won't. I believe
+it's all a pretence.'
+
+Which you will, I am sure, agree with me in thinking not very reasonable
+on Maia's part!
+
+She fell asleep at last, and, as might have been expected, much more
+soundly than usual. When she woke, it was from a deep, dreamless
+slumber, but with the feeling that for some time some one had been
+calling her, and that she had been slow of rousing herself.
+
+'What is it?' she called out, sitting up in bed, and trying to wink the
+sleep out of her eyes. 'Who is there?'
+
+'Maia!' a voice replied. A voice that seemed to come from a great
+distance, and yet to reach her as clearly as any sound she had ever
+heard in her life. 'Maia, are you ready?'
+
+Up sprang Maia.
+
+'Godmother, is it you calling me?' she said. 'Oh, yes, it must be you!
+I'll be ready in a moment, godmother. If I could but find my shoes and
+stockings! Oh, dear! oh, dear! and I meant to keep awake all night. I've
+been expecting you such a long time.'
+
+'I know,' said the voice, quite close beside her this time; 'you have
+been expecting me too much,' and, glancing round, Maia saw in the
+moonlight--right _in_ the moonlight, looking indeed almost as if the
+bright rays came from her--a shadowy silvery figure, quite different
+from godmother as she had hitherto known her, but which, nevertheless,
+she knew in a moment could be no one else. Maia flung her arms round her
+and kissed her.
+
+'Yes,' she said, 'now I'm _quite_ sure it's you and not a dream. No
+dream has cheeks so soft as yours, godmother, and no one else kisses
+like you. Your kisses are just like violets. But what am I to do? Must I
+get dressed at once?'
+
+Godmother passed her hands softly round the child. She seemed to stroke
+her.
+
+'You are dressed,' she said. 'The clothes you wear generally would be
+too heavy, so I brought some with me. You do not need shoes and
+stockings.'
+
+But Maia was looking at herself with too much surprise almost to hear
+what she said. 'Dressed,' yes, indeed! She was dressed as never before
+in her life, and though she turned herself about, and stroked herself
+like a little bird proud of its plumage, she could not find out of what
+her dress was made, nor what exactly was its colour. Was it velvet, or
+satin, or plush? Was it green or blue?
+
+'I know,' she cried at last joyously; 'it's the same stuff your red
+dress is made of, godmother! Oh, how nice, and soft, and warm, and light
+all together it is! I feel as if I could jump up to the sky.'
+
+'And not be seen when you got there,' said godmother. 'The colour of
+your dress _is_ sky colour, Maia. But when you have finished admiring
+yourself we must go--the others have been ready ever so long. They had
+not been expecting me _too_ much, like you, and so they were ready all
+the quicker.'
+
+'Do you mean Rollo?' said Maia. 'Rollo, and Silva, and Waldo?'
+
+Godmother nodded her head.
+
+'I'm ready now, any way,' said Maia.
+
+'Give me your hand,' said godmother, and taking it she held it firm, and
+led Maia to the window. To the little girl's surprise it was wide open.
+Godmother, still holding her hand, softly whistled--once, twice, three
+times. Then stood quietly waiting.
+
+A gentle, rustling, wafting sound became gradually audible. Maia
+remained perfectly still--holding her breath in her curiosity to see
+what was coming next. The sound grew nearer and louder, if one can use
+the word loud to so soft and delicate a murmur. Maia stretched out her
+head.
+
+'Here they are,' said godmother, and as she spoke, a large object,
+looking something like a ship with two great sails swimming through the
+air instead of on the sea, came in sight, and, as if steered by an
+invisible hand, came slowly up to the window and there stopped.
+
+'What is it?' cried Maia, not quite sure, in spite of godmother's firm
+clasp, whether she was not a little frightened, for even godmother
+herself looked strangely shadowy and unreal in the moonlight, and the
+great air-boat was like nothing Maia had ever seen or dreamt of.
+Suddenly she gave a joyful spring, for she caught sight of what took
+away all her fear. There in the centre of the huge sails, seated in a
+sort of car, and joyfully waving their hands to her, were Rollo, and
+Silva, and Waldo.
+
+'Come, Maia,' they called out; 'the birds have come to fetch us, you
+see. There's a snug seat for you among the cushions. Come, quick.'
+
+How was she to come, Maia was on the point of asking, when she felt
+godmother draw her quickly forward.
+
+'Spring, my child, and don't be afraid,' she said, and Maia sprang
+almost without knowing it, for before she had time to ask or think
+anything about it, she found herself being kissed by Silva, and
+comfortably settled in her place by the boys.
+
+'All right--we're off now,' Waldo called out, and at once, with a steady
+swing, the queer ship rose into the air.
+
+'But godmother,' exclaimed Maia, 'where is she? Isn't she coming with
+us?'
+
+'I am with you, my child,' answered godmother's clear, well-known voice.
+But where it came from Maia could not tell.
+
+'Godmother is steering us,' said Silva softly, 'but we can't see her.
+She doesn't want us to see her. But she'll take care of us.'
+
+'But where are we?' asked Maia bewildered. 'What is this queer ship or
+balloon that we are in? What makes it go?'
+
+'Look closer, and you'll see,' said Silva. 'Look at the sails.'
+
+And Maia looking, saw by the bright moonlight something stranger than
+any of the strange things she had yet seen in Christmas-tree land. The
+sails were made of an immense collection of birds all somehow or other
+holding together. Afterwards Silva explained to her that they were all
+clinging by their claws to a great frame, round which they were arranged
+in order according to their size, and all flapping their wings in
+perfect time, so as to have much the same effect in propelling the
+vessel through the air as the regular motion of several pairs of oars in
+rowing a boat over the sea. And gradually, as Maia watched and
+understood, a soft murmur reached her ears--it was the waft of the many
+pairs of wings as they all together clove the air.
+
+'Oh, the dear, sweet birds!' she exclaimed. 'They have planned it all
+themselves, I am sure. Oh, Silva, isn't it lovely? Have you ever had a
+sail in the air like this before?'
+
+'Not exactly like this,' said Silva.
+
+'We've had _rides_ in the air,' said Waldo mysteriously.
+
+'_Have_ you?' said Maia eagerly. 'Oh, do tell us about them!'
+
+But Rollo laid his hand on her arm.
+
+'Hush!' he said softly; 'the birds are going to sing,' and before Maia
+had time to ask him how he knew, the song began.
+
+'Shut your eyes,' said Waldo; 'let's all shut our eyes. It sounds ever
+so much prettier.'
+
+The others followed his advice. You can imagine nothing more delicious
+than the feeling of floating--for it felt more like quick floating than
+anything else--swiftly through the air, with the sweet warbling voices
+all keeping perfect time together, so that even the queer sounds which
+now and then broke through the others--a croak from the crow, who was
+quite satisfied that he alone conducted the bass voices, or a sudden
+screech from an owl, who had difficulty in subduing his tones--did not
+seem to mar the effect of the whole. The children did not speak; they
+did not feel as if they cared to do so. They held each others' hands,
+and Maia leant her head on Silva's shoulder in perfect content. It was
+like a beautiful dream.
+
+Gradually the music ceased, and just as it did so godmother's well-known
+voice came clearly through the air. It seemed to come from above, and
+yet it sounded so near.
+
+'Children,' she said, 'we are going higher. It will be colder for a
+while, for we must hasten, to be in good time for the dawn. Wrap
+yourselves up well!'
+
+And as she spoke down dropped on their heads a great soft fleecy shawl
+or mantle. Softer and fleecier and lighter than any eider-down or lambs'
+wool that ever was seen or felt, and warmer too, for the children had
+but to give it the tiniest pull or pat in any direction and there it
+settled itself in the most comfortable way, creeping round them like the
+gentle hand of a mother covering up the little ones at night.
+
+'It must be godmother who is tucking us up, though we can't see her,'
+said Rollo.
+
+'Dear godmother,' said Maia, and a sort of little echo was murmured all
+round, even the birds seeming to join in it, of 'dear godmother.'
+
+It did get colder, much colder; but the well-protected children,
+nestling in the cushions of their air-boat, did not feel it, except when
+inquisitive Maia poked up her sharp little nose, very quickly to
+withdraw it again.
+
+'Oh, it _is_ so freezy,' she said. 'My nose feels as if it would drop
+off. Do rub it for me, Silva.'
+
+'I told you it would be cold,' said godmother's voice again. 'Stay where
+you are, Maia; indeed, I think I don't need to warn you now. A burnt
+child dreads the fire. I will tell you all when the time comes for you
+to peep out.'
+
+Maia felt a very little ashamed of her restlessness, and for the rest of
+the journey she was perfectly quiet. Especially when in a few moments
+the birds began to sing again--still more softly and sweetly this time,
+so that it seemed a kind of cradle song. Whether the children slept or
+not I cannot tell. I don't think they could have told themselves; but in
+any case they were very still for a good long while after the serenade
+had ceased.
+
+And then once more--clearer and more ringing than before--sounded
+godmother's voice.
+
+'Children, look out! The dawn is breaking.'
+
+And as the strange air-boat slowly relaxed its speed, floating downwards
+in the direction of some great cliffs almost exactly underneath where it
+was, the four children sat up, throwing off the fairy mantle which had
+so well protected them, and gazed with all their eyes, as well they
+might, at the wonderful beauty of the sight before them.
+
+For they had sailed up to the eagles' eyrie in time to see the sun
+rise!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE EAGLES' EYRIE.
+
+    'Where, yonder, in the upper air
+    The solemn eagles watch the sun.'
+
+
+Did you ever see the sun rise? I hope so; but still I am sure you never
+saw it from such a point as that whereon their winged conductors gently
+deposited the castle and the forest children that early summer morning.
+
+'Jump out,' said the voice they had all learnt to obey, when the
+air-boat came to a stand-still a few feet above the rock. And the
+children, who as yet had noticed nothing of the ground above which they
+were hovering, for their eyes were fixed on the pink and azure and
+emerald and gold, spreading out like a fairy kaleidoscope on the sky
+before them, joined hands and sprang fearlessly on to they knew not
+what. And as they did so, with a murmuring warble of farewell, the birds
+flapped their wings, and the air-boat rose swiftly into the air and
+disappeared from view.
+
+The four looked at each other.
+
+'Has godmother sailed away in it? I thought she was going to stay with
+us,' exclaimed Maia in a disappointed tone.
+
+'Oh, Maia,' said Silva, 'you don't yet understand godmother a bit. But
+we must not stand here. You know the way, Waldo?'
+
+'Here,' where they were standing, was, as I said, a rock, ragged and
+bare, though lower down, its sides were clothed with short thymy grass.
+And stretching behind them the children saw a beautiful expanse of hilly
+ground, beautiful though treeless, for the heather and bracken and gorse
+that covered it looked soft and mellow in the distance, more especially
+with the lovely light and colour just now reflected from the sky.
+
+But Waldo turned in the other direction. He walked a little way across
+the hard, bare rock, which he seemed to be attentively examining, till
+suddenly he stopped short, and tapped on the ground with a little stick
+he had in his hand.
+
+'It must be about here,' he said. The other three children came close
+round him.
+
+'Here,' exclaimed Silva, and she pointed to a small white cross cut in
+the stone at their feet.
+
+Waldo knelt down, and pressed the spot exactly in the centre of the
+cross. Immediately a large slab of rock, forming a sort of door, but
+fitting so closely when shut that no one would have suspected its
+existence, opened inwards, disclosing a flight of steps. Waldo looked
+round.
+
+'This is the short cut to the face of the cliff,' he said. 'Shall I go
+down first?'
+
+'Yes, and I next,' said Rollo, eagerly springing forward.
+
+Then followed Silva and Maia. The flight of steps was a short one. In a
+few moments they found themselves in a rocky passage, wide enough for
+them to walk along comfortably, one by one, and not dark, as light came
+in from little shafts cut at intervals in the roof. The passage twisted
+and turned about a good deal, but suddenly Waldo stopped, calling out:
+
+'Here we are! Is not this worth coming to see?'
+
+The passage had changed into a gallery, with the rock on one side only,
+on the other a railing, to protect those walking along it from a
+possible fall; for they were right on the face of an enormous cliff,
+far down at the bottom of which they could distinguish the tops of
+their old friends the firs. And far as the eye could reach stretched
+away into the distance, miles and miles and miles, here rising, there
+again sweeping downwards, the everlasting Christmas-trees!
+
+The passage stopped suddenly. It ended in a sort of little shelf in the
+rock, and higher up in the wall, at the back of this shelf as it were,
+the children saw two large round holes cut in the rock: they were the
+windows of the eagles' eyrie.
+
+Waldo went forward, and with his little stick tapped three times on the
+smooth, shining rock-wall. But the others, intently watching though they
+were, could not see how a door opened--whether it drew back inwards or
+rolled in sidewards. All they saw was that just before them, where a
+moment before there had been the rock-surface, a great arched doorway
+now invited them to enter.
+
+Waldo glanced round, though without speaking. The other three
+understood, and followed him through the doorway, which, in the same
+mysterious way in which it had opened, was now closed up behind them.
+But that it was so they hardly noticed, so delighted were they with what
+they saw before them. It was the prettiest room, or hall, you could
+imagine--the roof rising very high, and the light coming in through the
+two round windows of which I told you. And the whole--roof, walls,
+floor--was completely lined with what, at first sight, the children took
+for some most beautifully-embroidered kind of velvet. But velvet it was
+not. No embroidery ever showed the exquisite delicacy of tints, fading
+into each other like the softest tones of music, from the purest white
+through every silvery shade to the richest purple, or from deep glowing
+scarlet to pink paler than the first blush of the peach-blossom, while
+here and there rainbow wreaths shone out like stars on a glowing sky. It
+was these wreaths that told the secret.
+
+'Why,' exclaimed Maia, 'it is all _feathers_!'
+
+'Yes,' said Silva, 'I had forgotten. I never was here before, but
+godmother told me about it.'
+
+'And where----?' Maia was going on, but a sound interrupted her. It was
+that of a flutter of wings over their heads, and looking up the children
+perceived two enormous birds slowly flying downwards to where they
+stood, though whence they had come could not be seen.
+
+They alighted and stood together--their great wings folded, while their
+piercing eyes surveyed their guests.
+
+'We make you welcome,' they said at last, in a low soft tone which
+surprised the children, whose heads were full of the idea that eagles
+were fierce and their only voice a scream. 'We have been looking for
+your visit, of which our birds gave us notice. We have ordered a
+collation to be prepared for you, and we trust you will enjoy the view.'
+
+Waldo, who seemed to be master of the ceremonies to-day, stepped forward
+a little in front of the others.
+
+'We thank you,' he said quietly, making his best bow as he spoke.
+
+The eagle queen raised her great wing--the left wing--and with it
+pointed to a spot among the feather hangings where, though they had not
+noticed it, the children now saw gleaming a silver knob.
+
+'Up that stair leads to the balcony overhanging the cliff,' she said.
+'There you will find our respected attendants, the falcon and the hawk,
+who have purveyed for your wants. And before you leave, the king and I
+hope to show you something of this part of our domains. _Au
+revoir!_--the sun awaits us to bid him good-morning.'
+
+And with a slow, majestic movement the two strange birds spread their
+wings and rose upwards, where, though the children's eyes followed them
+closely, they disappeared they knew not how or where.
+
+Then Waldo turned the silver knob and opened a door, through which, as
+the eagle queen had said, they saw a staircase mounting straight
+upwards. It led out on to a balcony cut in the rock, but carefully
+carpeted with moss, and with rustic seats and a rustic table, on which
+were laid out four covers evidently intended for the four children. Two
+birds, large, but very much smaller than the eagles, stood at the side,
+each with a table-napkin over one wing, which so amused the children
+that it was with difficulty they returned the exceedingly dignified
+'reverence' with which the hawk and the falcon greeted them. And they
+were rather glad when the two attendants spread their wings and flew
+over the edge of the balcony, evidently going to fetch the dishes.
+
+'What will they give us to eat, I wonder?' said Maia. 'I hope it won't
+be pieces of poor little lambs, all raw, you know. That's what they
+always tell you eagles eat in the natural history books.'
+
+'Not the eagles of _this_ country,' said Silva. 'I am sure you never
+read about them in your books. _Our_ eagles are not cruel and fierce;
+they would never eat little lambs.'
+
+'But they must kill lots of little birds, whether they eat them or not,'
+said Maia, 'to get all those quantities and quantities of feathers.'
+
+'Kill the little birds!' cried Silva and Waldo both at once. 'Kill their
+own birds! Maia, what are you thinking of? As if any creature that lives
+in Christmas-tree Land would kill any other! Why, the feathers are the
+birds' presents to the king and queen. They keep all that drop off and
+bring them once a year, and that's been done for years and years, till
+the whole of the nest is lined with them.'
+
+'How nice!' replied Maia. 'I'm very glad the eagles are so kind. But
+they're not so _funny_ as the squirrels. They look so very solemn.'
+
+'They must be solemn,' said Waldo. 'They're not like the squirrels, who
+have nothing to do but jump about.'
+
+'I beg your pardon,' said Rollo. 'Have you forgotten that the world
+would stop if Mr. Bushy didn't climb to the top of the tree?'
+
+'And what would happen if the eagles left off watching the sun?' said
+Waldo.
+
+'I don't know,' said Maia eagerly. 'Do tell us, Waldo.'
+
+Waldo looked at her.
+
+'I don't know either,' he said. 'Perhaps the sun would go to sleep, and
+then there would be a nice confusion.'
+
+'You're laughing at me,' said Maia, in rather an offended tone. 'I don't
+see how I'm to be expected to know everything; if the squirrels and the
+eagles and all the creatures here are different from everywhere else,
+how could I tell?'
+
+'Here's the collation!' exclaimed Rollo, and looking up, the others saw
+the falcon and the hawk flying back again, carrying between them a large
+basket, from which, when they had set it down beside the table, they
+cleverly managed, with beaks and claws, to take all sorts of mysterious
+things, which they arranged upon the table. There was no lamb, either
+raw or roasted, for all the repast consisted of fruits. Fruits of every
+kind the children had ever heard of, and a great many of which they did
+not even know the names, but which were more delicious than you, who
+have never tasted them, can imagine.
+
+'You see the eagle king and queen have no need to kill poor little
+lambs,' said Silva. And Maia agreed with her that no one who could get
+such fruits to eat, need ever wish for any other food. While she was
+speaking, the same soft rustle which they had heard before sounded
+overhead, and again the two great majestic birds alighted beside them.
+The four children started to their feet.
+
+'Thank you so much for the delicious fruit, eagle king and eagle queen,'
+said Maia, who was seldom backward at making speeches.
+
+'We are glad you found it to your taste,' said the king. 'It has come
+from many a far-away land--lands you have perhaps scarcely even dreamt
+of, but which to us seem not so strange or distant.'
+
+'Do you fly away so very far?' asked Maia, but the eagles only gleamed
+at her with their wonderful eyes, and shook their heads.
+
+'It is not for us to tell what you could not understand,' said the king.
+'They who can gaze undazzled on the sun must see many things.'
+
+Maia drew back a little.
+
+'They frighten me rather,' she whispered to the others. 'They are so
+solemn and mysterious.'
+
+'But that needn't frighten you,' said Silva. 'Rollo isn't frightened.'
+
+'Rollo's a boy,' replied Maia, as if that settled the matter.
+
+Waldo now pointed out some steps in the rock leading up still higher.
+
+'The eagles want us to go up there,' he said. 'We shall see right over
+the forest and ever so far.'
+
+And so they did, for the steps led up a long way till they ended on
+another rock-shelf right on the face of the cliff. From here the great
+fir-forests looked but like dark patches far below, while away, away in
+the distance stretched on one side the great plain across which the
+children had journeyed on their first coming to the white castle; and on
+the other the distant forms of mountain ranges, gray-blue, shading
+fainter and fainter till the clouds themselves looked more real.
+
+It was cold, very cold, up here on the edge of the great bare rocks. The
+beauty of the sunrise had sobered down into the chilly freshness of an
+early summer morning; the world seemed still asleep, and the children
+shivered a little.
+
+'I don't think I should like to live always as high up as this,' said
+Maia. 'It's very lonely and very cold.'
+
+'You would need to be dressed in feathers like the eagles if you did,'
+replied Silva; 'and if one had eyes like theirs, I dare say one would
+never feel lonely. One would see so much.'
+
+'I wonder,' said Maia--and then she stopped.
+
+'What were you going to say?' asked Rollo.
+
+Maia's eyes looked far over the plain as if, like the eagles, they would
+pierce the distance.
+
+'It was from there we came,' she said. 'I wonder if it will be from
+there that father will come to take us away. Do you think that the
+eagles will know when he is coming? do you think they will see him from
+very far off?'
+
+Silva looked over the plain without speaking, and into her dark eyes
+there crept something that was not in Maia's blue ones.
+
+'Maia,' exclaimed Rollo reproachfully, 'Silva is crying. She doesn't
+like you to talk of us going away.'
+
+In an instant Maia's arms were round Silva's neck.
+
+'Don't cry, Silva--you mustn't,' she said. 'When we go away you and
+Waldo shall come too--we will ask our father, won't we, Rollo?'
+
+'And godmother?' said Silva, smiling again. 'What would she say? We are
+her children, Maia, and the children of the forest. We should not be fit
+to live as you do in the great world of men out away there. No; we can
+always love each other, and perhaps you and Rollo will come away out of
+the world sometimes to see us--but we must stay in our own country.'
+
+'Never mind--don't talk about it just now,' said Maia. 'I wish I hadn't
+said anything about father coming. I dare say he won't come for a very
+long while, and when we can see you and Waldo we are never dull. It's
+only at the castle when they give us such lots of lessons and everybody
+is so prim and so cross if we're the least bit late. Oh, dear!--I was
+forgetting--shan't we be late for breakfast this morning? Is godmother
+coming to fetch us?'
+
+'We are going home now,' said Waldo. 'But first we must say good-bye to
+the eagles. Here they are,' for as he spoke the two royal birds came
+circling down from overhead and settled themselves on the very edge of
+the cliff, whose dizzy height they calmly overlooked--their gaze fixed
+far beyond.
+
+'That is where they always stay watching,' said Waldo, in a low voice,
+and then the children went forward till they were but a few steps behind
+the pair. Farther it would not have been safe to go.
+
+'Good-bye, king and queen,' they said all together, and the eagles,
+slowly turning round, though without moving from their places, answered
+in their grave voices:
+
+'Farewell, children. We will watch you, though you may not know it.
+Farewell.'
+
+Then Waldo led the others down the rock stair by which they had come
+up--down past the balcony where they had had their collation of fruit,
+till they found themselves in the feather-lined hall.
+
+'There is something rather sad about the eagles,' said Maia. 'Do you
+think it is watching so much that makes them sad?'
+
+'Perhaps,' said Silva. 'Come and sit down here in this snug corner.
+Look, there is a feather arm-chair for each of us--it is a little
+chilly, don't you think?'
+
+'Yes, perhaps it is. But tell me if you know why the eagles are sad.'
+
+'I think they are more grave than sad,' replied Silva. 'I dare say
+watching so much does make them so.'
+
+'Why? Do they see so far? Do they see all sorts of things?' asked Maia
+in a rather awe-struck tone. 'Are they like fairies, Silva?'
+
+'I don't know exactly,' said Silva. 'But I think they are very wise, and
+I expect they know a great deal.'
+
+'But they can't know as much as godmother, and she isn't sad,' said
+Maia.
+
+'Sometimes she is,' said Silva. 'Besides, she has more to do than the
+eagles. They have only to watch--she puts things right. You'll
+understand better some day,' she added, seeing that Maia looked puzzled.
+'But isn't it cold? Oh, see there--that's to wrap ourselves up in,' for
+just at this moment there flapped down on them, from no one could tell
+where, the great soft fluffy cloak or rug which had kept them so
+beautifully warm during their air-journey.
+
+'Come under the shawl,' cried Maia to the two boys, and all the children
+drew their seats close together and wrapped the wonderful cloak well
+round them.
+
+'But aren't we going home soon?' said Maia. 'I'm so afraid of being
+late.'
+
+'Godmother knows all about it,' said Waldo. 'She's sent us this cloak on
+purpose. There's nothing to do but sit still--till she tells us what
+we're to do. I don't mind, for somehow I'm rather sleepy.'
+
+'I think I am too,' said Rollo, and though Silva and Maia were less
+ready to allow it, I think they must have felt the same, for somehow or
+other two minutes later all the four were taking a comfortable nap, and
+knew nothing more till a soft clear voice whispered in their ears:
+
+'Children, it is time to wake up.'
+
+'Time to go home! Are the birds coming for us again?' said Maia, rubbing
+her eyes and staring about her. A voice softly laughing replied to her:
+
+'Birds--what birds are you talking about? You're not awake yet, Maia,
+and I've been telling you to wake ever so long.'
+
+It was Rollo.
+
+'You, why I thought it was godmother,' said Maia; 'I heard her say,
+"Children, it is time to wake up," and I thought we were all in the
+feather-hall still. How did we get back, Rollo?'
+
+For 'back' they were. Maia in her own little bed in the white castle,
+and Rollo standing beside her in his ordinary dress. Where were Waldo
+and Silva--where the feather-hall--where the wonderful dresses in which
+godmother had clothed them for the air-journey? Maia looked up at Rollo
+as she spoke, with disappointment in her eyes.
+
+'We _are_ back,' he said, 'and that's all there is to say about it, as
+far as I can see. But come, Maia, don't look so unhappy. We've had great
+fun, and we must be very good after it to please godmother. It's a
+lovely day, and after we've finished our lessons we can have some nice
+runs in the fields. Jump up--you're not a bit tired, are you? I'm not.'
+
+'Nor am I,' said Maia, slowly bestirring herself. 'But I'm rather dull.
+I'm afraid we shan't see them again for a good while, Rollo.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+A VISION OF CHRISTMAS TREES.
+
+    'The angels are abroad to-night.'
+
+    _At Christmas-tide._
+
+
+It was early summer when _we_ saw them last. It is
+mid-winter--December--now. And winter comes in good earnest in the
+country where I have shown you the white castle, and told you of the
+doings and adventures of its two little guests. Many more could I tell
+you of--many a joyous summer day had they spent with their forest
+friends, many a wonderful dance had godmother led them, till they had
+got to know nearly as much as Waldo and Silva themselves of the strange
+happy creatures that lived in this marvellous Christmas-tree Land, and
+in other lands too. For as the days shortened again, and grew too cold
+for air-journeys and cave explorings and visits to many other denizens
+of the forest than I have space to tell you about, then began the
+season of godmother's story-tellings, which I think the children found
+as delightful as any other of her treats. Oh, the wonderful tales that
+were told round the bright little fire in Silva's dainty kitchen! Oh,
+the wood-fairies, and water-sprites, and dwarfs, and gnomes that they
+learnt about! Oh, the lovely songs that godmother sang in that witching
+voice of hers--that voice like none other that the children had ever
+heard! It was a true fairyland into which she led them--a fairyland
+where entered nothing ugly or cruel or mean or false, though the
+dwellers in it were of strange and fantastic shape and speech, children
+of the rainbow and the mist, unreal and yet real, like the cloud-castles
+that build themselves for us in the sky, or the music that weaves itself
+in the voice of the murmuring stream.
+
+But even to these happy times there came an end--and the beginning of
+this end began to be felt when the first snow fell and Christmas-tree
+Land was covered with the thick white mantle it always wore till the
+spring's soft breath blew it off again.
+
+'A storm is coming--a heavy storm is on its way, my darlings,' said
+godmother one afternoon, when she had been spinning some lovely stories
+for them with her invisible wheel. She had left the fireside and was
+standing by the open doorway, looking out at the white landscape, and as
+she turned round, it seemed to the children that her own face was whiter
+than usual--her _hair_ certainly was so. It had lost the golden tinge it
+sometimes took, which seemed to make a gleam all over her features--so
+that at such times it was impossible to believe that godmother was
+old--and now she seemed a very tiny little old woman, as small and
+fragile as if she herself was made out of a snowflake, and her face
+looked anxious and almost sad. 'A storm is on its way,' she repeated;
+'you must hasten home.'
+
+'But why do you look so sad, godmother dear?' said Maia. 'We can get
+home quite safely. _You_ can see to that. Nothing will ever hurt us when
+_you_ are taking care of us.'
+
+'But there are some things I cannot do,' said godmother, smiling, 'or
+rather that I would not do if I could. Times and seasons pass away and
+come to an end, and it is best so. Still, it may make even me sad
+sometimes.'
+
+All the four pairs of eyes looked up in quick alarm. They felt that
+there was something--though what, they did not know--that godmother was
+thinking of in particular, and the first idea that came into their
+minds was not far from the truth.
+
+'Godmother! oh, godmother!' exclaimed all the voices together, so that
+they sounded like one, 'you don't mean that we're not to see each other
+any more?'
+
+'Not yet, dears, not yet,' said godmother. 'But happy times pass and sad
+times pass. It must be so. And, after all, why should one fret? Those
+who love each other meet again as surely as the bees fly to the
+flowers.'
+
+'In Heaven, godmother? Do you mean in Heaven?' asked Maia, in a low
+voice and with a look in her eyes telling that the tears were not far
+off.
+
+Godmother smiled again.
+
+'Sooner than that sometimes. Do not look so distressed, my pretty Maia.
+But come now. I must get you home before the storm breaks. Kiss each
+other, my darlings, but it is not good-bye yet. You will soon be
+together again--sooner than you think.'
+
+No one ever thought of not doing--and at once--what godmother told them.
+Rollo and Maia said good-bye even more lovingly than usual to their dear
+Waldo and Silva, and then godmother, holding a hand of each, set out on
+their homeward journey.
+
+It was as she had said--the storm-spirits were in the air. Above the
+wind and the cracking of the branches, brittle with the frost, and the
+far-off cries of birds and other creatures on their way to shelter in
+their nests or lairs, came another sound which the children had heard of
+but never before caught with their own ears--a strange, indescribable
+sound, neither like the murmuring of the distant sea nor the growl of
+thunder nor the shriek of the hurricane, yet recalling all of these.
+
+''Tis the voice of the storm,' said godmother softly. 'Pray to the good
+God, my darlings, for those that travel by land or sea. And now,
+farewell!--that beaten path between the trees will bring you out at the
+castle gate, and no harm will come to you. Good-bye!'
+
+She lingered a little over the last word, and this encouraged Maia to
+ask a question.
+
+'When shall we see you again, dear godmother? And will you not tell us
+more about why you are sad?'
+
+'It will pass with the storm, for all is for the best,' said godmother
+dreamily. 'When one joy passes, another comes. Remember that. And no
+true joy is ever past. Keep well within shelter, my children, till the
+storm has had its way, and then----' she stopped again.
+
+'Then? What then? Oh, _do_ tell us,' persisted Maia. 'You know, dear
+godmother, it is _very_ dull in the white castle when we mayn't go out.
+Lady Venelda makes them give us many more lessons to keep us out of
+mischief, she says, and we really don't much mind. It's better to do
+lessons than nothing. Oh, godmother, we would have been _so_ miserable
+here if we hadn't had you and Waldo and Silva!'
+
+Godmother stroked Maia's sunny head and smiled down into her eyes. And
+something just then--was it a last ray of the setting sun hurrying off
+to calmer skies till the storm should have passed?--lighted up
+godmother's own face and hair with a wonderful glow. She looked like a
+beautiful young girl.
+
+'Oh, how pretty you are!' said the children under their breath. But they
+were too used to these strange changes in godmother's appearance to be
+as astonished as many would have been.
+
+'Three nights from now will be the day before Christmas Eve,' said
+godmother. 'When you go to bed look out in the snow and you will see my
+messenger. And remember, remember, if one joy goes, another comes. And
+no true joys are ever lost.'
+
+And as they listened to her words, she was gone! So hand-in-hand,
+wondering what it all might mean, the children turned to the path in the
+snow she had shown them, which in a few minutes brought them safely
+home.
+
+Though none too soon--scarcely were they within shelter when the tempest
+began. The wind howled, the sleet and hail dashed down, even the
+growling of distant thunder, or what sounded like it, was heard--the
+storm-spirits had it all their own way for that night and the day
+following; and when the second night came, and the turmoil seemed to
+have ceased, it had but changed its form, for the snow again began to
+fall, ever more and more heavily, till it lay so deep that one could
+hardly believe the world would ever again burst forth from its silent
+cold embrace.
+
+And the white castle looked white no longer. Amid the surrounding purity
+it seemed gray and soiled and grimly ashamed of itself.
+
+Three days had passed; the third night was coming.
+
+'The snow has left off falling, and seems hardening,' Lady Venelda had
+said that afternoon. 'If it continues so, the children can go out
+to-morrow. It is not good for young people to be so long deprived of
+fresh air and exercise. But it is a hard winter. I only hope we shall
+have no more of these terrible storms before----,' but then she stopped
+suddenly, for she was speaking to the old doctor, and had not noticed
+that Rollo and Maia were standing near.
+
+The children had seen with satisfaction that the snow had left off
+falling, for, though they had faith in godmother's being able to do what
+no one else could, they did not quite see how she was to send them a
+message if the fearful weather had continued.
+
+'We might have looked out the whole of last night without seeing
+anything,' said Maia, 'the snow was driving so. And if godmother means
+to take us anywhere, Rollo, it _is_ a good thing it's so fine to-night.
+She was afraid of our being out in the storm the other day, you
+remember.'
+
+'Because there was no need for it,' said Rollo. 'It was already time for
+us to be home. I'm sure she could prevent any storm hurting us if she
+really wanted to take us anywhere. There's Nanni coming, Maia--as soon
+as she's gone call me, and we'll look out together.'
+
+Maia managed to persuade Nanni that she--Nanni, not Maia--was extra
+sleepy that evening, and had better go to bed without waiting to
+undress her. I am not quite sure that Nanni _did_ go at once to bed, for
+the servants were already amusing themselves with Christmas games and
+merriment down in the great kitchen, where the fireplace itself was as
+large as a small room, and she naturally liked to join the fun. But all
+Maia cared about was to be left alone with Rollo. She called to him, and
+then in great excitement the two children drew back the window-curtains,
+and extinguishing their candles, stood hand-in-hand looking out to see
+what was going to happen. There was no moon visible, but it must have
+been shining all the same, faintly veiled perhaps behind a thin cloud,
+for a soft light, increased by the reflection of the spotless snow,
+gleamed over all. But there was nothing to be seen save the smooth white
+expanse, bounded at a little distance from the house by the trees which
+clothed the castle hill, whose forms looked strangely fantastic, half
+shrouded as they were by their white garment.
+
+'There is no one--nothing there,' said Maia in a tone of disappointment.
+'She must have forgotten.'
+
+'_Forgotten_--never!' said Rollo reproachfully. 'When has godmother ever
+forgotten us? Wait a little, Maia; you are so impatient.'
+
+They stood for some minutes in perfect silence. Suddenly a slight, very
+slight crackling was heard among the branches--so slight was it, that,
+had everything been less absolutely silent, it could not have been
+heard--and the children looked at each other in eager expectation.
+
+'Is it Silva--or Waldo?' said Maia in a whisper. 'She said her
+_messenger_.'
+
+'Hush!' said Rollo, warningly.
+
+A dainty little figure hopped into view from the shade of some low
+bushes skirting the lawn. It was a robin-redbreast. He stood still in
+the middle of the snow-covered lawn, his head on one side, as if in deep
+consideration. Suddenly a soft, low, but very peculiar whistle was
+heard, and the little fellow seemed to start, as if it were a signal he
+had been listening for, and then hopped forward unhesitatingly in the
+children's direction.
+
+'Did _you_ whistle, Rollo?' said Maia in a whisper.
+
+'No, certainly not. I was just going to ask if _you_ did,' answered
+Rollo.
+
+But now the robin attracted all their attention. He came to a stand just
+in front of their window, and then looked up at them with the most
+unmistakable air of invitation.
+
+'We're to go with him, I'm sure we are,' said Maia, beginning to dance
+with excitement; 'but _how_ can we get to him? All the doors downstairs
+will be closed, and it's far too high to jump.'
+
+Rollo, who had been leaning out of the window the better to see the
+robin, suddenly drew his head in again with a puzzled expression.
+
+'It's _very_ strange,' he said. 'I'm _sure_ it wasn't there this
+morning. Look, Maia, do you see the top of a ladder just a tiny bit at
+this side of the window? I could get on to it quite easily.'
+
+'So could I,' said Maia, after peeping out. 'It's all right, Rollo.
+_She's_ had it put there for us. Look at the robin--he knows all about
+it. You go first, and when you get down call to me and tell me how to
+manage.'
+
+Two minutes after, Rollo's voice called up that it was all right. Maia
+would find it quite easy if she came rather slowly, which she did, and
+to her great delight soon found herself beside her brother.
+
+'Dear me, we've forgotten our hats and jackets,' she exclaimed. 'But
+it's not cold--how is that?'
+
+'_You_ haven't forgotten your--what is it you've got on?' said Rollo,
+looking at her.
+
+'And you--what have you got on?' said Maia in turn. 'Why, we've _both_
+got cloaks on, something like the shawl we had for the air-journey, only
+they're quite, _quite_ white.'
+
+'Like the snow--we can't be seen. They're as good as invisible cloaks,'
+said Rollo, laughing in glee.
+
+'And they fit so neatly--they seem to have grown on to us,' said Maia,
+stroking herself. But in another moment, 'Oh, Rollo!' she exclaimed,
+half delighted and half frightened, 'they _are_ growing, or we're
+growing, or something's growing. Up on your shoulders there are little
+_wings_ coming, real little white wings--they're getting bigger and
+bigger every minute.'
+
+'And they're growing on you too,' exclaimed Rollo. 'Why, in a minute or
+two we'll be able to fly. Indeed, I think I can fly a little already,'
+and Rollo began flopping about his white wings like a newly-fledged and
+rather awkward cygnet. But in a minute or two Maia and he found--thanks
+perhaps to the example of the robin, who all this time was hovering just
+overhead, backwards and forwards, as if to say, 'do like me'--to their
+great joy that they could manage quite well; never, I am sure, did two
+little birds ever learn to fly so quickly!
+
+All was plain-sailing now--no difficulty in following their faithful
+little guide, who flew on before, now and then cocking back his dear
+little head to see if the two queer white birds under his charge were
+coming on satisfactorily. I wonder in what tribe or genus the learned
+men of that country, had there been any to see the two strange creatures
+careering through the cold wintry air, would have classed them!
+
+But little would they have cared. Never--oh, never, if I talked about it
+for a hundred years--could I give you an idea of the delightfulness of
+being able to fly! All the children's former pleasures seemed as nothing
+to it. The drive in godmother's pony-carriage, the gymnastics with the
+squirrels, the sail in the air--all seemed nothing in comparison with
+it. It was so perfectly enchanting that Maia did not even feel inclined
+to talk about it. And on, and on, and on they flew, till the robin
+stopped, wheeled round, and looking at them, began slowly to fly
+downwards. Rollo and Maia followed him. They touched the ground almost
+before they knew it; it seemed as if for a moment they melted into the
+snow which was surrounding them here, too, on all sides, and then as if
+they woke up again to find themselves wingless, but still with their
+warm white garments, standing at the foot of an immensely high
+tree--for they were, it was evident, at the borders of a great forest.
+
+The robin had disappeared. For an instant or two they remained standing
+still in bewilderment; perhaps, to tell the truth, a _very_ little
+frightened, for it was much darker down here than it had been up in the
+air; indeed, it appeared to them that but for the gleaming snow, which
+seemed to have a light of its own, it would have been quite, _quite_
+dark.
+
+'Rollo,' said Maia tremulously, 'hold my hand tight; don't let it go.
+What----' 'Are we to do?' she would have added, but a sound breaking on
+the silence made her stop short.
+
+A soft, far-away sound it was at first, though gradually growing clearer
+and nearer. It was that of children's voices singing a sweet and
+well-known Christmas carol, and somehow in the refrain at the end of
+each verse it seemed to Rollo and Maia that they heard their own names.
+'Come, come,' were the words that sounded the most distinctly. They
+hesitated no longer; off they ran, diving into the dark forest
+fearlessly, and though it was so dark they found no difficulty. As if by
+magic, they avoided every trunk and stump which might have hurt them,
+till, half out of breath, but with a strange brightness in their hearts,
+they felt themselves caught round the necks and heartily kissed, while a
+burst of merry laughter replaced the singing, which had gradually melted
+away. It was Waldo and Silva of course!
+
+'Keep your eyes shut,' they cried. 'Still a moment, and then you may
+open them.'
+
+'But they're _not_ shut,' objected the children.
+
+'Ah, aren't they? Feel them,' said Waldo; and Rollo and Maia, lifting
+their hands to feel, found it was true. Their eyes were not only shut,
+but a slight, very fine gossamer thread seemed drawn across them.
+
+'We could not open them if we would,' they said; but I don't think they
+minded, and they let Waldo and Silva draw them on still a little
+farther, till--
+
+'Now,' they cried, and snap went the gossamer thread, and the two
+children stood with eyes well open, gazing on the wonderful scene around
+them.
+
+They seemed to be standing in the centre of a round valley, from which
+the ground on every side sloped gradually upwards. And all about them,
+arranged in the most orderly manner, were rows and rows--tiers, perhaps,
+I should say--of Christmas trees--real, genuine Christmas trees of every
+kind and size. Some loaded with toys of the most magnificent kind, some
+simpler, some with but a few gifts, and those of little value. But one
+and all brilliantly lighted up with their many-coloured tapers--one and
+all with its Christmas angel at the top. And nothing in fairy-doll shape
+that Rollo and Maia had ever seen was so beautiful as these angels with
+their gleaming wings and sweet, joyous loving faces. I think, when they
+had a little recovered from their first astonishment, that the beauty of
+the tree-angels was what struck them most.
+
+'Yes,' said a voice beside them, in answer to their unspoken thought;
+'yes, each tree has _always_ its angel. Not always to be seen in its
+true beauty--sometimes you might think it only a poor, coarsely-painted
+little doll. But _the_ angel is there all the same. Though it is only in
+Santa Claus' own garden that they are to be seen to perfection.'
+
+'Are we in Santa Claus' garden now, dear godmother?' asked Maia softly.
+
+'Yes, dears. He is a very old friend of mine--one of my oldest friends,
+I may say. And he allowed me to show you this sight. No other children
+have ever been so favoured. By this time to-morrow night--long before
+then, indeed--these thousands of trees will be scattered far and wide,
+and round each will be a group of the happy little faces my old friend
+loves so well.'
+
+'But, godmother,' said Maia practically, 'won't the tapers be burning
+down? Isn't it a pity to keep them lighted just for us? And, oh, dear
+me! however can Santa Claus get them packed and sent off in time? I
+_hope_ he hasn't kept them too late to please us?'
+
+Godmother smiled.
+
+'Don't trouble your little head about that,' she said. 'But come, have
+you no curiosity to know which is your own Christmas-tree? Among all
+these innumerable ones, is there not one for you too?'
+
+Maia and Rollo looked up in godmother's eyes--they were smiling, but
+something in their expression they could not quite understand. Suddenly
+a kind of darkness fell over everything--darkness almost complete in
+comparison with the intense light of the million tapers that had gleamed
+but an instant before--though gradually, as their eyes grew used to it,
+there gleamed out the same soft faint light as of veiled moonbeams, that
+they had remarked before.
+
+'You can see now,' said godmother. 'Go straight on--quite straight
+through the trees'--for they were still in the midst of the
+forest--'till you come to what is waiting for you. But first kiss me, my
+darlings--a long kiss, for it is good-bye--and kiss, too, your little
+friends, Waldo and Silva, for in this world one may _hope_, but one can
+never be as _sure_ as one would fain be, that good-byes are not for
+long.'
+
+Too overawed by her tone to burst into tears, as they were yet ready to
+do, the children threw themselves into each other's arms.
+
+'We _must_ see each other again, we must; oh, godmother, say we shall!'
+cried all the four voices. And godmother, as she held them all together
+in her arms seemed to whisper--
+
+'I hope it. Yes, I hope and think you will.' And then, almost without
+having felt that Waldo and Silva were gently but irresistibly drawn from
+them, Rollo and Maia found themselves again alone, hand-in-hand in the
+midst of the forest, as they had so often stood before. Without giving
+themselves time to realise that they had said good-bye to their dear
+little friends, off they set, as godmother had told them, running
+straight on through the trees, where it almost seemed by the clear
+though soft light that a little path opened before them as they went.
+Till, suddenly, for a moment the light seemed to fade and disappear,
+leaving them almost in darkness, which again was as unexpectedly
+dispersed by a wonderful brilliance, spreading and increasing, so that
+at first they were too dazzled to distinguish whence it came. But not
+for long.
+
+'See, Rollo,' cried Maia; 'see, there is _our_ Christmas tree.'
+
+[Illustration: 'See, Rollo,' cried Maia; 'see, there is _our_ Christmas
+tree.']
+
+And there it was--the most beautiful they had yet seen--all radiant with
+light and glistening with every pretty present child-heart could desire.
+
+'We are only to _look_ at it, you know,' said Maia; 'it has to be packed
+up and sent us, of course, like the others. But,' she stopped short,
+'who is that, Rollo,' she went on, 'standing just by the tree? Can it be
+Santa Claus himself come to see if it is all right?'
+
+'Santa Claus,' exclaimed a well-known voice, 'Santa Claus, indeed! Is
+that your new name for me, my Maia?'
+
+Then came a cry of joy--a cry from two little loving hearts--a cry which
+rang merry echoes through the forest, and at which, though it woke up
+lots of little birds snugly hidden away in the warmest corners they
+could find, no one thought of grumbling, except, I think, an old owl,
+who greatly objected to any disturbance of his nightly promenades and
+meditations.
+
+'Papa, papa, dear papa!' was the cry. 'Papa, you have come back to us.
+_That_ was what godmother meant,' they said together. And their father,
+well pleased, held them in his arms as if he would never again let them
+go.
+
+'So you have learnt to know what godmother means--that is well,' he
+said. 'But kiss me once more only, just now, my darlings, and then you
+must go home and sleep till the morning. And keep it a secret that you
+have seen me to-night.'
+
+He kissed them again, and before their soft childish lips had left his
+face, a strange dreamy feeling overpowered them. Neither Rollo nor Maia
+knew or thought anything more of where they were or how they had come
+there for many hours.
+
+And then they were awakened--Rollo first, then Maia--by the sound of
+Nanni's delighted voice at their bedside.
+
+'Wake up, wake up,' she said, 'for the most beautiful surprise has come
+to you for this happy Christmas Eve.'
+
+And even without her telling them, they knew what it was--they knew who
+was waiting for them downstairs, nor could all their awe of Lady Venelda
+prevent them rushing at their father and hugging him till he was nearly
+choked. But Lady Venelda, I must confess, was too happy herself to see
+her kinsman again to be at all vexed with them. And her pleasure, as
+well as that of the kind old doctor, was increased by the thanks they
+received for all their care of the children, whom their father declared
+he had never seen so bright or blooming.
+
+And, a few days afterwards, they went back with him to their own happy
+home; and what then?--did they ever see godmother and Waldo and Silva
+again? I can only answer, like godmother herself, 'I hope so; yes, I
+hope so, and think so.' But as to how or where--ah, that I cannot say!
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Christmas Tree Land, by Mary Louisa Molesworth
+
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Christmas Tree Land, by Mary Louisa Molesworth
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Christmas Tree Land
+
+Author: Mary Louisa Molesworth
+
+Release Date: April 4, 2012 [EBook #39375]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTMAS TREE LAND ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Delphine Lettau, Mary Meehan, Clive Pickton
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at
+http://www.pgdpcanada.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h1>CHRISTMAS-TREE LAND</h1>
+
+<h2>BY MRS MOLESWORTH</h2>
+
+<h3>AUTHOR OF 'CARROTS,' 'CUCKOO CLOCK,' 'TELL ME A STORY.'</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="illus1" id="illus1"></a>
+<img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>THE WHITE CASTLE</h3>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h3>ILLUSTRATED BY WALTER CRANE</h3>
+
+
+<p class="center">London<br />
+MACMILLAN AND CO.<br />
+1884</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="illus3" id="illus3"></a>
+<img src="images/illus3.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>Rollo could not help noticing the pretty picture the two
+made.</h3>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+<table summary="contents">
+<tr><td></td><td></td><td align="right">PAGE</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right">CHAPTER I.</td><td> <a href="#CHAPTER_I"><span class="smcap">The White Castle</span> </a></td><td align="right">1</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right">CHAPTER II.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_II"> <span class="smcap">In the Fir-Woods</span> </a></td><td align="right">18</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right">CHAPTER III.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_III"> <span class="smcap">The Mysterious Cottage</span> </a></td><td align="right">36</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right">CHAPTER IV.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"> <span class="smcap">Fairy Housekeeping</span> </a></td><td align="right">50</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right">CHAPTER V.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_V"> <span class="smcap">The Story of a King's Daughter</span> </a></td><td align="right">70</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right">CHAPTER VI.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VI"> <span class="smcap">The Story of a King's Daughter</span>&mdash;(<i>Continued</i>) </a></td><td align="right">87</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right">CHAPTER VII.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VII"> <span class="smcap">A Winding Stair and a Scamper</span> </a></td><td align="right">113</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right">CHAPTER VIII.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"> <span class="smcap">The Squirrel Family</span> </a></td><td align="right">137</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right">CHAPTER IX.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_IX"> <span class="smcap">A Committee of Birds</span> </a></td><td align="right">157</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right">CHAPTER X.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_X"> <span class="smcap">A Sail in the Air</span> </a></td><td align="right">170</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right">CHAPTER XI.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XI"> <span class="smcap">The Eagles' Eyrie</span> </a></td><td align="right">186</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="right">CHAPTER XII.</td><td><a href="#CHAPTER_XII"> <span class="smcap">A Vision of Christmas Trees</span> </a></td><td align="right">203</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2>
+
+<table summary="illustrations">
+<tr><td></td><td align="right"><i>To&nbsp;face&nbsp;page</i></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><a href="#illus1"><span class="smcap">The White Castle</span> </a></td><td align="right"><i>Vignette</i></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><a href="#illus2">'<span class="smcap">Rollo,' she exclaimed, her eyes sparkling, half with fear, half with
+excitement, 'I do believe we've got into the cottage of the three bears</span>'
+</a></td><td align="right" valign="top">37</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><a href="#illus3"><span class="smcap">Rollo could not help noticing the pretty picture the two made</span> </a></td><td align="right">60</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><a href="#illus4">'<span class="smcap">It was the prettiest sight in the world to see Auréole in her bower
+every morning</span>' </a></td><td align="right">81</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><a href="#illus5">'<span class="smcap">Auréole could not help shivering as the form of the monster came in
+sight</span>' </a></td><td align="right">108</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><a href="#illus6"><span class="smcap">I don't think ever children before had such fun</span> </a></td><td align="right">149</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><a href="#illus7"><span class="smcap">'All right&mdash;we're off now,' Waldo called out, and at once, with a steady
+swing, the queer ship rose into the air</span> </a></td><td align="right" valign="top">180</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><a href="#illus8">'<span class="smcap">See, Rollo,' cried Maia; 'see, there is our Christmas tree</span>' </a></td><td align="right">221</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE WHITE CASTLE.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i8">'The way was long, long, long, like the journey in a fairy tale.'<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i25"><span class="smcap">Miss Ferrier.</span><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>It was not their home. That was easy to be seen by the eager looks of
+curiosity and surprise on the two little faces inside the heavy
+travelling carriage. Yet the faces were grave, and there was a weary
+look in the eyes, for the journey had been long, and it was not for
+pleasure that it had been undertaken. The evening was drawing in, and
+the day had been a somewhat gloomy one, but as the light slowly faded, a
+soft pink radiance spread itself over the sky. They had been driving for
+some distance through a flat monotonous country; then, as the ground
+began to rise, the coachman relaxed his speed, and the children, without
+knowing it, fell into a half slumber.</p>
+
+<p>It was when the chariot stopped to allow the horses breathing time that
+they started awake and looked around them. The prospect had entirely
+changed. They were now on higher ground, for the road had wound up and
+up between the hills, which all round encircled an open space&mdash;a sort of
+high up valley, in the centre of which gleamed something white. But this
+did not at first catch the children's view. It was the hills rising ever
+higher and higher, clothed from base to summit with fir-trees,
+innumerable as the stars on a clear frosty night, that struck them with
+surprise and admiration. The little girl caught her breath with a
+strange thrill of pleasure, mingled with awe.</p>
+
+<p>'Rollo,' she said, catching her brother's sleeve, 'it is a land of
+Christmas trees!'</p>
+
+<p>Rollo gazed out for a moment or two without speaking. Then he gave a
+sigh of sympathy.</p>
+
+<p>'Yes, Maia,' he said; 'I never could have imagined it. Fancy, only
+fancy, if they were all lighted up!'</p>
+
+<p>Maia smiled.</p>
+
+<p>'I don't think even the fairies themselves could do that,' she answered.</p>
+
+<p>But here their soft-voiced talking was interrupted. Two attendants, an
+elderly man and a young, rosy-faced woman, whose eyes, notwithstanding
+her healthy and hearty appearance, bore traces of tears, had got down
+from their seat behind the carriage.</p>
+
+<p>'Master Rollo,'&mdash;'My little lady,' they said, speaking together; 'yonder
+is the castle. The coachman has just shown it to us. This is the first
+sight of it.'</p>
+
+<p>'The white walls one sees gleaming through the trees,' said the girl,
+pointing as she spoke. 'Marc cannot see it as plainly as I.'</p>
+
+<p>'My eyes are not what they were,' said the old servant apologetically.</p>
+
+<p>'I see it,'&mdash;'and so do I,' exclaimed Rollo and Maia. 'Shall we soon be
+there?'</p>
+
+<p>'Still an hour,' replied Marc; 'the road winds about, he says.'</p>
+
+<p>'And already we have been so many, many hours,' said Nanni, the maid, in
+doleful accents.</p>
+
+<p>'Let us hope for a bright fire and a welcome when we arrive,' said old
+Marc cheerfully. 'Provided only Master Rollo and Miss Maia are not too
+tired, <i>we</i> should not complain,' he added reprovingly, in a lower
+voice, turning to Nanni. But Maia had caught the words.</p>
+
+<p>'Poor Nanni,' she said kindly. 'Don't be so sad. It will be better when
+we get there, and you can unpack our things and get them arranged
+again.'</p>
+
+<p>'And then Marc will have to leave us, and who knows how they will treat
+us in this outlandish country!' said Nanni, beginning to sob again.</p>
+
+<p>But just then the coachman looked round to signify that the horses were
+rested, and he was about to proceed.</p>
+
+<p>'Get up, girl&mdash;quickly&mdash;get up,' said Marc, reserving his scolding, no
+doubt, till they were again in their places and out of hearing of their
+little master and mistress.</p>
+
+<p>The coachman touched up his horses; they seemed to know they were
+nearing home, and set off at a brisk pace, the bells on their harness
+jingling merrily as they went.</p>
+
+<p>The cheerful sound, the quicker movement, had its effect on the
+children's spirits.</p>
+
+<p>'It <i>is</i> a strange country,' said Maia, throwing herself back among the
+cushions of the carriage, as if tired of gazing out. 'Still, I don't see
+that we need be so very unhappy here.'</p>
+
+<p>'Nor I,' said Rollo. 'Nanni is foolish. She should not call it an
+outlandish country. That to <i>us</i> it cannot be, for it is the country of
+our ancestors.'</p>
+
+<p>'But <i>so</i> long ago, Rollo,' objected Maia.</p>
+
+<p>'That does not matter. We are still of the same blood,' said the boy
+sturdily. 'We must love, even without knowing why, the place that was
+home to them&mdash;the hills, the trees&mdash;ah, yes, above all, those wonderful
+forests. They seem to go on for ever and ever, like the stars, Maia.'</p>
+
+<p>'Yet I don't think them as <i>pretty</i> as forests of different kinds of
+trees,' said Maia thoughtfully. 'They are more <i>strange</i> than beautiful.
+Fancy them always, always there, in winter and summer, seeing the sun
+rise and set, feeling the rain fall, and the snow-flakes flutter down on
+their branches, and yet never moving, never changing. I wouldn't like to
+be a tree.'</p>
+
+<p>'But they <i>do</i> change,' said Rollo. 'The branches wither and then they
+sprout again. It must be like getting new clothes, and very interesting
+to watch, I should think. Fancy how funny it would be if our clothes
+grew on us like that.'</p>
+
+<p>Maia gave a merry little laugh.</p>
+
+<p>'Yes,' she said; 'fancy waking up in the morning and looking to see if
+our sleeves had got a little bit longer, or if our toes were beginning
+to be covered! I suppose that's what the trees talk about.'</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, they must have lots of things to talk about,' said Rollo. 'Think of
+how well they must see the pictures in the clouds, being so high up.
+And the stars at night. And then all the creatures that live in their
+branches, and down among their roots,&mdash;the birds, and the squirrels, and
+the field-mice, and the&mdash;&mdash;'</p>
+
+<p>'Yes,' interrupted Maia; 'you have rather nice thoughts sometimes,
+Rollo. After all, I dare say it is not so very stupid to be a tree. I
+should like the squirrels best of all. I do love squirrels! Can you see
+the castle any better now, Rollo? It must be at your side.'</p>
+
+<p>'I don't see it at all just now,' said Rollo, after peering out for some
+moments. 'I'm not sure but what it's got round to <i>your</i> side by now,
+Maia.'</p>
+
+<p>'No, it hasn't,' said Maia. 'It couldn't have done. It's somewhere over
+there, below that rounded hill-top&mdash;we'll see it again in a minute, I
+dare say. Ah, see, Rollo, there's the moon coming out! I do hope we
+shall often see the moon here. It would be so pretty&mdash;the trees would
+look nearly black. But what are you staring at so, Rollo?'</p>
+
+<p>Rollo drew in his head again.</p>
+
+<p>'There must be somebody living over there,' he said. 'I see smoke
+rising&mdash;you can <i>hardly</i> see it now, the light is growing so dim, but
+I'm sure I did see it. There must be a little cottage there somewhere
+among the trees.'</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, how nice!' exclaimed Maia. 'We must find it out. I wonder what sort
+of people live in it&mdash;gnomes or wood-spirits, perhaps? There couldn't be
+any real <i>people</i> in such a lonely place.'</p>
+
+<p>'Gnomes and wood-spirits don't need cottages, and they don't make
+fires,' replied Rollo.</p>
+
+<p>'How do <i>you</i> know?' and Rollo's answer was not quite ready. 'I dare say
+gnomes like to come up above sometimes, for a change; and I dare say the
+wood-spirits are cold sometimes, and like to warm themselves. Any way I
+shall try to find that cottage and see who does live in it. I hope she
+will let us go on walks as often as we wish, Rollo.'</p>
+
+<p>'She&mdash;who?' said the boy dreamily. 'Oh, our lady cousin! Yes, I hope
+so;' but he sighed as he spoke, and this time the sigh was sad.</p>
+
+<p>Maia nestled closer to her brother.</p>
+
+<p>'I think I was forgetting a little, Rollo,' she said. 'I can't think how
+I could forget, even for a moment, all our troubles. But father wanted
+us to try to be happy.'</p>
+
+<p>'Yes, I know he did,' said Rollo. 'I am very glad if you can feel
+happier sometimes, Maia. But for me it is different; I am so much
+older.'</p>
+
+<p>'Only two years,' interrupted Maia.</p>
+
+<p>'Well, well, I <i>feel</i> more than that older. And then I have to take care
+of <i>you</i> till father comes home; that makes me feel older too.'</p>
+
+<p>'I wish we could take care of each other,' said Maia; 'I wish we were
+going to live in a little cottage by ourselves instead of in Lady
+Venelda's castle. We might have Nanni just to light the fires and cook
+the dinner, except the creams and pastry and cakes&mdash;<i>those</i> I would make
+myself. And she might also clean the rooms and wash the dishes&mdash;I cannot
+bear washing dishes&mdash;and all the rest we would do ourselves, Rollo.'</p>
+
+<p>'There would not be much else to do,' said Rollo, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>'Oh yes, there would. We should need a cow, you know, and cocks and
+hens; those we should take care of ourselves, though Nanni might churn.
+You have no idea how tiring it is to churn; I tried once at our
+country-house last year, and my arms ached so. And then there would be
+the garden; it must be managed so that there should always, all the year
+round, be strawberries and roses. Wouldn't that be charming, Rollo?'</p>
+
+<p>'Yes; but it certainly couldn't be done out of fairyland,' said the boy.</p>
+
+<p>'Never mind. What does it matter? When one is wishing one may wish for
+anything.'</p>
+
+<p>'Then, for my part, I would rather wish to be at our own home again, and
+that our father had not had to go away,' said Rollo.</p>
+
+<p>'Ah, yes!' said Maia; and then she grew silent, and the grave expression
+overspread both children's faces again.</p>
+
+<p>They had meant to look out to see if the white-walled castle was once
+more within sight, but it was now almost too dark to see anything, and
+they remained quietly in their corners. Suddenly they felt the wheels
+roll on to a paved way; the carriage went more slowly, and in a moment
+or two they stopped.</p>
+
+<p>'Can we have arrived?' said Maia. But Rollo, looking out, saw that they
+had only stopped at a postern. An old man, bent and feeble, came out of
+an ivy-covered lodge, round and high like a light-house, looking as if
+it had once been a turret attached to the main building, and pressed
+forward as well as he could to open the gate, which swung back rustily
+on its hinges. The coachman exchanged a few words in the language of the
+country, which the children understood but slightly, and then the
+chariot rolled on again, slowly still, for the road ascended, and even
+had there been light there would have been nothing to see but two high
+walls, thickly covered with creeping plants. In a moment or two they
+stopped again for another gate to be opened&mdash;this time more
+quickly&mdash;then the wheels rolled over smoother ground, and the coachman
+drew up before a doorway, and a gleam of white walls flashed before the
+children's eyes.</p>
+
+<p>The door was already open. Marc and Nanni got down at the farther side,
+for a figure stood just inside the entrance, which they at once
+recognised as that of the lady of the house come forward to welcome her
+young relatives. Two old serving-men, older than Marc and in well-worn
+livery, let down the ladder of steps and opened the chariot door. Rollo
+got out, waited a moment to help his sister as she followed him, and
+then, leading her by the hand, bowed low before their cousin Venelda.</p>
+
+<p>'Welcome,' she said at once, as she stooped to kiss Maia's forehead,
+extending her hand to Rollo at the same time. Her manner was formal but
+not unkindly. 'You must be fatigued with your journey,' she said.
+'Supper is ready in the dining-hall, and then, no doubt, you will be
+glad to retire for the night.'</p>
+
+<p>'Yes, thank you, cousin,' said both children, and then, as she turned to
+show them the way, they ventured to look up at their hostess, though
+they were still dazzled by the sudden light after the darkness outside.
+Lady Venelda was neither young nor old, nor could one well imagine her
+ever to have been, or as ever going to be, different from what she was.
+She was tall and thin, simply dressed, but with a dignified air as of
+one accustomed to command. Her hair was gray, and surmounted by a high
+white cap, a number of keys attached to her girdle jingled as she went;
+her step was firm and decided, but not graceful, and her voice was
+rather hard and cold, though not sharp. Her face, as Rollo and Maia saw
+it better when she turned to see if they were following her, was of a
+piece with her figure, pale and thin, with nothing very remarkable save
+a well-cut rather eagle nose and a pair of very bright but not tender
+blue eyes. Still she was not a person to be afraid of, on the whole,
+Rollo decided. She might not be very indulgent or sympathising, but
+there was nothing cruel or cunning in her face and general look.</p>
+
+<p>'You may approach the fire, children,' she said, as if this were a
+special indulgence; and Rollo and Maia, who had stood as if uncertain
+what to do, drew near the enormous chimney, where smouldered some
+glowing wood, enough to send out a genial heat, though it had but a poor
+appearance in the gigantic grate, which looked deep and wide enough to
+roast an ox.</p>
+
+<p>Their eyes wandered curiously round the great room or hall in which they
+found themselves. It, like the long corridor out of which opened most of
+the rooms of the house, was painted or washed over entirely in
+white&mdash;the only thing which broke the dead uniformity being an
+extraordinary number of the antlered heads of deer, fastened high up at
+regular intervals. The effect was strange and barbaric, but not
+altogether unpleasing.</p>
+
+<p>'What quantities of deer there must be here!' whispered Maia to her
+brother. 'See, even the chairs are made of their antlers.'</p>
+
+<p>She was right. What Rollo had at first taken for branches of trees
+rudely twisted into chair backs and feet were, in fact, the horns of
+several kinds of deer, and he could not help admiring them, though he
+thought to himself it was sad to picture the number of beautiful
+creatures that must have been slain to please his ancestors' whimsical
+taste in furniture; but he said nothing, and Lady Venelda, though she
+noticed the children's observing eyes, said nothing either. It was not
+her habit to encourage conversation with young people. She had been
+brought up in a formal fashion, and devoutly believed it to be the best.</p>
+
+<p>At this moment a bell clanged out loudly in the courtyard. Before it had
+ceased ringing the door opened and two ladies, both of a certain age,
+both dressed exactly alike, walked solemnly into the room, followed by
+two old gentlemen, of whom it could not be said they were exactly alike,
+inasmuch as one was exceedingly tall and thin, the other exceedingly
+short and stout. These personages the children came afterwards to know
+were the two ladies-in-waiting, or <i>dames de compagnie</i>, of Lady
+Venelda, her chaplain, and her physician. They all approached her, and
+bowed, and curtseyed; then drew back, as if waiting for her to take her
+place at the long table before seating themselves. Lady Venelda glanced
+at the children.</p>
+
+<p>'How comes it?' she began, but then, seeming to remember something,
+stopped. 'To be sure, they have but just arrived,' she said to herself.
+Then turning to one of the old serving-men: 'Conduct the young gentleman
+to his apartment,' she said, 'that he may arrange his attire before
+joining us at supper. And you, Delphine,' she continued to one of the
+ancient damsels, who started as if she were on wires, and Lady Venelda
+had touched the spring, 'have the goodness to perform the same office
+for this young lady, whose waiting-maid will be doubtless in attendance.
+For this once,' she added in conclusion, this time addressing the
+children, 'the repast shall be delayed for ten minutes; but for this
+once only. Punctuality is a virtue that cannot be exaggerated.'</p>
+
+<p>Rollo and Maia looked at each other; then both followed their respective
+guides.</p>
+
+<p>'Is my lady cousin angry with me?' Maia ventured timidly to inquire. 'We
+did not know&mdash;we could not help it. I suppose the coachman came as fast
+as he could.'</p>
+
+<p>'Perfectly, perfectly, Mademoiselle,' replied Delphine in a flutter.
+Poor thing, she had once been French&mdash;long, long ago, in the days of her
+youth, which she had well-nigh forgotten. But she still retained some
+French expressions and the habit of agreeing with whatever was said to
+her, which she believed to show the highest breeding. 'Of course
+Mademoiselle could not help it.'</p>
+
+<p>'Then why is my cousin angry?' said Maia, again looking up with her
+bright brown eyes.</p>
+
+<p>'My lady Venelda angry?' repeated Delphine, rather embarrassed how to
+reconcile her loyalty to her patroness, to whom she was devotedly
+attached, with courtesy to Maia. 'Ah, no! My lady is never angry. Pardon
+my plain speaking.'</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, then, I mistook, I suppose,' said Maia, considerably relieved. 'I
+suppose some people seem angry when they're not, till one gets to know
+them.'</p>
+
+<p>And then Maia, who was of a philosophic turn of mind, made Nanni hurry
+to take off her wraps and arrange her hair, that she might go down to
+supper: 'for I'm dreadfully hungry,' she added, 'and it's very funny
+downstairs, Nanni,' she went on. 'It's like something out of a book,
+hundreds of years ago. I can quite understand now why father told us to
+be so particular always to say "our lady cousin," and things like that.
+Isn't it funny, Nanni?'</p>
+
+<p>Nanni's spirits seemed to have improved.</p>
+
+<p>'It is not like home, certainly, Miss Maia,' she replied. 'But I dare
+say we shall get on pretty well. They seem very kind and friendly
+downstairs in the kitchen, and there was a very nice supper getting
+ready. And then, I'm never one to make the worst of things, whatever
+that crabbed old Marc may say.'</p>
+
+<p>Maia was already on her way to go. She only stopped a moment to glance
+round the room. It was large, but somewhat scantily furnished. The walls
+white, like the rest of the house, the floor polished like a
+looking-glass. Maia's curtainless little bed in one corner looked
+disproportionately small. The child gave a little shiver.</p>
+
+<p>'It feels very cold in this big bare room,' she said. 'I hope you and
+Rollo aren't far off.'</p>
+
+<p>'I don't know for Master Rollo,' Nanni replied. 'But this is <i>my</i> room,'
+and she opened a door leading into a small chamber, neatly but plainly
+arranged.</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, that's very nice,' said Maia, approvingly. 'If Rollo's room is not
+far off, we shall not feel at all lonely.'</p>
+
+<p>Her doubts were soon set at rest, for, as she opened the door, Rollo
+appeared coming out of a room just across the passage.</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, that's your room,' said Maia. 'I didn't see where you went to. I
+was talking to Mademoiselle Delphine. I'm so glad you're so near,
+Rollo.'</p>
+
+<p>'Yes,' said Rollo. 'These big bare rooms aren't like our rooms at home.
+I should have felt rather lonely if I'd been quite at the other end of
+the house.'</p>
+
+<p>Then they took each other's hand and went slowly down the uncarpeted
+white stone staircase.</p>
+
+<p>'Rollo,' said Maia, nodding her head significantly as if in the
+direction of the dining-hall, 'do you think we shall like her? Do you
+think she's going to be kind?'</p>
+
+<p>Rollo hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>'I think she'll be kind. Father said she would. But I don't think she
+cares about children, and we'll have to be very quiet, and all that.'</p>
+
+<p>'The best thing will be going long walks in the woods,' said Maia.</p>
+
+<p>'Yes, if she'll let us,' replied Rollo doubtfully.</p>
+
+<p>'Well, I'll tell you how to do. We'll show her we're awfully good and
+sensible, and then she won't be afraid to let us go about by ourselves.
+Oh, Rollo, those lovely Christmas-tree woods! We can't feel dull if only
+we may go about in the woods!'</p>
+
+<p>'Well, then, let's try, as you say, to show how very good and sensible
+we are,' said Rollo.</p>
+
+<p>And with this wise resolution the two children went in to supper.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<h3>IN THE FIR-WOODS.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i11">...'Gloomy shades, sequestered deep,<br /></span>
+<span class="i11">....whence one could only see<br /></span>
+<span class="i11">Stems thronging all around.'...<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i25"><span class="smcap">Keats.</span><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>Supper was a formal and stately affair. The children were placed one on
+each side of their cousin, and helped to such dishes as she considered
+suitable, without asking them what they liked. But they were not greedy
+children, and even at their own home they had been accustomed to much
+more strictness than is <i>nowadays</i> the case, my dear children, for those
+were still the days when little people were expected to be 'seen but not
+heard,' to 'speak when they were spoken to,' but not otherwise. So Rollo
+and Maia were not unduly depressed, especially as there was plenty of
+amusement for their bright eyes in watching the queer, pompous manners
+of Lady Venelda's attendants, and making notes to discuss together
+afterwards on the strange and quaint china and silver which covered the
+table, and even in marvelling at the food itself, which, though all
+good, was much of it perfectly new to them.</p>
+
+<p>Now and then their hostess addressed a few words to them about their
+journey, their father's health when they had left him, and such things,
+to which Rollo and Maia replied with great propriety. Lady Venelda
+seemed pleased.</p>
+
+<p>'They have been well brought up, I see. My cousin has not neglected
+them,' she said in a low voice, as if speaking to herself, which was a
+habit of hers. Rollo and Maia exchanged signals with each other at this,
+which they had of course overheard, and each understood as well as if
+the other had said it aloud, that the meaning of the signals was, 'That
+is right. If we go on like this we shall soon get leave to ramble about
+by ourselves.'</p>
+
+<p>After supper Lady Venelda told the children to follow her into what she
+chose to call her retiring-room. This was a rather pretty room at the
+extreme end of the long white gallery, but unlike that part of the
+castle which the children had already seen. The walls were not white,
+but hung with tapestry, which gave it a much warmer and more
+comfortable look. One did not even here, however, get rid of the poor
+deer, for the tapestry all round the room represented a hunting-scene,
+and it nearly made Maia cry, when she afterwards examined it by
+daylight, to see the poor chased creatures, with the cruel dogs upon
+them and the riders behind lashing their horses, and evidently shouting
+to the hounds to urge them on. It was a curious subject to have chosen
+for a lady's boudoir, but Lady Venelda's tastes were guided by but one
+rule&mdash;the most profound respect and veneration for her ancestors, and as
+they had seen fit thus to decorate the prettiest room in the castle, it
+would never have occurred to her to alter it.</p>
+
+<p>She seated herself on an antlered couch below one of the windows, which
+by day commanded a beautiful view of the wonderful woods, but was now
+hidden by rather worn curtains of a faded blue, the only light in the
+room coming from a curiously-shaped oil lamp suspended from the ceiling,
+which illumined but here and there parts of the tapestry, and was far
+too dim to have made it possible to read or work. But it was not much
+time that the lady of the castle passed in her bower, and seldom that
+she found leisure to read, for she was a very busy and practical
+person, managing her large possessions entirely for herself, and caring
+but little for the amusements or occupations most ladies take pleasure
+in. She beckoned to the children to come near her.</p>
+
+<p>'You are tired, I dare say,' she said graciously. 'At your age I
+remember the noble Count, my father, took me once a journey lasting two
+or three days, and when I arrived at my destination I slept twelve hours
+without awaking.'</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, but we shall not need to sleep as long as that,' said Rollo and
+Maia together. 'We shall be quite rested by to-morrow morning;' at which
+the Lady Venelda smiled, evidently pleased, even though they had spoken
+so quickly as <i>almost</i> to interrupt her.</p>
+
+<p>'That is well,' she said. 'Then I shall inform you of how I propose to
+arrange your time, at once, though I had intended giving orders that you
+should not be awakened till eight o'clock. At what hour do you rise at
+home?'</p>
+
+<p>'At seven, lady cousin,' said Rollo.</p>
+
+<p>'That is not very early,' she replied. 'However, as it is but for a time
+that you are confided to my care, I cannot regulate everything exactly
+as I could wish.'</p>
+
+<p>'We would like to get up earlier,' said Maia hastily. 'Perhaps not
+<i>to-morrow</i>,' she added.</p>
+
+<p>'I will first tell you my wishes,' said Lady Venelda loftily. 'At eight
+o'clock prayers are read to the household in the chapel. You will
+already have had some light refreshment. At nine you will have
+instruction from Mademoiselle Delphine for one hour. At ten the chaplain
+will take her place for two hours. At twelve you may walk in the grounds
+round the house for half an hour. At one we dine. At two you shall have
+another hour from Mademoiselle Delphine. From three to five you may walk
+with your attendants. Supper is at eight; and during the evening you may
+prepare your tasks for the next day.'</p>
+
+<p>Rollo and Maia looked at each other. It was not so very bad; still it
+sounded rather severe. Rollo took courage.</p>
+
+<p>'If we get up earlier and do our tasks, may we stay out later
+sometimes?' he inquired.</p>
+
+<p>'Sometimes&mdash;if the weather is very fine and you have been very
+industrious,' their cousin replied.</p>
+
+<p>'And,' added Maia, emboldened by this success, 'may we sometimes ramble
+alone all about the woods? We do so love the woods,' she continued,
+clasping her hands.</p>
+
+<p>Now, if Lady Venelda herself had a weakness, it was for these same
+woods. They were to her a sort of shrine dedicated to the memory of her
+race, for the pine forests of that country had been celebrated as far
+back as there was any record of its existence. So, though she was rather
+startled at Maia's proposal, she answered graciously still:</p>
+
+<p>'They are indeed beautiful, my child. Beautiful and wonderful. There
+have they stood in their solemn majesty for century after century,
+seeing generation after generation of our race pass away while yet they
+remain. They and I alone, my children. I, the last left of a long line!'</p>
+
+<p>Her voice trembled, and one could almost have imagined that a tear
+glittered in her blue eyes. Maia, and Rollo too, felt very sorry for
+her.</p>
+
+<p>'Dear cousin,' said the girl, timidly touching her hand, 'are we not a
+little <i>little</i>, relations to you? Please don't say you are all alone.
+It sounds so very sad. Do let Rollo and me be like your little boy and
+girl.'</p>
+
+<p>Lady Venelda smiled again, and this time her face really grew soft and
+gentle.</p>
+
+<p>'Poor children,' she said, in the peculiar low voice she always used
+when speaking to herself, and apparently forgetting the presence of
+others, 'poor children, they too have suffered. They have no mother!'
+Then turning to Maia, who was still gently stroking her hand: 'I thank
+you, my child, for your innocent sympathy,' she said, in her usual tone.
+'I rejoice to have you here. You will cheer my solitude, and at the same
+time learn no harm, I feel sure, from the associations of this ancient
+house.'</p>
+
+<p>Maia did not quite understand her, but as the tone sounded kind, she
+ventured to repeat, as she kissed her cousin's hand for good-night, 'And
+you will let us ramble about the woods if we are very good, won't you?
+And <i>sometimes</i> we may have a whole holiday, mayn't we?'</p>
+
+<p>Lady Venelda smiled.</p>
+
+<p>'All will depend on yourselves, my child,' she said.</p>
+
+<p>But Rollo and Maia went upstairs to bed very well satisfied with the
+look of things.</p>
+
+<p>They <i>meant</i> to wake very early, and tried to coax Nanni to promise to
+go out with them in the morning before prayers, but Nanni was cautious,
+and would make no rash engagements.</p>
+
+<p>'<i>I</i> am very tired, Miss Maia,' she said, 'and I am sure you must be if
+you would let yourself think so. I hope you will have a good long
+sleep.'</p>
+
+<p>She was right. After all, the next morning Rollo and Maia had hardly
+time to finish their coffee and rolls before the great bell in the
+courtyard clanged for prayers, and they had to hurry to the chapel not
+to be too late. Prayers over, they were taken in hand by Mademoiselle
+Delphine, and then by the old chaplain, till, by twelve o'clock, when
+they were sent out for a little fresh air before dinner, they felt more
+sleepy and tired than the night before.</p>
+
+<p>'I don't care to go to the woods now,' said Maia dolefully. 'I am so
+tired&mdash;ever so much more tired than with lessons at home.'</p>
+
+<p>'So am I,' said Rollo. 'I don't know what is the matter with me,' and he
+seated himself disconsolately beside his sister on a bench overlooking
+the stiff Dutch garden at one side of the castle.</p>
+
+<p>'Come&mdash;how now, my children?' said a voice beside them; 'why are you not
+running about, instead of sitting there like two old invalids?'</p>
+
+<p>'We are so tired,' said both together, looking up at the new-comer, who
+was none other than the short, stout old gentleman who had been
+introduced to them as Lady Venelda's physician.</p>
+
+<p>'Tired; ah, well, to be sure, you have had a long journey.'</p>
+
+<p>'It is not only that. We weren't so tired this morning, but we've had
+such a lot of lessons.' 'Mademoiselle Delphine's French is very hard,'
+said Maia; 'and Mr.&mdash;I forget his name&mdash;the chaplain says the Latin
+words quite differently from what I've learnt before,' added Rollo.</p>
+
+<p>The old doctor looked at them both attentively.</p>
+
+<p>'Come, come, my children, you must not lose heart. What would you say to
+a long afternoon in the woods and no more lessons to-day, if I were to
+ask the Lady Venelda to give you a holiday?'</p>
+
+<p>The effect was instantaneous. Both children jumped up and clapped their
+hands.</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, thank you, thank you, Mr.&mdash;Doctor,' they said, for they had not
+heard his name. 'Yes, that is just what we would like. It did not seem
+any good to go to the woods for just an hour or two. And, oh, Mr.
+Doctor, do ask our cousin to give us one holiday a week&mdash;we always have
+that at home. It is so nice to wake up in the morning and know there are
+<i>no</i> lessons to do! And we should be so good all the other days.'</p>
+
+<p>'Ah, well,' said the old doctor, 'we shall see.'</p>
+
+<p>But he nodded his head, and smiled, and looked so like a good-natured
+old owl, that Rollo and Maia felt very hopeful.</p>
+
+<p>At dinner, where they took their places as usual at each side of their
+cousin, nothing was said till the close. Then Lady Venelda turned
+solemnly to the children:</p>
+
+<p>'You have been attentive at your lessons, I am glad to hear,' she said;
+'but you are doubtless still somewhat tired with your journey. My kind
+physician thinks some hours of fresh air would do you good. I therefore
+shall be pleased for you to spend all the afternoon in the woods&mdash;there
+will be no more lessons to-day.'</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, thank you, thank you,' repeated the children, and Maia glanced at
+her cousin with some thought of throwing her arms round her and kissing
+her, but Lady Venelda looked so very stiff and stately that she felt her
+courage ebb.</p>
+
+<p>'It is better only to kiss her when we are alone with her,' she said
+afterwards to Rollo, in which he agreed.</p>
+
+<p>But they forgot everything except high spirits and delight when, half an
+hour later, they found themselves with Nanni on their way to the
+longed-for woods.</p>
+
+<p>'Which way shall we go?' said Maia; and indeed it was a question for
+consideration. For it was not on one side only that there were woods,
+but on every side, far as the eye could reach, stretched out the
+wonderful forests. The white castle stood on raised ground, but in the
+centre of a circular valley, so that to reach the outside world one had
+first to descend and then rise again; so the entrance to the woods was
+sloping, for the castle hill was bare of trees, which began only at its
+base.</p>
+
+<p>'Which way?' repeated Rollo; 'I don't see that it matters. We get into
+the woods every way.'</p>
+
+<p>'Except over there,' said Maia, pointing to the road by which they had
+come, gleaming like a white ribbon among the trees, which had been
+thinned a little in that direction.</p>
+
+<p>'Well, we don't want to go there,' said Rollo, but before he had time to
+say more Maia interrupted him.</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, Rollo, let's go the way that we saw the little cottage. No, I don't
+mean that we saw the cottage, but we saw the smoke rising, and we were
+sure there was a cottage. It was&mdash;let me see&mdash;&mdash;' and she tried to put
+herself in the right direction; 'yes, it was on my left hand&mdash;it must be
+on that side,' and she pointed where she meant.</p>
+
+<p>Rollo did not seem to care particularly about the real or imaginary
+cottage, but as to him all roads were the same in this case, seeing all
+led to the woods, he made no objection, and a few minutes saw the little
+party, already in the shade of the forest, slowly making their way
+upwards. It was milder than the day before; indeed, for early spring it
+was very mild. The soft afternoon sunshine came peeping through the
+branches, the ground was beautifully dry, and their steps made a
+pleasant crackling sound, as their feet broke the innumerable little
+twigs which, interspersed with moss and the remains of last year's
+leaves, made a nice carpet to walk on.</p>
+
+<p>'Let us stand still a moment,' said Maia, 'and look about us. How
+delicious it is! <i>What</i> flowers there will be in a little while!
+Primroses, I am sure, and violets, and later on periwinkle and cyclamen,
+I dare say.'</p>
+
+<p>A sigh from Nanni interrupted her.</p>
+
+<p>'What is the matter?' said the children.</p>
+
+<p>'I am so tired, Miss Maia,' said poor Nanni. 'I haven't got over the
+journey, and I was so afraid of being late this morning that I got up I
+don't know how early&mdash;they told me in the kitchen that their lady was so
+angry if any one was late. I think if I were to sit down on this nice
+mossy ground I should really go to sleep.'</p>
+
+<p>'<i>Poor</i> Nanni!' said Maia, laughing. 'Well, do sit down, only I think
+you'd better not go to sleep; you might catch cold.'</p>
+
+<p>'It's beautifully warm here among the trees, somehow,' said Nanni.
+'Well, then, shall I just stay here and you and Master Rollo play about?
+You won't go far?'</p>
+
+<p>'You <i>would</i> get a nice scolding if we were lost,' said Rollo
+mischievously.</p>
+
+<p>'Don't tease her, Rollo,' said Maia; adding in a lower tone, 'If you do,
+she'll persist in coming with us, and it will be such fun to run about
+by ourselves.' Then turning to Nanni, 'Don't be afraid of us, Nanni; we
+shan't get lost. You may go to sleep for an hour or two if you like.'</p>
+
+<p>The two children set off together in great glee. Here and there among
+the trees there were paths, or what looked like paths, some going
+upwards till quite lost to view, some downwards,&mdash;all in the most
+tempting zigzag fashion.</p>
+
+<p>'I should like to explore all the paths one after the other, wouldn't
+you?' said Maia.</p>
+
+<p>'I expect they all lead to nowhere in particular,' said Rollo,
+philosophically.</p>
+
+<p>'But we want to go somewhere in particular,' said Maia; 'I want to find
+the cottage, you know. I am sure it must be <i>somewhere</i> about here.'</p>
+
+<p>'Upwards or downwards&mdash;which do you think?' said Rollo. 'I say, Maia,
+suppose you go downwards and I upwards, and then we can meet again here
+and say if we've found the cottage or had any adventures, like the
+brothers in the fairy tales.'</p>
+
+<p>'No,' said Maia, drawing nearer Rollo as she spoke; 'I don't want to go
+about alone. You know, though the woods are so nice they're <i>rather</i>
+lonely, and there are such queer stories about forests always. There
+must be queer people living in them, though we don't see them. Gnomes
+and brownies down below, very likely, and wood-spirits, perhaps. But I
+think about the gnomes is the most frightening, don't you, Rollo?'</p>
+
+<p>'I don't think any of it's frightening,' he replied. But he was a kind
+boy, so he did not laugh at Maia, or say any more about separating.
+'Which way shall we go, then?'</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, we'd better go on upwards. There can't be much forest downwards,
+for we've come nearly straight up. We'd get out of the wood directly.'</p>
+
+<p>They went on climbing therefore for some way, but the ascent became
+quickly slighter, and in a short time they found themselves almost on
+level ground.</p>
+
+<p>'We can't have got to the top,' said Rollo. 'This must be a sort of
+ledge on the hillside. However, I begin to sympathise with Nanni&mdash;it's
+nice to get a rest,' and he threw himself down at full length as he
+spoke. Maia quickly followed his example.</p>
+
+<p>'We shan't do much exploring at this rate,' she said.</p>
+
+<p>'No,' Rollo agreed; 'but never mind. Isn't it nice here, Maia? Just like
+what father told us, isn't it? The scent of the fir-trees is so
+delicious too.'</p>
+
+<p>It was charmingly sweet and peaceful, and the feeling of mystery caused
+by the dark shade of the lofty trees, standing there in countless rows
+as they had stood for centuries, the silence only broken by the
+occasional dropping of a twig or the flutter of a leaf, impressed the
+children in a way they could not have put in words. It was a sort of
+relief when a slight rustle in the branches overhead caught their
+attention, and looking up, their quick eyes saw the bright brown, bushy
+tail of a squirrel whisking out of sight.</p>
+
+<p>Up jumped Maia, clapping her hands.</p>
+
+<p>'A squirrel, Rollo, did you see?'</p>
+
+<p>'Of course I did, but you shouldn't make such a noise. We might have
+seen him again if we'd been quite quiet. I wonder where his home is.'</p>
+
+<p>'So do I. <i>How</i> I should like to see a squirrel's nest and all the
+little ones sitting in a row, each with a nut in its two front paws!
+<i>How</i> nice it would be to have the gift of understanding all the animals
+say to each other, wouldn't it?'</p>
+
+<p>'Yes,' said Rollo, but he stopped suddenly. 'Maia,' he exclaimed, 'I
+believe I smell burning wood!' and he stood still and sniffed the air a
+little. 'I shouldn't wonder if we're near the cottage.'</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, do come on, then,' said Maia eagerly. 'Yes&mdash;yes; I smell it too. I
+hope the cottage isn't on fire, Rollo. Oh, no; see, it must be a
+bonfire,' for, as she spoke, a smouldering heap of leaves and dry
+branches came in sight some little way along the path, and in another
+moment, a few yards farther on, a cottage actually appeared.</p>
+
+<p>Such an original-looking cottage! The trees had been cleared for some
+distance round where it stood, and a space enclosed by a rustic fence of
+interlaced branches had been planted as a garden. A very pretty little
+garden too. There were flower-beds in front, already gay with a few
+early blossoms, and neat rows of vegetables and fruit-bushes at the
+back. The cottage was built of wood, but looked warm and dry, with deep
+roof and rather small high-up windows. A little path, bordered primly by
+a thick growing mossy-like plant, led up to the door, which was closed.
+No smoke came out of the chimney, not the slightest sound was to be
+heard. The children looked at each other.</p>
+
+<p>'What a darling little house!' said Maia in a whisper. 'But, Rollo, do
+you think there's anybody there? Can it be <i>enchanted</i>, perhaps?'</p>
+
+<p>Rollo went on a few steps and stood looking at the mysterious cottage.
+There was not a sound to be heard, not the slightest sign of life about
+the place; and yet it was all in such perfect order that it was
+impossible to think it deserted.</p>
+
+<p>'The people must have gone out, I suppose,' said Rollo.</p>
+
+<p>'I wonder if the door is locked,' said Maia. 'I am <i>so</i> thirsty, Rollo.'</p>
+
+<p>'Let's see,' Rollo answered, and together the two children opened the
+tiny gate and made their way up to the door. Rollo took hold of the
+latch; it yielded to his touch.</p>
+
+<p>'It's not locked,' he said, looking back at his sister, and he gently
+pushed the door a little way open. 'Shall I go in?' he said.</p>
+
+<p>Maia came forward, walking on her tiptoes.</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, Rollo,' she whispered, '<i>suppose</i> it's enchanted, and that we never
+get out again.'</p>
+
+<p>But all the same she crept nearer and nearer to the tempting half-open
+door.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE MYSTERIOUS COTTAGE.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i8">'"A pretty cottage 'tis indeed,"<br /></span>
+<span class="i10">Said Rosalind to Fanny,<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">"But yet it seems a little strange,<br /></span>
+<span class="i10">I trust there's naught uncanny."'<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i25"><i>The Wood-Fairies.</i><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>Rollo pushed a little more, and still a little. No sound was heard&mdash;no
+voice demanded what they wanted; they gathered courage, till at last the
+door stood sufficiently ajar for them to see inside. It was a neat,
+plain, exceedingly clean, little kitchen which stood revealed to their
+view. Rollo and Maia, with another glance around them, another instant's
+hesitation, stepped in.</p>
+
+<p>The floor was only sanded, the furniture was of plain unvarnished deal,
+yet there was something indescribably dainty and attractive about the
+room. There was no fire burning in the hearth, but all was ready laid
+for lighting it, and on the table, covered with a perfectly clean,
+though coarse cloth, plates and cups for a meal were set out. It seemed
+to be for three people. A loaf of brownish bread, and a jug filled with
+milk, were the only provisions to be seen. Maia stepped forward softly
+and looked longingly at the milk.</p>
+
+<p>'Do you think it would be wrong to take some, Rollo?' she said. 'I <i>am</i>
+so thirsty, and they must be nice people that live here, it looks so
+neat.' But just then, catching sight of the three chairs drawn round the
+table, as well as of the three cups and three plates upon it, she drew
+back with a little scream. '<i>Rollo</i>,' she exclaimed, her eyes sparkling,
+half with fear, half with excitement, 'I do believe we've got into the
+cottage of <i>the three bears</i>.'</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="illus2" id="illus2"></a>
+<img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>'<i>Rollo</i>,' she exclaimed, her eyes sparkling, half with
+fear, half with excitement, 'I do believe we've got into the cottage of
+<i>the three bears</i>.'</h3>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>Rollo burst out laughing, though, to tell the truth, he was not quite
+sure if his sister was in fun or earnest.</p>
+
+<p>'Nonsense, Maia!' he said. 'Why, that was hundreds of years ago. You
+don't suppose the bears have gone on living ever since, do you? Besides,
+it wouldn't do at all. See, there are two smaller chairs and one
+arm-chair here. Two small cups and one big one. It's just the wrong way
+for the bears. It must be two children and one big person that live
+here.'</p>
+
+<p>Maia seemed somewhat reassured.</p>
+
+<p>'Do you think I may take a drink of milk, then?' she said. 'I am <i>so</i>
+thirsty.'</p>
+
+<p>'I should think you might,' said Rollo. 'You see we can come back and
+pay for it another day when they're at home. If we had any money we
+might leave it here on the table, to show we're honest. But we haven't
+any.'</p>
+
+<p>'No,' said Maia, as she poured out some milk, taking care not to spill
+any on the tablecloth, 'not a farthing. Oh, Rollo,' she continued,
+'<i>such</i> delicious milk! Won't you have some?'</p>
+
+<p>'No; I'm not thirsty,' he replied. 'See, Maia, there's another little
+kitchen out of this&mdash;for washing dishes in&mdash;a sort of scullery,' for he
+had opened another door as he spoke.</p>
+
+<p>'And, oh, Rollo,' said Maia, peering about, 'see, there's a little
+stair. Oh, <i>do</i> let's go up.'</p>
+
+<p>It seemed a case of 'in for a penny, in for a pound.' Having made
+themselves so much at home, the children felt inclined to go a little
+farther. They had soon climbed the tiny staircase and were rewarded for
+their labour by finding two little bed-rooms, furnished just alike, and
+though neat and exquisitely clean, as plain and simple as the kitchen.</p>
+
+<p>'Really, Rollo,' said Maia, 'this house might have been built by the
+fairies for us two, and see, isn't it odd? the beds are quite small,
+like ours. I don't know where the big person sleeps whom the arm-chair
+and the big cup downstairs are for.'</p>
+
+<p>'Perhaps there's another room,' said Rollo, but after hunting about they
+found there was nothing more, and they came downstairs again to the
+kitchen, more puzzled than ever as to whom the queer little house could
+belong to.</p>
+
+<p>'We'll come back again, the very first day we can,' said Maia, 'and tell
+the people about having taken the milk,' and then they left the cottage,
+carefully closing the door and gate behind them, and made their way back
+to where they had left Nanni. It took them longer than they had
+expected&mdash;either they mistook their way, or had wandered farther than
+they had imagined. But Nanni had suffered no anxiety on their account,
+for, even before they got up to her, they saw that she was enjoying a
+peaceful slumber.</p>
+
+<p>'Poor thing!' said Maia. 'She must be very tired. I never knew her so
+sleepy before. Wake up, Nanni, wake up,' she went on, touching the maid
+gently on the shoulder. Up jumped Nanni, rubbing her eyes, but looking
+nevertheless very awake and good-humoured.</p>
+
+<p>'Such a beautiful sleep as I've had, to be sure,' she exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>'Then you haven't been wondering what had become of us?' said Rollo.</p>
+
+<p>'Bless you, no, sir,' replied Nanni. 'You haven't been very long away,
+surely? I never did have such a beautiful sleep. There must be something
+in the air of this forest that makes one sleep. And such lovely dreams!
+I thought I saw a lady all dressed in green&mdash;dark green and light
+green,&mdash;for all the world like the fir-trees in spring, and with long
+light hair. She stooped over me and smiled, as if she was going to say
+something, but just then I awoke and saw Miss Maia.'</p>
+
+<p>'And what do you think <i>we've</i> seen?' said Maia. 'The dearest little
+cottage you can fancy. Just like what Rollo and I would like to live in
+all by ourselves. And there was nobody there; wasn't it queer, Nanni?'</p>
+
+<p>Nanni was much impressed, but when she had heard all about the
+children's adventure she grew a little frightened.</p>
+
+<p>'I hope no harm will come of it,' she said. 'If it were a witch's
+cottage;' and she shivered.</p>
+
+<p>'Nonsense, Nanni,' said Rollo; 'witches don't have cottages like
+that,&mdash;all so bright and clean, and delicious new milk to drink.'</p>
+
+<p>But Nanni was not so easily consoled. 'I hope no harm may come of it,'
+she repeated.</p>
+
+<p>By the lengthening shadows they saw that the afternoon was advancing,
+and that, if they did not want to be late for dinner, they must make the
+best of their way home.</p>
+
+<p>'It would not do to be late to-day&mdash;the first time they have let us come
+out by ourselves,' said Maia sagely. 'If we are back in very good time
+perhaps Lady Venelda will soon let us come again.'</p>
+
+<p>They <i>were</i> back in very good time, and went down to the dining-hall,
+looking very fresh and neat, as their cousin entered it followed by her
+ladies.</p>
+
+<p>'That is right,' said Lady Venelda graciously.</p>
+
+<p>'You look all the better for your walk, my little friends,' said the old
+doctor. 'Come, tell us what you think of our forests, now you have seen
+the inside of them.'</p>
+
+<p>'They are lovely,' said both children enthusiastically. 'I should like
+to <i>live</i> there,' Maia went on; 'and, oh, cousin, we saw the dearest
+little cottage, <i>so</i> neat and pretty! I wonder who lives there.'</p>
+
+<p>'You went to the village, then,' Lady Venelda replied. 'I did not think
+you would go in that direction.'</p>
+
+<p>'No,' said Rollo, 'we did not go near any village. It was a cottage
+quite alone, over that way,' and he pointed in the direction he meant.</p>
+
+<p>Lady Venelda looked surprised and a little annoyed.</p>
+
+<p>'I know of no cottage by itself. I know of no cottages, save those in my
+own village. You must have been mistaken.'</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, no, indeed,' said Maia, 'we could not be mistaken, for we&mdash;&mdash;'</p>
+
+<p>'Young people should not contradict their elders,' said Lady Venelda
+freezingly, and poor Maia dared say no more. She was very thankful when
+the old doctor came to the rescue.</p>
+
+<p>'Perhaps,' he said good-naturedly, 'perhaps our young friends sat down
+in the forest and had a little nap, in which they <i>dreamt</i> of this
+mysterious cottage. You are aware, my lady, that the aromatic odours of
+our delightful woods are said to have this tendency.'</p>
+
+<p>Rollo and Maia looked at each other. 'That's true,' the look seemed to
+say, for the old doctor's words made them think of Nanni's beautiful
+dream. Not that <i>they</i> had been asleep, oh, no, that was impossible.</p>
+
+<p>Everything about the cottage had been so real and natural. And besides,
+as Maia said afterwards to Rollo, 'People don't dream <i>together</i> of
+exactly the same things at exactly the same moment, as if they were
+reading a story-book,' with which Rollo of course agreed.</p>
+
+<p>Still, at the time, they were not sorry that their cousin took up the
+doctor's idea, for she had seemed so very vexed before he suggested it.</p>
+
+<p>'To be sure,' she replied graciously; 'that explains it. I have often
+heard of that quality of our wonderful woods. No doubt&mdash;tired as they
+were too&mdash;the children fell asleep without knowing it. Just so; but
+young people must never contradict their elders.'</p>
+
+<p>The children dared not say any more, and, indeed, just then it would
+have been no use.</p>
+
+<p>'She would not have believed anything we said about it,' said Maia as
+they went upstairs to their own rooms. 'But it isn't nice not to be
+allowed to tell anything like that. <i>Father</i> always believes us.'</p>
+
+<p>'Yes,' said Rollo thoughtfully. 'I don't quite understand why Lady
+Venelda should have taken us up so about it. I don't much like going
+back to the cottage without leave&mdash;at least without telling her about
+it, and yet we <i>must</i> go. It would be such a shame not to pay for the
+milk.'</p>
+
+<p>'Yes,' said Maia, 'and they might think there had been <i>robbers</i> there
+while they were out. Oh, we must go back!'</p>
+
+<p>But their perplexities were not decreased by what Nanni had to say to
+them.</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, Master Rollo and Miss Maia!' she exclaimed, 'we should be <i>very</i>
+thankful that no harm came to you this afternoon. I've been speaking to
+them in the kitchen about where you were, and, oh, but it must be an
+uncanny place! No one knows who lives there, though 'tis said about 'tis
+a witch. And the queer thing is, that 'tis but very few that have ever
+seen the cottage at all. Some have seen it and told the others about it,
+and when they've gone to look, no cottage could they find. Lady
+Venelda's own maid is one of those who was determined to find it, but
+she never could. And my Lady herself was so put out about it that she
+set off to look for it one day,&mdash;for no one has a right to live in the
+woods just hereabout without her leave,&mdash;and she meant to turn the
+people, whoever they were, about their business. But 'twas all for no
+use. She sought far and wide; ne'er a cottage could she find, and she
+wandered about the woods near a whole day for no use. Since then she is
+that touchy about it that, if any one dares but to mention a cottage
+hereabouts, save those in the village, it quite upsets her.'</p>
+
+<p>Rollo and Maia looked at each other, but something made them feel it was
+better to say little before Nanni.</p>
+
+<p>'So I do beg you never to speak about the cottage to my Lady,' Nanni
+wound up.</p>
+
+<p>'We don't want to speak about it to her,' said Rollo drily.</p>
+
+<p>'And you won't want to go there again, I do hope,' the maid persisted.
+'Whatever would I do if the witch got hold of you and turned you perhaps
+into blue birds or green frogs, or something dreadful? Whatever <i>would</i>
+your dear papa say to me? Oh, Miss Maia, do tell Master Rollo never to
+go there again.'</p>
+
+<p>'Don't be afraid,' said Maia; 'we'll take care of ourselves. I can quite
+promise you we won't be turned into frogs or birds. But don't talk any
+more about it to-night, Nanni. I'm <i>so</i> sleepy, and I don't want to
+dream of horrible witches.'</p>
+
+<p>And this was all the satisfaction Nanni could get.</p>
+
+<p>But the next morning Rollo and Maia had a grand consultation together.
+They did not like the idea of not going to the cottage again, for they
+felt it would not be right not to explain about the milk, and they had
+besides a motive, which Nanni's strange story had no way lessened&mdash;that
+of great curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>'It would be a shame not to pay for the milk,' said Rollo. 'I should
+feel uncomfortable whenever I thought of it.'</p>
+
+<p>'So should I,' said Maia; 'even more than you, for it was I that drank
+it! And I do <i>so</i> want to find out who lives there. There <i>must</i> be
+children, I am sure, because of the little beds and chairs and cups, and
+everything.'</p>
+
+<p>'If they are all for children, I don't know what there is for big
+people,' said Rollo. 'Perhaps they're some kind of dwarfs that live
+there.'</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, what fun!' said Maia, clapping her hands. 'Oh, we <i>must</i> go back to
+find out!'</p>
+
+<p>She started, for just as she said the words a voice behind them was
+heard to say, 'Go back; go back where, my children?'</p>
+
+<p>They were walking up and down the terrace on one side of the castle,
+where Mademoiselle Delphine had sent them for a little fresh air between
+their lessons, and they were so engrossed by what they were talking of
+that they had not heard nor seen the old doctor approaching them. It was
+his voice that made Maia start. Both children looked rather frightened
+when they saw who it was, and that he had overheard what they were
+saying.</p>
+
+<p>'Go back where?' he repeated. 'What are you talking about?'</p>
+
+<p>The children still hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>'We don't like to tell you, sir,' said Rollo frankly. 'You would say it
+was only fancy, as you did last night, and we <i>know</i> it wasn't fancy.'</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, about the cottage?' said the old doctor coolly. 'You needn't be
+afraid to tell me about it, fancy or no fancy. Fancy isn't a bad thing
+sometimes.'</p>
+
+<p>'But it <i>wasn't</i> fancy,' said both together; 'only we don't like to talk
+about it for fear of vexing our cousin, and we don't like to go back
+there without leave, and yet we <i>should</i> go back.'</p>
+
+<p>'Why should you?' asked their old friend.</p>
+
+<p>Then Maia explained about the milk, adding, too, the strange things that
+Nanni had heard in the servants' hall. The old doctor listened
+attentively. His face looked quite pleased and good-humoured, and yet
+they saw he was not at all inclined to laugh at them. When they had
+finished, to the children's surprise he said nothing, but drew out a
+letter from his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>'Do you know this writing?' he said.</p>
+
+<p>Rollo and Maia exclaimed eagerly, 'Oh, yes; it is our father's. Do you
+know him? Do you know our father, Mr. Doctor?'</p>
+
+<p>'I have known him,' said the old man, quietly drawing the contents out
+of the cover, 'I have known him since he was much smaller than either of
+you is now. It was by my advice he sent you here for a time, and see
+what he gave me for you.'</p>
+
+<p>He held up as he spoke a small folded paper, which had been inside the
+other letter. It bore the words: 'For Rollo and Maia&mdash;to be given them
+when you think well.' 'I think well now,' he went on, 'so read what he
+says, my children.'</p>
+
+<p>They quickly opened the paper. There was not much written inside&mdash;just a
+few words:</p>
+
+<p>'Dear children,' they were, 'if you are in any difficulty, ask the
+advice of my dear old friend and adviser, the doctor, and you may be
+sure you will do what will please your father.'</p>
+
+<p>For a moment or two the children were almost too surprised to speak. It
+was Rollo who found his voice first.</p>
+
+<p>'Give us your advice now, Mr. Doctor. May we go back to the cottage
+without saying any more about it to Lady Venelda?'</p>
+
+<p>'Yes,' said the old doctor. 'You may go anywhere you like in the woods.
+No harm will come to you. It is no use your saying any more about the
+cottage to Lady Venelda. She cannot understand it because she cannot
+find it. If you can find it you will learn no harm there, and your
+father would be quite pleased for you to go.'</p>
+
+<p>'Then do you think we may go soon again?' asked the children eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>'You will always have a holiday once a week,' said the doctor. 'It would
+not be good for you to go <i>too</i> often. Work cheerfully and well when you
+are at work, my children. I will see that you have your play.'</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<h3>FAIRY HOUSEKEEPING.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i11">'Neat, like bees, as sweet and busy,<br /></span>
+<span class="i11">·&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;·&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;·&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;·&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;·&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;·<br /></span>
+<span class="i11">Aired and set to rights the house;<br /></span>
+<span class="i11">Kneaded cakes of whitest wheat&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i11">Cakes for dainty mouths to eat.'<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i25"><i>Goblin Market.</i><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>The next few days passed rather slowly for the children. There was no
+talk of another expedition to the woods. And they had a good many
+lessons to do, so that short walks in the grounds close round the castle
+were all they had time for. They only saw the old doctor at meal-times,
+but he always smiled at them, as if to assure them he was not forgetting
+them, and to encourage them to patience.</p>
+
+<p>There was one person who certainly did not regret the children's not
+returning to the woods, and that person was Nanni. What she had heard
+from the servants about the mysterious cottage had thoroughly
+frightened her; she felt sure that if they went there again something
+dreadful would happen to them, and yet she was so devoted to them that,
+however terrified, she would never have thought of not following them
+wherever they chose to go. But, as day after day went by, and no more
+was said about it, she began to breathe freely. Her distress was
+therefore the greater when, one afternoon just six days after the last
+ramble, Rollo and Maia rushed upstairs after their lessons in the
+wildest spirits.</p>
+
+<p>'Hurrah for the doctor!' shouted Rollo, and Maia was on the point of
+joining him, till she remembered that if they made such a noise Lady
+Venelda would be sending up to know what was the matter.</p>
+
+<p>'We're to have a whole holiday to-morrow, Nanni,' they explained, 'and
+we're going to spend it in the woods. You're to come with us, and carry
+something in a basket for us to eat.'</p>
+
+<p>'Very well, Miss Maia,' replied Nanni, prudently refraining from
+mentioning the cottage, in hopes that they had forgotten about it, 'that
+will be very nice, especially if it is a fine day, but if not, of course
+you would not go.'</p>
+
+<p>'I don't know that,' said Rollo mischievously; 'green frogs don't mind
+rain.'</p>
+
+<p>'Nor blue birds,' added Maia. 'They could fly away if they did.'</p>
+
+<p>At these fateful words poor Nanni grew deadly pale. 'Oh, my children,'
+she cried; 'oh, Master Rollo and Miss Maia, don't, I beg of you, joke
+about such things. And oh, I entreat you, don't go looking for that
+witch's cottage. Unless you promise me you won't, I shall have to go and
+tell my Lady, however angry she is!'</p>
+
+<p>'No such thing, my good girl,' said a voice at the door. 'You needn't
+trouble your head about such nonsense. Rollo and Maia will go nowhere
+where they can get any harm. I know everything about the woods better
+than you or those silly servants downstairs. Lady Venelda would only
+tell you not to interfere with what didn't concern you if you went
+saying anything to her. Go off to the woods with your little master and
+mistress without misgiving, my good girl, and if the air makes you
+sleepy don't be afraid to take a nap. No harm will come to you or the
+children.'</p>
+
+<p>Nanni stood still in astonishment&mdash;the tears in her eyes and her mouth
+wide open, staring at the old doctor, for it was he, of course, who had
+followed the children upstairs and overheard her remonstrances. She
+looked so comical that Rollo and Maia could scarcely help laughing at
+her, as at last she found voice to speak.</p>
+
+<p>'Of course if the learned doctor approves I have nothing to say,' she
+said submissively; though she could not help adding, 'and I only hope no
+harm will come of it.'</p>
+
+<p>Rollo and Maia flew to the doctor.</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, that's right!' they exclaimed. 'We are so glad you have spoken to
+that stupid Nanni. She believes all the rubbish the servants here
+speak.'</p>
+
+<p>The doctor turned to Nanni again.</p>
+
+<p>'Don't be afraid,' he repeated. 'All will be right, you will see. But
+take my advice, do not say anything to the servants here about the
+amusements of your little master and mistress. Least said soonest
+mended. It would annoy Lady Venelda for it to be supposed they were
+allowed to go where any harm could befall them.'</p>
+
+<p>'Very well, sir,' replied Nanni, meekly enough, though she still looked
+rather depressed. She could not help remembering that before he left,
+old Marc, too, had warned her against too much chattering.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning broke fine and bright. The children started in the
+greatest spirits, which even Nanni, laden with a basket of provisions
+for their dinner, could not altogether resist. And before they went,
+Lady Venelda called them into her boudoir, and kissing them, wished them
+a happy holiday.</p>
+
+<p>'It's all that nice old doctor,' said Maia. 'You see, Rollo, she hasn't
+told us not to go to the cottage&mdash;he's put it all right, I'm sure.'</p>
+
+<p>'Yes, I expect so,' Rollo agreed; and then in a minute or two he added:
+'Do you know, Maia, though of course I don't believe in witches turning
+people into green frogs, or any of that nonsense, I do think there's
+<i>something</i> funny about that cottage.'</p>
+
+<p>'What sort of something? What do you mean?' asked Maia, looking
+intensely interested. 'Do you mean something to do with fairies?'</p>
+
+<p>'I don't know&mdash;I'm not sure. But we'll see,' said Rollo.</p>
+
+<p>'If we can find it!' said Maia.</p>
+
+<p>'I'm <i>sure</i> we shall find it. It's just because of that that I think
+there's something queer. It must be true that some people can't find
+it.'</p>
+
+<p>'Naughty people?' asked Maia apprehensively. 'For you know, Rollo, we're
+not always <i>quite</i> good.'</p>
+
+<p>'No, I don't mean naughty people. I mean more people who don't care
+about fairies and wood-spirits, and things like that&mdash;people who call
+all that nonsense and rubbish.'</p>
+
+<p>'I see,' said Maia; 'perhaps you're right, Rollo. Well, any way, that
+won't stop <i>us</i> finding it, for we certainly do care <i>dreadfully</i> about
+fairy things, don't we, Rollo? But what about Nanni?' she went on, for
+Nanni was some steps behind, and had not heard what they were saying.</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, as to Nanni,' said Rollo coolly, 'I shouldn't wonder if she took a
+nap again, as the old doctor said. Any way, she can't interfere with us
+after <i>his</i> giving us leave to go wherever we liked.'</p>
+
+<p>They stopped a little to give Nanni time to come up to them, and Rollo
+offered to help her to carry the basket. It was not heavy, she replied,
+she could carry it quite well alone, but she still looked rather
+depressed in spirits, so the children walked beside her, talking merrily
+of the dinner in the woods they were going to have, so that by degrees
+Nanni forgot her fears of the mysterious cottage, and thought no more
+about it.</p>
+
+<p>It was even a more beautiful day than the one, now nearly a week ago, on
+which they had first visited the woods. There was more sunshine to-day,
+and the season was every day farther advancing; the lovely little new
+green tips were beginning to peep out among the darker green which had
+already stood the wear and tear of a bitter winter and many a frosty
+blast.</p>
+
+<p>'How pretty the fir-trees look!' said Maia. 'They don't seem the least
+dim or gloomy in the sunshine, even though it only gets to them in
+little bits. See there, Rollo,' she exclaimed, pointing to one which got
+more than its share of the capricious gilding. 'Doesn't it look like a
+<i>real</i> Christmas-tree?'</p>
+
+<p>'Like a lighted-up one, you mean,' said Rollo. 'It would be a very nice
+Christmas-tree for a family of giants, and if I could climb up so high,
+I'd be just about the right size for the angel at the top. Let's spread
+our table at the foot of this tree&mdash;it looks so nice and dry. I'm sure,
+Nanni,' he went on, 'you'll be glad to get rid of your basket.'</p>
+
+<p>'It's not heavy, Master Rollo,' said Nanni; 'but, all the same, it <i>is</i>
+queer how the minute I get into these woods I begin to be so
+sleepy&mdash;you'd hardly believe it.'</p>
+
+<p>Rollo and Maia looked at each other with a smile, but they said nothing.</p>
+
+<p>'We'd better have our dinner any way,' observed Rollo, kneeling down to
+unfasten the basket, of which the contents proved very good indeed.</p>
+
+<p>'What fun it is, isn't it?' said Maia, when they had eaten nearly as
+much cold chicken and bread, and cakes and fruit as they wanted. 'What
+fun it is to be able to do just as we like, and say just what we like,
+instead of having to sit straight up in our chairs like two dolls, and
+only speak when we're spoken to, and all that&mdash;how nice it would be if
+we could have our dinner in the woods every day!'</p>
+
+<p>'We'd get tired of it after a while, I expect,' said Rollo. 'It wouldn't
+be nice in cold weather, or if it rained.'</p>
+
+<p>'<i>I</i> wouldn't mind,' said Maia. 'I'd build a warm little hut and cover
+it over with moss. We'd live like the squirrels.'</p>
+
+<p>'How do you know how the squirrels live?' said Rollo.</p>
+
+<p>But Maia did not answer him. Her ideas by this time were off on another
+flight&mdash;the thought of a little hut had reminded her of the cottage.</p>
+
+<p>'I want to go farther into the wood,' she said, jumping up. 'Come,
+Rollo, let's go and explore a little. Nanni, you can stay here and pack
+up the basket again, can't you?'</p>
+
+<p>'Then you won't be long, Miss Maia,' began Nanni, rather dolefully. 'You
+won't&mdash;&mdash;'</p>
+
+<p>'We won't get turned into green frogs, if that's what you're thinking
+of, Nanni,' interrupted Rollo. 'Do remember what the old doctor said,
+and don't worry yourself. We shall come to no harm. And as you're so
+sleepy, why shouldn't you take a nap as you did the other day? Perhaps
+you'll dream of the beautiful lady again.'</p>
+
+<p>Nanni looked but half convinced.</p>
+
+<p>'It's not <i>my</i> fault, any way,' she said. 'I've done all I could. I may
+as well stay here, for I know you like better to wander about by
+yourselves. But I'm not going to sleep&mdash;you needn't laugh, Master Rollo,
+I've brought my knitting with me on purpose,' and she drew out a half
+stocking and ball of worsted with great satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>The children set off. They were not sure in what direction lay the
+cottage, for they had got confused in their directions, but they had a
+vague idea that by continuing upwards, for they were still on sloping
+ground, they would come to the level space where they had seen the smoke
+of the burning leaves. They were not mistaken, for they had walked but a
+very few minutes when the ground ceased to ascend, and looking round
+they felt sure that they recognised the look of the trees near the
+cottage.</p>
+
+<p>'This way, Rollo, I am sure,' said Maia, darting forward. She was
+right&mdash;in another moment they came out of the woods just at the side of
+the cottage. It looked just the same as before, except that no fire was
+burning outside, and instead, a thin column of smoke rose gently from
+the little chimney. The gate of the little garden was also open, as if
+inviting them to enter.</p>
+
+<p>'They must be at home, whoever they are,' said Rollo. 'There is a fire
+in the kitchen, you see, Maia.'</p>
+
+<p>Maia grew rather pale. Now that they were actually on the spot, she
+began to feel afraid, though of what she scarcely knew. Nanni's queer
+hints came back to her mind, and she caught hold of Rollo's arm,
+trembling.</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, Rollo,' she exclaimed, 'suppose it's true? About the witch, I
+mean&mdash;or suppose they have found out about the milk and are very angry?'</p>
+
+<p>'Well, we can't help it if they are,' replied Rollo sturdily. 'We've
+done the best thing we could in coming back to pay for it. You've got
+the little purse, Maia?'</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, yes, it's safe in my pocket,' she said. 'But&mdash;&mdash;'</p>
+
+<p>She stopped, for just at that moment the door of the cottage opened and
+a figure came forward. It was no 'old witch,' no ogre or goblin, but a
+young girl&mdash;a little older than Maia she seemed&mdash;who stood there with a
+sweet, though rather grave expression on her face and in her soft dark
+eyes, as she said gently, 'Welcome&mdash;we have been expecting you.'</p>
+
+<p>'Expecting us?' exclaimed Maia, who generally found her voice more
+quickly than Rollo; 'how can you have been expecting us?'</p>
+
+<p>She had stepped forward a step or two before her brother, and now stood
+looking up in the girl's face with wonder in her bright blue eyes, while
+she tossed back the long fair curls that fell round her head. Boys are
+not very observant, but Rollo could not help noticing the pretty picture
+the two made. The peasant maiden with her dark plaits and brown
+complexion, dressed in a short red skirt, and little loose white bodice
+fastened round the waist with a leather belt, and Maia with a rather
+primly-cut frock and frilled tippet of flowered chintz, such as children
+then often wore, and large flapping shady hat.</p>
+
+<p>'How can you have been expecting us?' Maia repeated.</p>
+
+<p>Rollo came forward in great curiosity to hear the answer.</p>
+
+<p>The girl smiled.</p>
+
+<p>'Ah!' she said, 'there are more ways than one of knowing many things
+that are to come. Waldo heard you had arrived at the white castle, and
+my godmother had already told us of you. Then we found the milk gone,
+and&mdash;&mdash;'</p>
+
+<p>Rollo interrupted this time. 'We were so vexed,' he said, 'not to be
+able to explain about it. We have wanted to come every day since to&mdash;&mdash;'
+'To pay for it,' he was going to say, but something in the girl's face
+made him hesitate.</p>
+
+<p>'Not to pay for it,' she said quickly, though smiling again, as if she
+read his words in his face; 'don't say that. We were so glad it was
+there for you. Besides, it is not ours&mdash;Waldo and I would have nothing
+but for our godmother. But come in&mdash;come in&mdash;Waldo is only gone to fetch
+some brushwood, and our godmother, too, will be here soon.'</p>
+
+<p>Too surprised to ask questions&mdash;indeed, there seemed so many to ask that
+they would not have known where to begin&mdash;Rollo and Maia followed the
+girl into the little kitchen. It looked just as neat and dainty as the
+other day&mdash;and brighter too, for a charming little fire was burning in
+the grate, and a pleasant smell of freshly-roasted coffee was faintly
+perceived. The table was set out as before, but with the addition of a
+plate of crisp-looking little cakes or biscuits, and in place of <i>two</i>
+small cups and saucers there were <i>four</i>, as well as the larger one the
+children had seen before. This was too much for Maia to behold in
+silence. She stopped short, and stared in still greater amazement.</p>
+
+<p>'Why!' she exclaimed. 'You don't mean to say&mdash;why, just fancy, I don't
+even know your name.'</p>
+
+<p>'Silva,' replied the girl quietly, but with an amused little smile on
+her face.</p>
+
+<p>'Silva,' continued Maia, 'you <i>don't</i> mean to say that you've put out
+those two cups for <i>us</i>&mdash;that you knew we'd come.'</p>
+
+<p>'Godmother did,' said Silva. 'She told us yesterday. So we've been very
+busy to get all our work done, and have a nice holiday afternoon. Waldo
+has nothing more to do after he's brought in the wood, and I baked those
+little cakes this morning and roasted the coffee. Godmother told us to
+have it ready early, so that there'll be plenty of time before you have
+to go. Oh, here's Waldo!' she exclaimed joyfully.</p>
+
+<p>Rollo and Maia turned round. There, in the doorway stood a boy, his cap
+in his hand, a pleasant smile on his bright ruddy face.</p>
+
+<p>'Welcome, my friends,' he said, with a kind of gravity despite his
+smile.</p>
+
+<p>He was such a nice-looking boy&mdash;just about as much bigger than Rollo as
+Silva was bigger than Maia. You could have told at once that they were
+brother and sister&mdash;there was the same bright and yet serious expression
+in their eyes; the same healthy, ruddy complexion; the same erect
+carriage and careless grace in Waldo in his forester's clothes as in
+Silva with her pretty though simple peasant maiden dress. They looked
+what they were, true children of the beautiful woods.</p>
+
+<p>'Thank you,' said Rollo and Maia, after a moment's hesitation. They did
+not know what else to say. Silva glanced at them. She seemed to have a
+curious power of reading in their faces the thoughts that were passing
+in their minds.</p>
+
+<p>'Don't think it strange,' she said quickly, 'that Waldo calls you thus
+"my friends," and that we both speak to you as if we had known you for
+long. We know we are not the same as you&mdash;in the world, I mean, we could
+not be as we are here with you, but this is not the world,' and here
+she smiled again&mdash;the strange, bright, and yet somehow rather sad smile
+which made her face so sweet&mdash;'and so we need not think about it.
+Godmother said it was best only to remember that we are just four
+children together, and when you see her you will feel that what she says
+is always best.'</p>
+
+<p>'We don't need to see her to feel that we like you to call us your
+friends,' exclaimed Rollo and Maia together. The words came from their
+hearts, and yet somehow they felt surprised at being able to say them so
+readily. Rollo held out his hand to Waldo, who shook it heartily, and
+little Maia going close up to Silva said softly, 'Kiss me, please, dear
+Silva.'</p>
+
+<p>And thus the friendship was begun.</p>
+
+<p>The first effect of this seemed to be the setting loose of Maia's
+tongue.</p>
+
+<p>'There are so many things I want to ask you,' she began. 'May I? Do you
+and Waldo live here alone, and have you always lived here? And does your
+godmother live here, for the other day when we went all over the cottage
+we only saw two little beds, and two little of everything, except the
+big chair and the big cup and saucer. And what&mdash;&mdash;'</p>
+
+<p>Here Rollo interrupted her.</p>
+
+<p>'Maia,' he said, 'you really shouldn't talk so fast. Silva could not
+answer all those questions at once if she wanted; and perhaps she
+doesn't want to answer them all. It's rude to ask so much.'</p>
+
+<p>Maia looked up innocently into Silva's face.</p>
+
+<p>'I didn't mean to be rude,' she said, 'only you see I can't help
+wondering.'</p>
+
+<p>'We don't mind your asking anything you like,' Silva replied. 'But I
+don't think I <i>can</i> tell you all you want to know. You'll get to see for
+yourself. Waldo and I have lived here a long time, but not <i>always</i>!'</p>
+
+<p>'But your godmother,' went on Maia; 'I do so want to know about her.
+Does <i>she</i> live here? Is it she that the people about call a witch?'
+Maia lowered her voice a little at the last word, and looked up at Rollo
+apprehensively. Would not he think speaking of witches still ruder than
+asking questions? But Silva did not seem to mind.</p>
+
+<p>'I dare say they do,' she said quietly. 'They don't know her, you see. I
+don't think she would care if they did call her a witch. But now the
+coffee is ready,' for she had been going on with her preparations
+meanwhile, 'will you sit round the table?'</p>
+
+<p>'We are not very hungry,' said Rollo, 'for we had our dinner in the
+wood. But the coffee smells so good,' and he drew in his chair as he
+spoke. Maia, however, hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>'Would it not be more polite, perhaps,' she said to Silva, 'to wait a
+little for your godmother? You said she would be coming soon.'</p>
+
+<p>'She doesn't like us to wait for her,' said Silva. 'We always put her
+place ready, for sometimes she comes and sometimes she doesn't&mdash;we never
+know. But she says it is best just to go on regularly, and then we need
+not lose any time.'</p>
+
+<p>'I don't think I should like that way,' said Maia. 'Would you, Rollo? If
+father was coming to see us, I would like to know it quite settledly
+ever so long before, and plan all about it.'</p>
+
+<p>'But it isn't quite the same,' said Silva. 'Your father is far away. Our
+godmother is never very far away&mdash;it is just a nice feeling that she may
+come any time, like the sunshine or the wind.'</p>
+
+<p>'Well, perhaps it is,' said Maia. 'I dare say I shall understand when
+I've seen her. How very good this coffee is, Silva, and the little
+cakes! Did your godmother teach you to make them so nice?'</p>
+
+<p>'Not exactly,' said Silva; 'but she made me like doing things well. She
+made me see how pretty it is to do things rightly&mdash;<i>quite</i> rightly, just
+as they should be.'</p>
+
+<p>'And do you always do things that way?' exclaimed Maia, very much
+impressed. '<i>I</i> don't; I'm very often dreadfully untidy, and sometimes
+my exercise-books are full of blots and mistakes. I wish I had had your
+godmother to teach me, Silva.'</p>
+
+<p>'Well, you're going to have her now. She teaches without one knowing it.
+But <i>I'm</i> not perfect, nor is Waldo! Indeed we're not&mdash;and if we thought
+we were it would show we weren't.'</p>
+
+<p>'Besides,' said Waldo, 'all the things we have to do are very simple and
+easy. We don't know anything about the world, and all we should have to
+do and learn if we lived there.'</p>
+
+<p>'Should you like to live there?' asked Maia. Both Waldo and Silva
+hesitated. Then both, with the grave expression in their eyes that came
+there sometimes, replied, 'I don't know;' but Waldo in a moment or two
+added, 'If it had to be, it would be right to like it.'</p>
+
+<p>'Yes,' said Silva quietly. But something in their tone made both Rollo
+and Maia feel puzzled.</p>
+
+<p>'I do believe you're both half fairies,' exclaimed Maia with a little
+impatience; 'I can't make you out at all.'</p>
+
+<p>Rollo felt the same, though, being more considerate than his little
+sister, he did not like to express his feelings so freely. But Waldo and
+Silva only laughed merrily.</p>
+
+<p>'No, no, indeed we're not,' they said more than once, but Maia did not
+seem convinced by any means, and she was going on to maintain that no
+children who <i>weren't</i> half fairies could live like that by themselves
+and manage everything so beautifully, when a slight noise at the door
+and a sudden look of pleasure on Silva's face made her stop short and
+look round.</p>
+
+<p>'Here she is,' exclaimed Waldo and Silva together. 'Oh, godmother,
+darling, we are so glad. And they have come, Rollo and Maia have come,
+just as you said.'</p>
+
+<p>And thus saying they sprang forward. Their godmother stooped and kissed
+both on the forehead.</p>
+
+<p>'Dear children,' she said, and then she turned to the two strangers, who
+were gazing at her with all their eyes.</p>
+
+<p>'<i>Can</i> it be she the silly people about call a witch?' Maia was saying
+to herself. 'It <i>might</i> be, and yet I don't know. <i>Could</i> any one call
+her a witch?'</p>
+
+<p>She was old&mdash;of that there was no doubt, at least so it seemed at the
+first glance. Her hair was perfectly white, her face was very pale. But
+her eyes were the most wonderful thing about her. Maia could not tell
+what colour they were. They seemed to change with every word she said,
+with every new look that came over her face. Old as she was they were
+very bright and beautiful, very soft and sweet too, though not the sort
+of eyes&mdash;Maia said afterwards to Rollo&mdash;'that I would like to look at me
+if I had been naughty.' Godmother was not tall; when she first came into
+the little kitchen she seemed to stoop a little, and did not look much
+bigger than Silva. And she was all covered over with a dark green cloak,
+almost the colour of the darkest of the foliage of the fir-trees.</p>
+
+<p>'One would hardly see her if she were walking about the woods,' thought
+Maia, 'except that her face and hair are so white, they would gleam out
+like snow.'</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE STORY OF A KING'S DAUGHTER.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i11">'Gentle and sweet is she;<br /></span>
+<span class="i11">As the heart of a rose is her heart,<br /></span>
+<span class="i11">As soft and as fair and as sweet.'<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i25"><i>Liliput Lectures.</i><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>Godmother turned to the little strangers. The two pairs of blue eyes
+were still fixed upon her. <i>Her</i> eyes looked very kind and gentle, and
+yet very 'seeing', as she caught their gaze.</p>
+
+<p>'I believe,' thought Maia, 'that she can tell all we are thinking;' and
+Rollo had something of the same idea, yet neither of them felt the least
+afraid of her.</p>
+
+<p>'Rollo and Maia, dear children, too,' she said, 'we are so pleased to
+see you.'</p>
+
+<p>'And we are very pleased to be here,' said they; 'but&mdash;&mdash;' and then they
+hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>'You are puzzled how it is I know your names, and all about you, are
+you not?' she said, smiling. 'I puzzle most children at first; but isn't
+it rather nice to be puzzled?'</p>
+
+<p>This was a new idea. Thinking it over, they began to find there was
+something in it.</p>
+
+<p>'I think it <i>is</i>,' both replied, smiling a little.</p>
+
+<p>'If you knew all about everything, and could see through everything,
+there wouldn't be much interest left. Nothing to find out or to fancy.
+Oh, what a dull world!'</p>
+
+<p>'Are we to find out or to fancy <i>you</i>?' asked Maia. She spoke seriously,
+but there was a little look of fun in her eyes which was at once
+reflected in godmother's.</p>
+
+<p>'Whichever you like,' she replied; 'but, first of all, you are to kiss
+me.'</p>
+
+<p>Rollo and Maia both kissed the soft white face. It was <i>so</i> soft, and
+there seemed a sort of fresh, sweet scent about godmother, as if she had
+been in a room all filled with violets, only it was even nicer. She
+smiled, and from a little basket on her arm, which they had not noticed,
+she drew out several tiny bunches of spring flowers, tied with green and
+white ribbon&mdash;so pretty; oh, so very pretty!</p>
+
+<p>'So you scented my flowers,' she said. 'No wonder; you have never
+scented any quite like them before. They come from the other country.
+Here, dears, catch,' and she tossed them up in the air, all four
+children jumping and darting about to see who would get most. But at the
+end, when they counted their treasures, it was quite right, each had got
+three.</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, how sweet!' cried Maia. 'May we take them home with us, godmother?'
+It seemed to come quite naturally to call her that, and Maia did it
+without thinking.</p>
+
+<p>'Certainly,' godmother replied; 'but remember this, don't throw them
+away when they seem withered. They will not be really withered; that is
+to say, long afterwards, by putting them in the sunshine, they
+will&mdash;some of them, any way&mdash;come out quite fresh again. And even when
+dried up they will have a delicious scent; indeed, the scent has an
+added charm about it the older they are&mdash;so many think, and I agree with
+them.'</p>
+
+<p>Rollo and Maia looked at their flowers with a sort of awe.</p>
+
+<p>'Then they are <i>fairy</i> flowers?' they half whispered. 'You said they
+came from the other country. Do you come from there too, godmother? Are
+you a fairy?'</p>
+
+<p>Godmother smiled.</p>
+
+<p>'Fancy me one if you like,' she said. 'Fancy me whatever you like best,
+you will not be far wrong; but fairyland is only one little part of that
+other country. You will find that out as you get older.'</p>
+
+<p>'Shall we go there some day, then?' exclaimed Maia. 'Will you take us,
+dear godmother? Have Waldo and Silva ever been?'</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, what a lot of questions all at once!' cried godmother. 'I can't
+answer so many. You must be content to find out some things for
+yourself, my little girl. The way to the other country for one. Shall
+you go there some day? Yes, indeed, many and many a time, I hope.'</p>
+
+<p>Maia clapped her hands with delight.</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, how nice!' she said. 'And when? May we go to-day? Oh, Silva, do ask
+godmother to let us go to-day,' she exclaimed, catching hold of Silva in
+her eagerness. But Silva only smiled, and looked at godmother; and
+somehow, when they smiled, the two faces&mdash;the young one with its bright
+rich colour, and the old one, white, so white, except for the wonderful,
+beautiful eyes, that it might have been made of snow&mdash;looked strangely
+alike.</p>
+
+<p>'Silva has learned to be patient,' said godmother, 'and so she gets to
+know more and more of the other country. You must follow her example,
+little Maia. Don't be discouraged. How do you know that you are not
+already on the way there? What do you think about it, my boy?' she went
+on, turning to Rollo, who was standing a little behind them listening,
+but saying nothing.</p>
+
+<p>Rollo looked up and smiled.</p>
+
+<p>'I'd like to find the way myself,' he replied.</p>
+
+<p>'That's right,' said godmother. And Maia felt more and more puzzled, as
+it seemed to her that Rollo understood the meaning of godmother's words
+better than she did.</p>
+
+<p>'Rollo,' she exclaimed, half reproachfully.</p>
+
+<p>Rollo turned to her with some surprise.</p>
+
+<p>'You understand and I don't,' she said, with a little pout on her pretty
+lips.</p>
+
+<p>'No,' said Rollo, 'I don't. But I like to think of understanding some
+day.'</p>
+
+<p>'That is right,' said godmother again. 'But this is dull talk for you,
+little people. What is it to be to-day, Silva? What is old godmother to
+do for you?'</p>
+
+<p>Silva glanced out of the window.</p>
+
+<p>'The day will soon be closing into evening,' she said,' and Rollo and
+Maia cannot stay after sunset. We have not very long, godmother&mdash;no
+time to go anywhere.'</p>
+
+<p>'Ah, I don't know about that,' godmother replied. 'But still&mdash;the first
+visit. What would you like, then, my child?'</p>
+
+<p>'Let us gather round the fire, for it is a little chilly,' said Silva,
+'and you, dear godmother, will tell us a story.'</p>
+
+<p>Maia's eyes and Rollo's, too, brightened at this. Godmother had no need
+to ask if they would like it. She drew the large chair nearer the
+fireplace, and the four children clustered round her in silence waiting
+for her to begin.</p>
+
+<p>'It is too warm with my cloak on,' she said, and she raised her hand to
+unfasten it at the neck and loosen it a little. It did not entirely fall
+off; the dark green hood still made a shade round her silvery hair and
+delicate face, but the cloak dropped away enough for Maia's sharp eyes
+to see that the dress underneath was of lovely crimson stuff, neither
+velvet nor satin, but richer and softer than either. It glimmered in the
+light of the fire with a sort of changing brilliance that was very
+tempting, and it almost seemed to Maia that she caught the sparkle of
+diamonds and other precious stones.</p>
+
+<p>'May I stroke your pretty dress, godmother?' she said softly. Godmother
+started; she did not seem to have noticed how much of the crimson was
+seen, and for a moment Maia felt a little afraid. But then godmother
+smiled again, and the child felt quite happy, and slipped her hand
+inside the folds of the cloak till it reached the soft stuff beneath.</p>
+
+<p>'Stroke it the right way,' said godmother.</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, <i>how</i> soft!' said Maia in delight. 'What <i>is</i> it made of? It isn't
+velvet, or even plush. Godmother,' she went on, puckering her forehead
+again in perplexity, 'it almost feels like <i>feathers</i>. Are you perhaps a
+<i>bird</i> as well as a fairy?'</p>
+
+<p>At this godmother laughed. You never heard anything so pretty as her
+laugh. It was something like&mdash;no, I could never tell you what it was
+like&mdash;a very little like lots of tiny silver bells ringing, and soft
+breezes blowing, and larks trilling, all together and <i>very</i> gently, and
+yet very clearly. The children could not help all laughing, too, to hear
+it.</p>
+
+<p>'Call me whatever you like,' said godmother. 'A bird, or a fairy, or a
+will-o'-the-wisp, or even a witch. Many people have called me a witch,
+and I don't mind. Only, dears,' and here her pretty, sweet voice grew
+grave, and even a little sad, 'never think of me except as loving you
+and wanting to make you happy and good. And never believe I have said or
+done anything to turn you from doing right and helping others to do it.
+That is the only thing that could grieve me. And the world is full of
+people who don't see things the right way, and blame others when it is
+their own fault all the while. So sometimes you will find it all rather
+difficult. But don't forget.'</p>
+
+<p>'No,' said Maia, 'we won't forget, even though we don't quite
+understand. We will some day, won't we?'</p>
+
+<p>'Yes, dears, that you will,' said godmother.</p>
+
+<p>'And just now,' said Silva, 'it doesn't matter. We needn't think about
+the difficult world, dear godmother, while we're <i>here</i>&mdash;ever so far
+away from it.'</p>
+
+<p>'No, we need not,' said godmother, with what sounded almost like a sigh,
+if one could have believed that godmother <i>could</i> sigh! If it were one,
+it was gone in an instant, and with her very prettiest and happiest
+smile, godmother turned to the children.</p>
+
+<p>'And now, dears,' she said, 'now for the story.'</p>
+
+<p>The four figures drew still nearer, the four pair of eyes were fixed on
+the sweet white face, into which, as she spoke, a little soft pink
+colour began to come. Whether it was from the reflection of the fire or
+not, Maia could not decide, and godmother's clear voice went on.</p>
+
+<p>'Once&mdash;&mdash;'</p>
+
+<p>'Once upon a time; do say "once upon a time,"' interrupted Silva.</p>
+
+<p>'Well, well, once upon a time,' repeated godmother, 'though, by the by,
+how do you know I was <i>not</i> going to say it? Well, then, once upon a
+time, a long ago once upon a time, there lived a king's daughter.'</p>
+
+<p>'A princess,' interrupted another voice, Maia's this time. 'Why don't
+you say a princess, dear godmother?'</p>
+
+<p>'Never mind,' replied godmother. 'I like better to call her a king's
+daughter.'</p>
+
+<p>'And don't interrupt any more, please,' said Waldo and Rollo together,
+quite forgetting that they were actually interrupting themselves.</p>
+
+<p>'And,' continued godmother, without noticing this last interruption,
+'she was very beautiful and very sweet and good, even though she had
+everything in the world that even a king's daughter could want. Do you
+look surprised at my saying "even though," children? You need not; there
+is nothing more difficult than to remain unselfish, which is just
+another word for "sweet and good," if one never knows what it is to have
+a wish ungratified. But so it was with Auréole, for that was the name of
+the fair maiden. Though she had all her life been surrounded with luxury
+and indulgence, though she had never known even a crumpled rose-leaf in
+her path, her heart still remained tender, and she felt for the
+sufferings of others whenever she knew of them, as if they were her own.</p>
+
+<p>'"Who knows?" she would say softly to herself, "who knows but what some
+day sorrow may come to me, and then how glad I should be to find
+kindness and sympathy!"</p>
+
+<p>'And when she thought thus there used to come a look in her eyes which
+made her old nurse, who loved her dearly, tremble and cross herself.</p>
+
+<p>'"I have never seen that look," she would whisper, though not so that
+Auréole could hear it&mdash;"I have never seen that look save in the eyes of
+those who were born to sorrow."</p>
+
+<p>'But time went on, and no sorrows of her own had as yet come to Auréole.
+She grew to be tall and slender, with golden fair curls about her face,
+which gave her a childlike, innocent look, as if she were younger than
+her real age. And with her years her tenderness and sympathy for
+suffering seemed to grow deeper and stronger. It was the sure way to her
+heart. In a glade not far from the castle she had a favourite bower,
+where early every morning she used to go to feed and tend her pets, of
+which the best-loved was a delicate little fawn that she had found one
+day in the forest, deserted by its companions, as it had hurt its foot
+and could no longer keep pace with them. With difficulty Auréole and her
+nurse carried it home between them, and tended it till it grew well
+again and could once more run and spring as lightly as ever. And then
+one morning Auréole, with tears in her eyes, led it back to the forest
+where she had found it.</p>
+
+<p>'"Here, my fawn," she said, "you are free as air. I would not keep you a
+captive. Hasten to your friends, my fawn, but do not forget Auréole, and
+if you are in trouble come to her to help you."</p>
+
+<p>'But the fawn would not move. He rubbed himself softly against her, and
+looked up in her face with eyes that almost spoke. She could not but
+understand what he meant to say.</p>
+
+<p>'"I cannot leave you. Let me stay always beside you," was what he tried
+to express. So Auréole let him follow her home again, and from that
+day he had always lived in her bower, and was never so happy as when
+gambolling about her. She had other pets too&mdash;numbers of birds of
+various kinds, none of which she kept in cages, for all of them she had
+in some way or other saved and protected, and, like the fawn, they
+refused to leave her. The sweetest, perhaps, were a pair of wood-pigeons
+which she had one day released from a fowler's snare, where they had
+become entangled. It was the prettiest sight in the world to see Auréole
+in her bower every morning, the fawn rubbing his soft head against her
+white dress, and the wood-pigeons cooing to her, one perched on each
+shoulder, while round her head fluttered a crowd of birds of different
+kinds&mdash;all owing their life and happiness to her tender care. There was
+a thrush, which she had found half-fledged and gasping for breath,
+fallen from the nest; a maimed swallow, who had been left behind by his
+companions in the winter flight. And running about, though still lame of
+one leg, a tame rabbit which she had rescued from a dog, and ever so
+many other innocent creatures, all with histories of the same kind, and
+each vying with the other to express gratitude to their dear mistress as
+she stood there with the sunshine peeping through the boughs and
+lighting up her sweet face and bright hair.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="illus4" id="illus4"></a>
+<img src="images/illus4.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>'It was the prettiest sight in the world to see Auréole
+in her bower every morning.'</h3>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>'But summer and sunshine do not always last, and in time sorrow came to
+Auréole as to others.</p>
+
+<p>'Her mother had died when she was a little baby, and her father was
+already growing old. But he felt no anxiety about the future of his only
+child, for it had long been decided that she was to marry the next heir
+to his crown, the Prince Halbert, as by the laws of that country no
+woman could reign. Auréole had not seen Halbert for many years, when, as
+children, they had played together; but she remembered him with
+affection as a bright merry boy, and she looked forward without fear to
+being his wife.</p>
+
+<p>'"Why should I not love him?" she said to herself. "I have never yet
+known any one who was not kind and gentle, and Halbert will be still
+more so to me than any one else, for he will be my king and master."</p>
+
+<p>'And when the day came for the Prince to return to see her again, she
+waited for him quietly and without misgiving. And at first all seemed as
+she had pictured it. Halbert was manly and handsome, he had an open
+expression and winning manners, he was devoted to his gentle cousin. So
+the old King was delighted, and Auréole said to herself, "What have I
+done to deserve such happiness? How can I ever sufficiently show my
+gratitude?"</p>
+
+<p>'She was standing in her bower when she thought thus, surrounded as
+usual by her pets. Suddenly among the trees at some little distance she
+heard a sound of footsteps, and at the same time a harsh voice, which
+she scarcely recognised, speaking roughly and sharply.</p>
+
+<p>'"Out of my way, you cur," it said, and then came the sound of a blow,
+followed by a piteous whine.</p>
+
+<p>'Auréole darted forward, and in another instant came upon Halbert, his
+face dark and frowning, while a poor little dog lay bleeding at his
+feet.</p>
+
+<p>'"Halbert!" exclaimed Auréole. Her cousin started; he had not heard her
+come. "Did <i>you</i> do this? Did <i>you</i> strike the little dog?"</p>
+
+<p>'Halbert turned towards her; he had reddened with shame, but he tried to
+laugh it off.</p>
+
+<p>'"It is nothing," he said; "the creature will be all right again
+directly. Horrid little cur! it rushed out at me from that cottage there
+and yelped and barked just when I was eagerly hastening to your bower,
+Princess."</p>
+
+<p>'But Auréole hardly heard him, or his attempts at excusing himself. She
+was on her knees before the poor dog.</p>
+
+<p>'"Why, Fido," she said, "dear little Fido, do you not know me?" Fido
+feebly tried to wag his tail.</p>
+
+<p>'"Is it <i>your</i> dog?" stammered Halbert. "I had no&mdash;not the slightest
+idea&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>'But Auréole flashed back an answer which startled him. "<i>My</i> dog," she
+said. "No. But what has that to do with it? Oh, you cruel man!"</p>
+
+<p>'Then she turned from him, the little dog all panting and bleeding in
+her arms. Halbert was startled by the look on her face.</p>
+
+<p>'"Forgive me, Auréole," he cried. "I did not mean to hurt the creature.
+I am hasty and quick-tempered, but you should not punish so severely an
+instant's thoughtlessness."</p>
+
+<p>'"It was not thoughtlessness. It was cowardly cruelty," replied Auréole
+slowly, turning her pale face towards him. "A man must have a cruel
+nature who, even under irritation, could do what you have done.
+Farewell," and she was moving away when he stopped her.</p>
+
+<p>'"What do you mean by farewell? You are not in earnest?" he exclaimed.
+But Auréole looked at him with indignation.</p>
+
+<p>'"Not in earnest?" she repeated. "Never was I more so in my life!
+Farewell, Halbert."</p>
+
+<p>'"And you will not see me again?" he exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>'"I will never see you again," Auréole replied, "till you have learnt to
+feel for the sufferings of your fellow-creatures, instead of adding to
+them. And who can say if that day will ever come? Farewell again,
+Halbert."</p>
+
+<p>'The Prince stood thunderstruck, watching her slight figure as it
+disappeared among the trees. He felt like a man in a dream. Then, as he
+gradually became conscious that it was all true, his hot temper broke
+out in anger at Auréole, in mockery at her absurdity and exaggeration,
+and he tried to believe what he said, that no man could be happy with so
+fanciful and unreasonable a wife, and that he had nothing to regret. In
+his heart he was angry with himself, though to this he would not own,
+and conscious also that Auréole's instinct had judged him truly. He was
+selfish and utterly thoughtless for others, and far on the way therefore
+to becoming actually cruel. He had, like Auréole, been surrounded by
+luxury and indulgence all his life, but had not, like her, acquired the
+habit of feeling for others and looking upon his own blessings as to be
+shared with those who were without them.</p>
+
+<p>'Auréole kept to her word. She would not see Halbert again, though the
+King, her father, did his utmost to shake her resolution. She remained
+firm. It was better so for both of them, she repeated. It would kill her
+to be the wife of such a man, and do him no good. So in bitter and angry
+resentment, rather than sorrow, Prince Halbert went away, and Auréole's
+life returned to what it had been before his coming.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE STORY OF A KING'S DAUGHTER</h3>
+
+<h3>(<i>Continued</i>).</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i8">'I have been enchanted, and thou only canst set me free.'<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i25"><span class="smcap">Grimm's</span> <i>Raven</i>.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>'It seemed so at least, but in reality it was very different. Auréole
+had received a shock which she felt deeply, and which she could not
+forget. It grieved her, too, to see her father's distress and
+disappointment, and sometimes she asked herself if perhaps she had done
+wrong in deciding so hastily. But the sight of the little dog Fido,
+which had recovered, though with the loss of one eye, always removed
+these misgivings. "A man who could be so cruel to a harmless little
+creature, would have quickly broken my heart," she said to herself and
+sometimes to her father. And as time went on, and news came that Prince
+Halbert was becoming more and more feared and disliked in his own home
+from the increasing violence of his temper, the old King learnt to be
+thankful that his dear Auréole was not to be at the mercy of such a man.</p>
+
+<p>'"But what will become of you, my darling, when I am gone?" he would
+say.</p>
+
+<p>'"Fear not for me," Auréole assured him. "I have no fear for myself,
+father, dear. Why, I could live safely in the woods with my dear
+animals. If I had a little hut, and Fido to guard me, and Lello my fawn,
+and the little rabbit, and all my pretty birds, I should be quite
+happy!"</p>
+
+<p>'For the forester to whom Fido belonged had begged Auréole to keep him,
+as even before its hurt the dog had learnt to love her and spring out to
+greet her, and wag his tail with pleasure when she passed his master's
+cottage, which lay on the way to her glade. But though Auréole was not
+afraid for herself, she was often very miserable when she thought of her
+country-people, above all the poor and defenceless ones, in the power of
+such a king as Halbert gave signs of being, after the long and gentle
+rule of her father. Yet there was nothing to be done, so she kept
+silence, fearing to cloud with more sorrow and anxiety the last days of
+the old King.</p>
+
+<p>'They were indeed his last days, for within a year of Halbert's
+unfortunate visit her father died, and the fair Auréole was left
+desolate.</p>
+
+<p>'Her grief was great, even though the King had been very old, and she
+had long known he could not be spared to her for many more years. But
+she had not much time to indulge in it, for already, before her father
+was laid in his grave, her sorrow was disturbed by the strange and
+unexpected events which came to pass.</p>
+
+<p>'These began by a curious dream which came to Auréole the very night of
+her father's death.</p>
+
+<p>'She dreamt that she was standing in her bower with her pets about her
+as usual. She felt bright and happy, and had altogether forgotten about
+her father's death. Suddenly a movement of terror made itself felt among
+her animals&mdash;the birds fluttered closer to her, the little rabbit crept
+beneath her skirt, the fawn and Fido looked up at her with startled
+eyes, and almost before she had time to look round their terror was
+explained. A frightful sound was heard approaching them, the terrible
+growl of a bear, and in another moment the monster was within a few
+yards. Even then, in her dream, Auréole's first thought was for her
+pets. She threw her arms round all that she could embrace, and stood
+there calmly, watching the creature with a faint hope that if she
+showed no terror he might pass them by. But he came nearer and nearer,
+till she almost felt his hot breath on her face, when suddenly, to her
+amazement, the monster was no longer there, but in his place the Prince
+Halbert, standing beside her and looking at her with an expression of
+the profoundest misery.</p>
+
+<p>'"I have brought it on myself," he said. "I deserve it; but pity me, oh,
+Auréole! Sweet Auréole, pity and forgive me!" Then a cry of
+irrepressible grief burst from his lips, and at this moment Auréole
+awoke, to find her eyes wet with tears, her heart throbbing fast with
+fear and distress.</p>
+
+<p>'"What can have made me dream of Halbert?" she said to herself. "It must
+have been seeing the messengers start yesterday," and then all came back
+to her memory, which at the first moment of waking had been confused,
+and she remembered her father's death and her own loneliness, and the
+scarcely-dried tears rushed afresh to her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>'"Has any news come from Prince Halbert?" she inquired of her attendants
+when they came at her summons. And when they told her "none," she felt a
+strange sensation of uneasiness. For the messengers had been despatched
+at once on the death of the old King, which had been sudden at the last,
+to summon his successor, and there had been time already for their
+return.</p>
+
+<p>'And as the day went on and nothing was heard of them, every one began
+to think there must be something wrong, till late at night these fears
+were confirmed by the return of the messengers with anxious faces.</p>
+
+<p>'"Has the Prince arrived?" was their first question, and when they were
+told that nothing had been seen of him, they explained the reason of
+their inquiry.</p>
+
+<p>'Halbert, already informed of the illness of the old King, had quickly
+prepared to set out with his own attendants and those who had come to
+summon him. They had ridden through the night, and had nothing untoward
+occurred, they would have ended their journey by daybreak. But the
+Prince had lost his temper with his horse, a nervous and restless
+animal, unfit for so irritable a person to manage.</p>
+
+<p>'"We became uneasy," said the messengers, "on seeing the Prince lashing
+and spurring furiously the poor animal, who, his sides streaming with
+blood, no longer understood what was required of him, and at last,
+driven mad with pain and terror, dashed off at a frantic pace which it
+was hopeless to overtake. We followed him as best we could, guided for
+some distance by the branches broken as they passed and the ploughed-up
+ground, which, thanks to a brilliant moonlight, we were able to
+distinguish. But at last, where the trees began to grow more
+thickly&mdash;&mdash;" and here the speaker, who was giving this report to Auréole
+herself, hesitated&mdash;"at last these traces entirely disappeared. We
+sought on in every direction; when the moon went in we waited for the
+daylight, and resumed our search. But all to no purpose, and at last we
+resolved to ride on hither, hoping that the Prince might possibly have
+found his way before us."</p>
+
+<p>'"But this is terrible!" cried Auréole, forgetting all her indignation
+against Halbert in the thought of his lying perhaps crushed and helpless
+in some bypath of the forest which his followers had missed. "We must at
+once send out fresh horsemen in every direction to scour the country."</p>
+
+<p>'The captain who had had command of the little troop bowed, but said
+nothing, and seemed without much hope that any fresh efforts would
+succeed. Auréole was struck with his manner.</p>
+
+<p>'"You are concealing something from me," she said. "Why do you appear so
+hopeless? Even at the worst, even supposing the Prince is killed, he
+must be found."</p>
+
+<p>'"We searched too thoroughly," replied the officer. "Wherever it was
+<i>possible</i> to get, we left not a square yard unvisited."</p>
+
+<p>'"Wherever it was <i>possible</i>," repeated Auréole; "what do you mean? You
+do not think&mdash;&mdash;" and she too hesitated, and her pale face grew paler.</p>
+
+<p>'The captain glanced at her.</p>
+
+<p>'"I see that you have divined our fears, Princess," he said in a low
+voice. "Yes, we feel almost without a doubt that the unfortunate Prince
+has been carried into the enchanted forest, from whence, as you well
+know, none have ever been known to return. It is well that his parents
+have not lived to see this day, for, though he brought it on himself, it
+is impossible not to feel pity for such a fate."</p>
+
+<p>'Auréole seemed scarcely able to reply. But she gave orders,
+notwithstanding all she had heard, to send out fresh horsemen to search
+again in every direction.</p>
+
+<p>'"My poor father," she said to herself; "I am glad he was spared this
+new sorrow about Halbert." And as the remembrance of her strange dream
+returned to her, "Poor Halbert," she added, "what may he not be
+suffering?" and she shuddered at the thought.</p>
+
+<p>'For the enchanted forest was the terror of all that country. In reality
+nothing, or almost nothing, was known of it, and therefore the awe and
+horror about it were the greater. It lay in a lonely stretch of ground
+between two ranges of hills, and no one ever passed through it, for
+there was no pathway or entrance of any kind to be seen. But for longer
+than any one now living could remember, it had been spoken of as a place
+to be dreaded and avoided, and travellers in passing by used to tell how
+they had heard shrieks and screams and groans from among its dark
+shades. It was said that a magician lived in a castle in the very centre
+of the forest, and that he used all sorts of tricks to get people into
+his power, whence they could never again escape. For though several were
+known to have been tempted to enter the forest, none of them were ever
+heard of or seen again. And it was the common saying of the
+neighbourhood, that it would be far worse to lose a child by straying
+into the forest than by dying. No one had ever seen the magician, no one
+even was sure that he existed, but when any misfortune came over the
+neighbourhood, such as a bad harvest or unusual sickness, people were
+sure to say that the wizard of the forest was at the bottom of it. And
+Auréole, like every one else, had a great and mysterious terror of the
+place and its master.</p>
+
+<p>'"Poor Halbert!" she repeated to herself many times that day. "Would I
+could do anything for him!"</p>
+
+<p>'The bands of horsemen she had sent out returned one after the other
+with the same tidings,&mdash;nothing had been seen or heard of the Prince.
+But late in the day a woodman brought to the castle a fragment of cloth
+which was recognised as having been torn from the mantle of the Prince,
+and which he had found caught on the branch of a tree. When asked where,
+he hesitated, which of itself was answer enough.</p>
+
+<p>'"Close to the borders of the enchanted forest," he said at last,
+lowering his voice. But that was all he had to tell. And from this
+moment all lost hope. There was nothing more to be done.</p>
+
+<p>'"The Prince is as lost to us as is our good old King," were the words
+of every one on the day of the funeral of Auréole's father. "Far better
+for him were he too sleeping peacefully among his fathers than to be
+where he is."</p>
+
+<p>'It seemed as if it would have certainly been better for his people had
+it been so. It was impossible to receive the successor of Halbert as
+king till a certain time had elapsed, which would be considered as equal
+to proof of his death. And the next heir to the crown being but an
+infant living in a distant country, the delay gave opportunity for
+several rival claimants to begin to make difficulties, and not many
+months after the death of the old King the once happy and peaceful
+country was threatened with war and invasion on various sides. Then the
+heads of the nation consulted together, and decided on a bold step. They
+came to Auréole offering her the crown, declaring that they preferred to
+overthrow the laws of the country, though they had existed for many
+centuries, and to make her, at the point of the sword if necessary,
+their queen, rather than accept as sovereign any of those who had no
+right to it, or an infant who would but be a name and no reality.</p>
+
+<p>'Auréole was startled and bewildered, but firm in her refusal.</p>
+
+<p>'"A king's daughter am I, but no queen. I feel no fitness for the task
+of ruling," she replied, "and I could never rest satisfied that I was
+where I had a right to be."</p>
+
+<p>'But when the deputies entreated her to consider the matter, and when
+she thought of the misery in store for the people unless something were
+quickly done, she agreed to think it over till the next day.</p>
+
+<p>'The next day came, Auréole was ready, awaiting the deputies. Their
+hopes rose high as they saw her, for there was an expression on her face
+that had not been there the day before. She stood before them in her
+long mourning robe, but she had encircled her waist with a golden belt,
+and golden ornaments shone on her neck and arms.</p>
+
+<p>'"It is a good sign," the envoys whispered, as they remarked also the
+bright and hopeful light in her eyes, and they stood breathless, waiting
+for her reply. It was not what they had expected.</p>
+
+<p>'"I cannot as yet consent to what you wish," said Auréole; "but be
+patient. I set off to-day on a journey from which I hope to return with
+good news. Till then I entreat you to do your best to keep all peaceful
+and quiet. And I promise you that if I fail in what I am undertaking, I
+will return to be your queen."</p>
+
+<p>'This was all she would say. She was forbidden, she declared, to say
+more. And so resolute and decided did she appear, that the envoys,
+though not without murmuring, were obliged to consent to await her
+return, and withdrew with anxious and uneasy looks.</p>
+
+<p>'And Auréole immediately began to get ready for the mysterious journey
+of which she had spoken. Her preparations were strange. She took off,
+for the first time since her father's death, her black dress, and clad
+herself entirely in white. Then she kissed her old nurse and bade her
+farewell, at the same time telling her to keep up her courage and have
+no fear, to which the old dame could not reply without tears.</p>
+
+<p>'"I do not urge you to tell me the whole, Princess," she said, "as it
+was forbidden you to do so. But if I might but go with you." Auréole
+shook her head.</p>
+
+<p>'"No, dear nurse," she replied. "The voice in my dream said, 'Alone,
+save for thy dumb friends.' That is all I can tell you," and kissing
+again the poor nurse, Auréole set off, none knew whither, and she took
+care that none should follow her. Some of her attendants saw her going
+in the direction of her bower, and remarked her white dress. But they
+were so used to her going alone to see her pets that they thought no
+more of it. For no one knew the summons Auréole had received. The night
+before, after tossing about unable to sleep, so troubled was she by the
+request that had been made to her, she at last fell into a slumber, and
+again there came to her a strange dream. She thought she saw her cousin;
+he seemed pale and worn with distress and suffering.</p>
+
+<p>'"Auréole," he said, "you alone can rescue me. Have you courage? I ask
+it not only for myself, but for our people."</p>
+
+<p>'And when in her sleep she would have spoken, no words came, only she
+felt herself stretching out her arms to Halbert as if to reach and save
+him.</p>
+
+<p>'"Come, then," said his voice; "but come alone, save for thy dumb
+friends. Tell no one, but fear not." But even as he said the words he
+seemed to disappear, and again the dreadful, the panting roar she had
+heard in her former dream reached Auréole's ears, in another moment the
+terrible shape of the monster appeared, and shivering with horror she
+awoke. Yet she determined to respond to Halbert's appeal. She told no
+one except her old nurse, to whom she merely said that she had been
+summoned in a dream to go away, but that no harm would befall her. She
+clad herself in white, as a better omen of success, and when she reached
+her bower, all her creatures welcomed her joyfully. So, with Fido, Lello
+the fawn, and the little rabbit gambolling about her feet, the
+wood-pigeons on her shoulders, and all the strange company of birds
+fluttering about her, Auréole set off on her journey, she knew not
+whither.</p>
+
+<p>'But her pets knew. Whenever she felt at a loss Fido would give a little
+tug to her dress and then run on barking in front, or Lello would look
+up in her face with his pleading eyes and then turn his head in a
+certain direction, while the birds would sometimes disappear for a few
+moments and then, with a great chirping and fluttering, would be seen
+again a little way overhead, as if to assure her they had been to look
+if she was taking the right way. So that when night began to fall,
+Auréole, very tired, but not discouraged, found herself far from home in
+a part of the forest she had never seen before, though with trembling
+she said to herself that for all she knew she might already be in the
+enchanter's country.</p>
+
+<p>'"But what if it be so?" she reflected. "I must not be faint-hearted
+before my task is begun."</p>
+
+<p>'She was wondering how she should spend the night when a sharp bark from
+Fido made her look round. She followed to where it came from, and found
+the little dog at the door of a small hut cleverly concealed among the
+trees. Followed by her pets Auréole entered it, when immediately, as if
+pulled by an invisible hand, the door shut to. But she forgot to be
+frightened in her surprise at what she saw. The hut was beautifully made
+of the branches of trees woven together, and completely lined with moss.
+A small fire burned cheerfully in one corner, for the nights were still
+chilly; a little table was spread with a snow-white cloth, on which were
+laid out fruits and cakes and a jug of fresh milk; and a couch of the
+softest moss covered with a rug made of fur was evidently arranged for
+Auréole's bed. And at the other side of the hut sweet hay was strewn for
+the animals, and a sort of trellis work of branches was ready in one
+corner for the birds to roost on.</p>
+
+<p>'"How pleasant it is!" said Auréole, as she knelt down to warm herself
+before the fire. "If this is the enchanted forest I don't think it is at
+all a dreadful place, and the wizard must be very kind and hospitable."</p>
+
+<p>'And when she had had some supper and had seen that her pets had all
+they wanted, she lay down on the mossy couch feeling refreshed and
+hopeful, and soon fell fast asleep. She had slept for some hours when
+she suddenly awoke, though what had awakened her she could not tell. But
+glancing round the hut, by the flickering light of the fire, which was
+not yet quite out, she saw that all her pets were awake, and when she
+gently called "Fido, Fido," the little dog, followed by the fawn and the
+rabbit, crept across the hut to her, and when she touched them she felt
+that they were all shaking and trembling, while the birds seemed to be
+trying to hide themselves all huddled together in a corner. And almost
+before Auréole had time to ask herself what it could be, their fear was
+explained, for through the darkness outside came the sound she had twice
+heard in her dreams&mdash;the terrible panting roar of the monster! It came
+nearer and nearer. Auréole felt there was nothing to do. She threw her
+arms round the poor little trembling creatures determined to protect
+them to the last. Suddenly there came a great bang at the door, as if
+some heavy creature had thrown itself against it, and Auréole trembled
+still more, expecting the door to burst open. But the mysterious hand
+that had shut it had shut it well. It did not move. Only a low
+despairing growl was heard, and then all was silent till a few minutes
+after, when another growl came from some distance off, and then Auréole
+felt sure the danger was past: the beast had gone away, for, though she
+had not seen him, she was certain he was none other than the monster of
+her dreams. The poor animals cowered down again in their corner, and
+Auréole, surprised at the quickness with which her terror had passed,
+threw herself on her couch and fell into a sweet sleep. When she woke,
+the sun was already some way up in the sky; the door was half open, and
+a soft sweet breeze fluttered into the hut. All was in order; the little
+fire freshly lighted, the remains of last night's supper removed, and a
+tempting little breakfast arranged. Auréole could scarcely believe her
+eyes. "Some one must have come in while I was asleep," she said, and
+Fido seemed to understand what she meant. He jumped up, wagging his
+tail, and was delighted when Auréole sat down at the little table to eat
+what was provided. All her pets seemed as happy as possible, and had
+quite forgotten their fright. So, after breakfast, Auréole called them
+all about her and set off again on her rambles. Whither she was to go
+she knew not; she had obeyed the summons as well as she could, and now
+waited to see what more to do. The animals seemed to think they had got
+to the end of their journey, and gambolled and fluttered about in the
+best of spirits. And even Auréole herself felt it impossible to be sad
+or anxious. Never had she seen anything so beautiful as the forest, with
+its countless paths among the trees, each more tempting than the other,
+the sunshine peeping in through the branches, the lovely flowers of
+colours and forms she had never seen before, the beautiful birds
+warbling among the trees, the little squirrels and rabbits playing
+about, and the graceful deer one now and then caught sight of.</p>
+
+<p>'"Why," exclaimed Auréole, "<i>this</i> the terrible enchanted forest! It is
+a perfect fairyland."</p>
+
+<p>'"You say true," said a voice beside her, which made her start. "To such
+as <i>you</i> it is a fairyland of delight. But to <i>me</i>!" and before Auréole
+could recover herself from her surprise, there before her stood the
+Prince Halbert! But how changed! Scarcely had she recognised him when
+every feeling was lost in that of pity.</p>
+
+<p>'"Oh, poor Halbert," she cried, "so I have found you! Where have you
+been? What makes you look so miserable and ill?"</p>
+
+<p>'For Halbert seemed wasted to a shadow. His clothes, torn and tattered,
+hung loosely about him. His face was pale and thin, and his eyes sad and
+hopeless, though, as he saw the pitying look in her face, a gleam of
+brightness came into his.</p>
+
+<p>'"Oh, Auréole, how good of you to come! It is out of pity for <i>me</i>, who
+so little deserve it. But will you have strength to do all that is
+required to free me from this terrible bondage?"</p>
+
+<p>'"Explain yourself, Halbert," Auréole replied. "What is it you mean?
+What bondage? Remember I know nothing; not even if this is truly the
+enchanted forest."</p>
+
+<p>'Halbert glanced at the sun, now risen high in the heavens. "I have but
+a quarter of an hour," he said. "It is only one hour before noon that I
+am free."</p>
+
+<p>'And then he went on to relate as quickly as he could what had come over
+him. Fallen into the power of the invisible spirits of the enchanted
+land, whose wrath he had for long incurred by his cruelty to those
+beneath him, among whom were poor little Fido, and the unhappy horse who
+had dropped dead beneath him as soon as they entered the forest, his
+punishment had been pronounced to him by a voice in his dreams. It was a
+terrible one. For twenty-three hours of the twenty-four which make the
+day and night, he was condemned to roam the woods in the guise of a
+dreadful monster, bringing terror wherever he came. "I have to be in
+appearance what I was formerly in heart," he said bitterly. "You cannot
+imagine how fearful it is to see the tender innocent little animals
+fleeing from me in terror, though I would now die rather than injure one
+of them. And even you, Auréole, if you saw me you too would rush from me
+in horror."</p>
+
+<p>'"I have seen you," she replied. "I have twice seen you in my dreams,
+and now that I know all I shall not fear you."</p>
+
+<p>'"Do you indeed think so?" he exclaimed eagerly. "Your pity and courage
+are my only hope. For I am doomed to continue this awful life&mdash;for
+hundreds of years perhaps&mdash;till twelve dumb animals mount on my back and
+let me carry them out of this forest. In my despair, when I heard this
+sentence, I thought of you and your favourites, whom I used to mock at
+and ill-treat more than you knew. They love and trust you so much that
+it is possible you may make them do this. But I fear for your own
+courage."</p>
+
+<p>'"No," said Auréole, "that will not fail. And Fido is of a most
+forgiving nature. See here," she went on, calling to the little dog,
+"here is poor Halbert, who wants you to love him. Stroke him, Halbert,"
+and as the Prince gently did so, Fido looked up in his face with wistful
+eyes, and began timidly to wag his tail, while Lello and the rabbit drew
+near, and the birds fluttered, chirping above their heads. It was a
+pretty picture.</p>
+
+<p>'"See," said Auréole, raising her bright face from caressing the good
+little creatures, "see, Halbert, how loving and gentle they are! It will
+not be difficult. In many ways they are wiser than we. But I can never
+again believe that the spirits of the forest are evil or mischievous.
+Rather do I now think them good and benevolent. How happy seem all the
+creatures under their care!"</p>
+
+<p>'"I know no more than I have told you," said Halbert; "but I too believe
+they must be good, cruelly as they have punished me, for I deserved it.
+And doubtless all those who are said to have disappeared in the forest
+have been kept here for good purposes. And such as you, Auréole, have
+nothing to fear in any country or from any spirits. But I must go," he
+exclaimed. "I would not have you <i>yet</i> see me in my other form. You must
+reflect over what I have said, and prepare yourself for it."</p>
+
+<p>'"And when, then, shall I see you again?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>'"To-night, at sunset, at the door of your hut, you will see&mdash;alas, not
+<i>me</i>!" he whispered, and then in a moment he had disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>'At sunset that evening Auréole sat at the door of the little hut,
+surrounded by her animals. She had petted and caressed them even more
+than usual, so anxious was she to prepare them for their strange task.
+She had even talked of it to Fido and Lello with a sort of vague idea
+that they might understand a little, though their only answer was for
+Fido to wag his tail and Lello to rub his soft nose against her. But
+suddenly both pricked up their ears, and then clinging more closely to
+their mistress, began to tremble with fear, while the birds drew near in
+a frightened flock.</p>
+
+<p>'"Silly birds," said Auréole, trying to speak in her usual cheerful
+tone, "what have <i>you</i> to fear? Bears don't eat little birds, and you
+can fly off in a moment. Not that I want you to fly away;" and she
+whistled and called to them, at the same time caressing and encouraging
+the animals, whose quick ears had caught sooner than she had done the
+dreadful baying roar which now came nearer and nearer. It was exactly
+the scene of her dreams, and notwithstanding all her determination,
+Auréole could not help shivering as the form of the monster came in
+sight. "Suppose it is not Halbert," she thought. "Suppose it is all a
+trick of the spirits of this enchanted country for my destruction!" And
+the idea nearly made her faint as the dreadful beast drew near. He
+was so hideous, and his roars made him seem still more so. His great red
+tongue hung out of his mouth, his eyes seemed glaring with rage. It was
+all Auréole could do to keep her pets round her, and she felt that her
+terror would take away all her power over them.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="illus5" id="illus5"></a>
+<img src="images/illus5.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>Auréole could not help shivering as the form of the
+monster came in sight.</h3>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>'"Oh, Halbert," she exclaimed, "<i>is</i> it you? I know you cannot speak,
+but can you not make some sign to show me that it is you? I am so
+frightened." She had started up as if on the point of running away. The
+monster, who was close beside her, opened still wider his huge mouth,
+and gave a roar of despair. Then an idea seemed to strike him&mdash;he bent
+his clumsy knees, and rubbed his great head on the ground at her feet;
+Auréole's courage returned. She patted his head, and he gave a faint
+groan of relief. Then by degrees, with the greatest patience, she coaxed
+the animals to draw near, and at last placed Fido and Lello on the
+beast's immense back. But though they now seemed less frightened they
+would not stay there, but jumped off again, and pressed themselves close
+against her. It was no use; after hours, at least so it seemed to
+Auréole, spent in trying, she had to give it up.</p>
+
+<p>'"I cannot do it, Halbert," she said. A groan was his reply. Then
+another thought struck her.</p>
+
+<p>'"I will climb on your back myself," she exclaimed; "and then perhaps I
+can coax the animals to stay there."</p>
+
+<p>'The poor beast tried to stoop down still lower to make it easier for
+Auréole to get on. She managed it without much difficulty, and
+immediately Fido and Lello and the rabbit saw her mounted, up they
+jumped, for they had no idea of being left behind. The wood-pigeons came
+cooing down from the branch where they had taken refuge in their fright,
+and perched on her shoulders. Auréole looked up, and called and whistled
+to the other birds. Down they came as if bewitched, and settled round
+her, all the seven of them on the beast's furry back.</p>
+
+<p>'"Off, Halbert," cried Auréole, afraid to lose an instant, and off,
+nothing loth, the beast set. It was hard work to keep on. He plunged
+along so clumsily, and went so fast in his eagerness, that it was like
+riding on an earthquake. But when now and then he stopped, and gave a
+low pitiful roar, as if begging Auréole's pardon for shaking her so, she
+always found breath to say: "On, Halbert, on; think not of me."</p>
+
+<p>'And so at last, after hours of this terrible journey, many times during
+which Auréole's heart had been in her mouth at the least sign of
+impatience among the animals, they reached the borders of the enchanted
+country, and as the panting beast emerged from the forest with his
+strange burden, poor Auréole slipped fainting off his back. Her task was
+done.</p>
+
+<p>'When she came back to her senses and opened her eyes, her first thought
+was for the beast, but he had disappeared. Fido and Lello, and all the
+others were there, however; the dog licking her hands, the fawn nestling
+beside her, and at a little distance stood a figure she seemed to know,
+though no longer miserable and wretched as she had last seen him. It was
+Halbert, strong and handsome and happy again, but with a look in his
+eyes of gentleness and humility and gratitude that had never been there
+in the old days.</p>
+
+<p>'"Halbert," said Auréole, sitting up and holding out her hand to him,
+"is all then right?"</p>
+
+<p>'"All is right," he replied; "you can see for yourself. But, oh,
+Auréole, how can I thank you? My whole life would not be long enough to
+repay or&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>'"Think not about thanking me," interrupted Auréole. "My best reward
+will be the delight of restoring to my dear country-people a king whose
+first object will <i>now</i>, I feel assured, be their happiness;" and her
+eyes sparkled with delight at the thought.</p>
+
+<p>'She was right. Nothing could exceed the joy of the nation at the return
+of Auréole, and thanks to her assurances of his changed character, they
+soon learned to trust their new king as he deserved.</p>
+
+<p>'No one ever knew the true history of his disappearance, but all admired
+and respected the noble and unselfish courage of Auréole in braving the
+dangers of the enchanted forest itself. Her pets all lived to a good old
+age, and had every comfort they could wish for. It was said that
+Halbert's only sorrow was that for long he could not persuade Auréole to
+fulfil her father's wishes by marrying him. But some years later a
+rumour came from the far-off country where these events happened,
+telling of the beautiful "king's daughter" having at last consented to
+become a king's wife as well, now that she knew Halbert to be worthy of
+her fullest affection.</p>
+
+<p>'And if this is true, I have no doubt it was for their happiness as well
+as for that of their subjects, among whom I include the twelve faithful
+animals.'</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<h3>A WINDING STAIR AND A SCAMPER.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i8">'But children, to whom all is play,<br /></span>
+<span class="i9">And something new each hour must bring,<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">Find everything so strange, that they<br /></span>
+<span class="i9">Are not surprised at anything.'<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i25"><i>The Fairies' Nest.</i><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>Godmother's voice stopped. For a moment or two there was silence.</p>
+
+<p>'I hope it <i>was</i> true,' said Maia, the first to find her tongue. 'Poor
+Halbert, I think he deserved to be happy at the end. I think Auréole was
+rather&mdash;rather&mdash;<i>cross</i>, don't you, Silva?'</p>
+
+<p>Silva considered. 'No,' she said. 'I can't bear people that are cruel to
+little animals. Oh!' and she clasped her hands, 'if only Rollo and Maia
+could see some of our friends in the wood! May they not, godmother?'</p>
+
+<p>'All in good time,' said godmother, rather mysteriously.</p>
+
+<p>Maia looked at her. 'Godmother,' she said, 'how funny you are! I believe
+you like puzzling people better than anything. There are such a lot of
+things I want to ask you about the story. Who was it lived in the
+forest? <i>Was</i> it a wizard? I think that would be much nicer than
+invisible spirits, even though it is rather frightening. And who was it
+made Auréole's breakfast and shut the door, and all that? I am sure you
+know, godmother. I believe you've been in the enchanted forest yourself.
+<i>Have</i> you?'</p>
+
+<p>Godmother smiled. 'Perhaps,' she said. But when Maia went on
+questioning, she would not say any more. 'Keep something to puzzle
+about,' she said. 'Remember that that is half the pleasure.'</p>
+
+<p>And then she took Maia up on her knee and gave her such a sweet kiss
+that the child could not grumble.</p>
+
+<p>'You are <i>very</i> funny, godmother,' she repeated.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly Rollo started.</p>
+
+<p>'Maia,' he exclaimed, 'I am afraid we are forgetting about going home
+and meeting Nanni and everything. It must be getting very late. It is so
+queer,' he added with a sigh, glancing round the dear little kitchen, 'I
+seemed to have forgotten that <i>this</i> isn't our home, and yet we have
+only been here an hour or two, and&mdash;&mdash;'</p>
+
+<p>'Yes,' said Maia, 'I feel just the same. Indeed Auréole and her pets
+seem far more real to me now than Lady Venelda and the white castle.'</p>
+
+<p>'And the old doctor and all the lessons you have to do,' said godmother;
+and somehow the children no longer felt surprised at her knowing all
+about everything. 'But you are right, my boy, good boy,' she went on,
+turning to Rollo. 'There is a time for all things, and now it is time to
+go back to your other life. Say good-bye to each other, my children,'
+and when they had done so&mdash;very reluctantly, you may be sure&mdash;she took
+Rollo by one hand and Maia by the other, Waldo and Silva standing at the
+cottage-door to see them off, and led them across the little clearing,
+away into the now darkening alleys of the wood.</p>
+
+<p>'Are you going with us to where Nanni is?' asked Maia.</p>
+
+<p>'Not to where you left her. I will take you by a short cut,' said
+godmother, who, since they had left the cottage, had seemed to grow into
+just an ordinary-looking old peasant woman, very bent and small, for any
+one at least who did not peep far enough inside her queer hood to see
+her wonderful eyes and gleaming hair, and whom no one would have
+suspected of the marvellous crimson dress under the long dark cloak.
+Maia kept peeping up at her with a strange look in her face.</p>
+
+<p>'What is it, my child?' said godmother.</p>
+
+<p>'I don't quite know,' Maia replied. 'I'm not quite sure, godmother, if
+I'm not a little&mdash;a very little&mdash;frightened of you. You change so. In
+the cottage you seemed a sort of a young fairy godmother&mdash;and now&mdash;&mdash;'
+she hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>'And now do I seem very old?'</p>
+
+<p>'<i>Rather</i>,' said Maia.</p>
+
+<p>'Well, listen now. I'll tell you the real truth, strange as it may seem.
+I am <i>very</i> old&mdash;older than you can even fancy, and yet I am and I
+always shall be young.'</p>
+
+<p>'In fairyland&mdash;in the other country, do you mean?' asked Rollo.</p>
+
+<p>Godmother turned her bright eyes full upon him. 'Not only there, my
+boy,' she said. 'Here, too&mdash;everywhere&mdash;I am both old and young.'</p>
+
+<p>Maia gave a little sigh.</p>
+
+<p>'You are very nice, godmother,' she said, 'but you are <i>very</i> puzzling.'
+But she had no time to say more, for just then godmother stopped.</p>
+
+<p>'See, children,' she said, pointing down a little path among the trees,
+'I have brought you a short cut, as I said I would. At the end of that
+alley you will find your faithful Nanni. And that will not be the end of
+the short cut. Twenty paces straight on in the same direction you will
+come out of the wood. Cross the little bridge across the brook and you
+will only have to climb a tiny hill to find yourselves at the back
+entrance of the castle. All will be right&mdash;and now good-bye, my dears,
+till your next holiday. Have you your flowers?'</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, yes,' exclaimed both, holding up the pretty bunches as they spoke;
+'but how are we to&mdash;&mdash;'</p>
+
+<p>'Don't trouble about how you are to see me again,' she interrupted,
+smiling. 'It will come&mdash;you will see,' and then before they had time to
+wonder any more, she turned from them, waving her hand in farewell, and
+disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>'Rollo,' said Maia, rubbing her eyes as if she had just awakened,
+'Rollo, is it all <i>real</i>? Don't you feel as if you had been dreaming?'</p>
+
+<p>'No,' said Rollo. 'I feel as if <i>it</i>'&mdash;and he nodded his head backwards
+in the direction of the cottage&mdash;'were all real, and the castle and our
+cousin and Nanni and all <i>not</i> real. You said so too.'</p>
+
+<p>'Yes,' said Maia meditatively, 'while I was there with them, I felt
+like that. But now I don't. It seems not real, and I don't want to begin
+to forget them.'</p>
+
+<p>'Suppose you scent your flowers,' said Rollo; 'perhaps that's why
+godmother gave them to us.'</p>
+
+<p>Maia thought it a good idea.</p>
+
+<p>'Yes,' she said, poking her little nose as far as it would go in among
+the fragrant blossoms, 'yes, Rollo, it comes back to me when I scent the
+flowers. I think it is because godmother's red dress was scented the
+same way. Oh, yes!' shutting her eyes, 'I can <i>feel</i> her soft dress now,
+and I can hear her voice, and I can see Waldo and Silva and the dear
+little kitchen. How glad I am you thought of the flowers, Rollo!'</p>
+
+<p>'But we must run on,' said Rollo, and so they did. But they had not run
+many steps before the substantial figure of Nanni appeared; she was
+looking very comfortable and contented.</p>
+
+<p>'You have not stayed very long, Master Rollo and Miss Maia,' she said,
+'but I suppose it is getting time to be turning home.'</p>
+
+<p>'And have you spent a pleasant afternoon, Nanni?' asked Rollo quietly.
+'How many stockings have you knitted?'</p>
+
+<p>'How many!' repeated Nanni; 'come, Master Rollo, you're joking. You've
+not been gone more than an hour at the most, but it is queer&mdash;it must be
+the smell of the fir-trees&mdash;as soon as ever I sit down in this wood, off
+I go to sleep! I hadn't done more than two rounds when my head began
+nodding, so I had to put my knitting away for fear of running the
+needles into my eyes. And I had such pleasant dreams.'</p>
+
+<p>'About the beautiful lady again?' asked Maia.</p>
+
+<p>'I think so, but I can't be sure,' said Nanni. 'It was about all sorts
+of pretty things mixed up together. Flowers and birds, and I don't know
+what. And the flowers smelt, for all the world, just like the roses
+round the windows of my mother's little cottage at home. I could have
+believed I was there.'</p>
+
+<p>Rollo and Maia looked at each other. It was all godmother's doing, they
+felt sure. How clever of her to know just what Nanni would like to dream
+of.</p>
+
+<p>By this time they were out of the wood. The light was brighter than
+among the trees, but still it was easy to see that more than Nanni's
+'hour' must have passed since they left her.</p>
+
+<p>'Dear me,' she exclaimed, growing rather frightened, 'it looks later
+than I thought! And we've a long way to go yet,' she went on, looking
+round; 'indeed,' and her rosy face grew pale, 'I don't seem to know
+exactly where we are. We must have come another way out of the wood&mdash;oh,
+dear, dear&mdash;&mdash;'</p>
+
+<p>'Don't get into such a fright, Nanni,' said Rollo; 'follow me.'</p>
+
+<p>He sprang up the hilly path that godmother had told them of, Maia and
+Nanni following. It turned and twisted about a little, but when they got
+to the top, there, close before them, gleamed the white walls of the
+castle, and a few steps more brought them to a back entrance to the
+terrace by which they often came out and in.</p>
+
+<p>'Well, to be sure!' exclaimed Nanni, 'you are a clever boy, Master
+Rollo. Who ever would have guessed there was such a short cut, and
+indeed I can't make it out at all which way we've come back. But so long
+as we're here all in good time, and no fear of a scolding, I'm sure I'm
+only too pleased, however we've got here.'</p>
+
+<p>As they were passing along the terrace the old doctor met them.</p>
+
+<p>'Have you had a pleasant holiday?' he asked.</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, <i>very</i>,' answered both Rollo and Maia, looking up in his face,
+where, as they expected, they saw the half-mysterious, half-playful
+expression they had learnt to know, and which seemed to tell that their
+old friend understood much more than he chose to say.</p>
+
+<p>'Did you find any pretty flowers?' he asked, with a smile, 'though it is
+rather early in the year yet&mdash;especially for scented ones&mdash;is it not?'</p>
+
+<p>'But we <i>have</i> got some,' said Maia quickly, and glancing round to see
+if Nanni were still by them. She had gone on, so Maia drew out her
+bunch, and held them up. '<i>Aren't</i> they sweet?' she said.</p>
+
+<p>The old man pressed them to his face almost as lovingly as Maia herself.
+'Ah, how <i>very</i> sweet!' he murmured. 'How much they bring back! Cherish
+them, my child. You know how?'</p>
+
+<p>'Yes, <i>she</i> told us,' said Maia. 'You know whom I mean, don't you, Mr.
+Doctor?'</p>
+
+<p>The old doctor smiled again. Maia drew two or three flowers out of her
+bunch, and Rollo did the same. Then they put them together and offered
+them to their old friend.</p>
+
+<p>'Thank you, my children,' he said; 'I shall add the thought of you to
+many others, when I perceive their sweet scent.'</p>
+
+<p>'And even when they're withered and dried up, Mr. Doctor, you know,'
+said Maia eagerly, 'the scent, <i>she</i> says, is even sweeter.'</p>
+
+<p>'I know,' said the doctor, nodding his head. 'Sweeter, I truly think,
+but bringing sadness with it too; very often, alas!' he added in a lower
+voice, so low that the children could not clearly catch the words.</p>
+
+<p>'We must go in, Maia,' said Rollo; 'it must be nearly supper-time.'</p>
+
+<p>'Yes,' said Maia; 'but first, Mr. Doctor, I want to know when are we to
+have another holiday? Lady Venelda will do any way you tell her, you
+know.'</p>
+
+<p>'All in good time,' replied the doctor, at which Maia pouted a little.</p>
+
+<p>'I don't like all in good time,' she said.</p>
+
+<p>'But you have never known me to forget,' said the old doctor.</p>
+
+<p>'No, indeed,' said Rollo eagerly, and then Maia looked a little ashamed
+of herself, and ran off smiling and waving her hand to the doctor.</p>
+
+<p>Lady Venelda asked them no questions, and made no remarks beyond saying
+she was glad they had had so fine a day for their ramble in the woods.
+She seemed quite pleased so long as the children were well and sat up
+straight in their chairs without speaking at meal-times, and there were
+no complaints from their teachers. That was the way <i>she</i> had been
+brought up, and she thought it had answered very well in her case. But
+she was really kind, and the children no longer felt so lonely or dull,
+now that they had the visits to the wood to look forward to. Indeed,
+they had brought back with them a fund of amusement, for now their
+favourite play was to act the story which godmother had told them, and
+as they had no other pets, they managed to make friends with the castle
+cat, a very dignified person, who had to play the parts of Fido and
+Lello and the rabbit all in one; while the birds were represented by
+bunches of feathers they picked up in the poultry-yard, and the great
+furry rug with which they had travelled turned Rollo into the unhappy
+monster. It was very amusing, but after a few days they began to wish
+for other companions.</p>
+
+<p>'If Silva and Waldo were here,' said Rollo, 'what fun we could have! I
+wonder what they do all day, Maia.'</p>
+
+<p>'They work pretty hard, I fancy,' said Maia. 'Waldo goes to cut down
+trees in the forest a good way off, I know, and Silva has all the house
+to take care of, and everything to cook and wash, and all that. But <i>I</i>
+should call that play-work, not like lessons.'</p>
+
+<p>'And <i>I</i> should think cutting down trees the best fun in the world,'
+said Rollo. 'That kind of work can't be as tiring as lessons.'</p>
+
+<p>'Lessons, lessons! What is all this talk about lessons? Are you so
+terribly overworked, my poor children? What should you say to a ramble
+in the woods with me for a change?' said a voice beside them, which made
+the children start.</p>
+
+<p>It was the doctor. He had come round the corner of the wall without
+their seeing him, for they were playing on the terrace for half an hour
+between their French lesson with Mademoiselle and their history with the
+chaplain.</p>
+
+<p>'A walk with you, Mr. Doctor!' exclaimed Maia. 'Oh, yes, it <i>would</i> be
+nice. But it isn't a holiday, and&mdash;&mdash;'</p>
+
+<p>'How do <i>you</i> know it isn't a holiday, my dear young lady,' interrupted
+the doctor. 'How do you know that I have not represented to your
+respected cousin that her young charges had been working very hard of
+late, and would be the better for a ramble? If you cannot believe me,
+run in and ask Lady Venelda herself; if you are satisfied without doing
+so, why then, let us start at once!'</p>
+
+<p>'Of course we are satisfied,' exclaimed Rollo and Maia together; 'but
+we must go in to get our thick boots and jackets, and our nicer hats,'
+added Maia, preparing to start off.</p>
+
+<p>'Not a bit of it,' said the doctor, stopping her. 'You are quite right
+as you are. Come along;' and without giving the children time for even
+another 'but,' off he strode.</p>
+
+<p>To their amazement, however, he turned towards the house, which he
+entered by a side door that the children had never before noticed, and
+which he opened with a small key.</p>
+
+<p>'Doctor,' began Maia, but he only shook his head without speaking, and
+stalked on, Rollo and his sister following. He led them some way along a
+rather narrow passage, where they had never been before, then, opening a
+door, signed to them to pass in in front of him, and when they had done
+so, he too came in, and shut the door behind him. It was a queer little
+room&mdash;the doctor's study evidently, for one end was completely filled
+with books, and at one side, through the glass doors of high cupboards
+in the wall, all kinds of mysterious instruments, chemical tubes and
+globes, high bottles filled with different-coloured liquids, and ever so
+many things the children had but time to glance at, were to be
+perceived. But the doctor had evidently not brought them there to pay
+him a visit. He touched a spring at the side of the book-shelves, and a
+small door opened.</p>
+
+<p>'Come, children,' he said, speaking at last, 'this is another short cut.
+Have no fear, but follow me.'</p>
+
+<p>Full of curiosity, Rollo and Maia pressed forward. The doctor had
+already disappeared&mdash;all but his head, that is to say&mdash;for a winding
+staircase led downwards from the little door, and Rollo first, then
+Maia, were soon following their old friend step by step, holding by one
+hand to a thick cord which supplied the place of a handrail. It was
+almost quite dark, but they were not frightened. They had perfect trust
+in the old doctor, and all they had seen and heard since they came to
+the white castle had increased their love of adventure, without
+lessening their courage.</p>
+
+<p>'Dear me,' said Maia, after a while, for it was never easy for her to
+keep silent for very long together, 'it isn't a <i>very</i> short cut! We
+seem to have been going down and down for a good while. My head is
+beginning to feel rather turning with going round and round so often.
+How much farther are we to go before we come out, Mr. Doctor?'</p>
+
+<p>But there was no answer, only a slight exclamation from Rollo just in
+front of her, and then all of a sudden a rush of light into the
+darkness made Maia blink her eyes and for a moment shut them to escape
+the dazzling rays.</p>
+
+<p>'Good-bye,' said a voice which she knew to be the doctor's; 'I hope you
+will enjoy yourselves.'</p>
+
+<p>Maia opened her eyes. She had felt Rollo take her hand and draw her
+forwards a little. She opened her eyes, but half shut them again in
+astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>'<i>Rollo!</i>' she exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>'And you said it was not much of a short cut,' replied Rollo, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>No wonder Maia was astonished. They were standing a few paces from the
+cottage door! The sun was shining brightly on the little garden and
+peeping through the trees, just in front of which the children found
+themselves.</p>
+
+<p>'Where have we come from?' said Maia, looking round her confusedly.</p>
+
+<p>'Out of here, I think,' said Rollo, tapping the trunk of a great tree
+close beside him. 'I think we must have come out of a door hidden in
+this tree.'</p>
+
+<p>'But we kept coming <i>down</i>,' said Maia.</p>
+
+<p>'At first; but the last part of the time it seemed to me we were going
+up; we must have come down the inside of the hill and then climbed up a
+little way into the tree.'</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, I am sure we weren't going <i>up</i>,' said Maia. 'I certainly was
+getting quite giddy with going round and round, but I'm <i>sure</i> I could
+have told if we'd been going up.'</p>
+
+<p>'Well, never mind. If godmother is a witch, I fancy the doctor's a
+wizard. But any way we're here, and that's the principal thing. Come on,
+quick, Maia, aren't you in a hurry to know if Waldo and Silva are at
+home?'</p>
+
+<p>He ran on to the cottage and Maia after him. The door was shut. Rollo
+knocked, but there was no answer.</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, what a pity it will be if they are not in!' said Maia. 'Knock
+again, Rollo, louder.'</p>
+
+<p>Rollo did so. Still there was no answer.</p>
+
+<p>'What shall we do?' said the children to each other. 'It would be too
+horrid to have to go home and miss our chance of a holiday.'</p>
+
+<p>'We might stay in the woods by ourselves,' suggested Rollo.</p>
+
+<p>'It would be very dull,' said Maia disconsolately. 'I don't think the
+old doctor should have brought us without knowing if they would be here.
+If he knows so much he might have found that out.'</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly Rollo gave an exclamation. He had been standing fumbling at the
+latch.</p>
+
+<p>'What do you say?' asked Maia.</p>
+
+<p>'The door isn't locked. Suppose we go in? It would be no harm. They
+weren't a bit vexed with us for having gone in and drunk the milk the
+first time.'</p>
+
+<p>'Of course not,' said Maia; 'they wouldn't be the least vexed. I quite
+thought the door was locked all this time. Open it, Rollo. I can't reach
+so high or I would have found out long ago it wasn't locked.'</p>
+
+<p>With a little difficulty Rollo opened the door.</p>
+
+<p>Everything in the tiny kitchen looked as they had last seen it, only, if
+that were possible, still neater and cleaner. Maia stared round as if
+half expecting to see Waldo or Silva jump out from under the chairs or
+behind the cupboard, but suddenly she darted forward. A white object on
+the table had caught her attention. It was a sheet of paper, on which
+was written in round clear letters:</p>
+
+<p>'Godmother will be here in a quarter of an hour.'</p>
+
+<p>'See, Rollo,' exclaimed Maia triumphantly, 'this must be meant for <i>us</i>.
+What a good thing we came in! I don't mind waiting a quarter of an
+hour.'</p>
+
+<p>'But that paper may have been here all day. It may have been sent for
+Waldo and Silva,' said Rollo. 'You know they told us godmother only
+comes sometimes to see them.'</p>
+
+<p>'I don't care,' said Maia, seating herself on one of the high-backed
+chairs. 'I'm going to wait a quarter of an hour, and just <i>see</i>.
+Godmother doesn't do things like other people, and I'm sure this message
+is for us.'</p>
+
+<p>Rollo said no more, but followed Maia's example. There they sat, like
+two little statues, the only distraction being the tick-tack of the
+clock, and watching the long hand creep slowly down the three divisions
+of its broad face which showed a quarter of an hour. It seemed a very
+long quarter of an hour. Maia was so little used to sitting still,
+except when she was busy with lessons, to which she was obliged to give
+her attention, that after a few minutes her head began to nod and at
+last gave such a jerk that she woke up with a start.</p>
+
+<p>'Dear me, isn't it a quarter of an hour <i>yet</i>?' she exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>'No, it's hardly five minutes,' said Rollo, rather grumpily, for he
+thought this was a very dull way of spending a holiday, and he would
+rather have gone out into the woods than sit there waiting. Maia leant
+her head again on the back of her chair.</p>
+
+<p>'Suppose we count ten times up to sixty,' she said. 'That would be ten
+minutes if we go by the ticks of the clock, and if she isn't here then,
+I won't ask you to wait any longer.'</p>
+
+<p>'We can see the time,' said Rollo; 'I don't see the use of counting it
+loud out.'</p>
+
+<p>Maia said nothing more. Whether she took another little nap; whether
+Rollo himself did not do so also I cannot say. All I know is that just
+exactly as the hand of the clock had got to fourteen minutes from the
+time they had begun watching it, both children started to their feet and
+looked at each other.</p>
+
+<p>'Do you hear?' said Maia.</p>
+
+<p>'It's a carriage,' exclaimed Rollo.</p>
+
+<p>'How could a carriage come through the wood? There's no path wide
+enough.'</p>
+
+<p>'But it <i>is</i> a carriage;' and to settle the point both ran to the door
+to see.</p>
+
+<p>It came swiftly along, in and out among the trees without difficulty, so
+small was it. The two tiny piebald ponies that drew it shook their wavy
+manes as they danced along, the little bells on their necks ringing
+softly. A funny idea struck Maia as she watched it. It looked just like
+a toy meant for some giant's child which had dropped off one of the
+huge Christmas-trees, waiting there to be decked for Santa Claus's
+festival! But the queerest part of the sight for them was when the
+carriage came near enough for them to see that godmother herself was
+driving it. She did look so comical, perched up on the little seat and
+chirrupping and wo-wohing to her steeds, and she seemed to have grown so
+small, oh, so small! Otherwise how could she ever have got into a
+carriage really not much too large for a baby of two years old?</p>
+
+<p>On she drove, and drew up in grand style just in front of where the
+children were standing.</p>
+
+<p>'Jump in,' she said, nodding off-handedly, but without any other
+greeting.</p>
+
+<p>'But how&mdash;&mdash;?' began Maia. 'How can Rollo and I possibly get into that
+tiny carriage?' were the words on her lips, but somehow before she began
+to say them, they melted away, and almost without knowing how, she found
+herself getting into the back seat of the little phaeton, with Rollo
+beside her, and in another moment&mdash;crack! went godmother's whip, and off
+they set.</p>
+
+<p>They went so fast, oh, so fast! There did not seem time to consider
+whether they were comfortable or not, or how it was they fitted so well
+into the carriage, small as it was, or anything but just the delicious
+feeling of flying along, which shows that they must have been very
+comfortable, does it not? In and out among the great looming pine-trees
+their strange coachman made her way, without once hesitating or
+wavering, so that the children felt no fear of striking against the
+massive trunks, even though it grew darker and gloomier and the
+Christmas-trees had certainly never looked anything like so enormous.</p>
+
+<p>'Or <i>can</i> it be that we have really grown smaller?' thought Maia; but
+her thoughts were quickly interrupted by a merry cry from godmother,
+'Hold fast, children, we're going to have a leap.'</p>
+
+<p>Godmother was certainly in a very comical humour. But for her voice and
+her bright eyes when they peeped out from under her hood the children
+would scarcely have known her. She was like a little mischievous old
+sprite instead of the soft, tender, mysterious being who had petted them
+so sweetly and told them the quiet story of gentle Auréole the other
+day. In a different kind of way Maia felt again almost a <i>very</i> little
+bit afraid of her, but Rollo's spirits rose with the fun, his cheeks
+grew rosier and his eyes brighter, though he was very kind to Maia too,
+and put his arm round her to keep her steady in preparation for
+godmother's flying leap, over they knew not what. But it was
+beautifully managed; not only the ponies, but the carriage too, seemed
+to acquire wings for the occasion, and there was not the slightest jar
+or shock, only a strange lifting feeling, and then softly down again,
+and on, on, through trees and brushwood, faster and faster, as surely no
+ponies ever galloped before.</p>
+
+<p>'Are you frightened, Rollo?' whispered Maia.</p>
+
+<p>'Not a bit. Why should I be? Godmother can take care of us, and even if
+she wasn't there, one couldn't be frightened flying along with those
+splendid little ponies.'</p>
+
+<p>'What was it we jumped over?' asked Maia.</p>
+
+<p>Godmother heard her and turned round.</p>
+
+<p>'We jumped over the brook,' she said. 'Don't you remember the little
+brook that runs through the wood?'</p>
+
+<p>'The brook that Rollo and I go over by the stepping stones? It's a very
+little brook, godmother. I should think the carriage might have driven
+over without jumping.'</p>
+
+<p>'Hush!' said godmother, 'we're getting into the middle of the wood and I
+must drive carefully.'</p>
+
+<p>But she did not go any more slowly; it got darker and darker as the
+trees grew more closely together. The children saw, as they looked
+round, that they had never been so far in the forest before.</p>
+
+<p>'I wonder when we shall see Silva and Waldo,' thought Maia, and somehow
+the thought seemed to bring its answer, for just as it passed through
+her mind, a clear bright voice called out from among the trees:</p>
+
+<p>'Godmother, godmother, don't drive too far. Here we are waiting for
+you.'</p>
+
+<p>'Waldo and Silva!' exclaimed the children. The ponies suddenly stopped,
+and out jumped or tumbled into the arms of their friends Rollo and Maia.</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, Waldo! oh, Silva!' they exclaimed. 'We've had <i>such</i> a drive!
+Godmother has brought us along like the wind.'</p>
+
+<p>Silva nodded her head. 'I know,' she said, smiling. 'There is no one so
+funny as godmother when she is in a wild humour. You may be glad you are
+here all right. She would have thought nothing of driving on to&mdash;&mdash;'
+Silva stopped, at a loss what place to name.</p>
+
+<p>'To where?' said the children.</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, to the moon, or the stars, or down to the bottom of the sea, or
+anywhere that came into her head!' said Silva, laughing. 'For, you know,
+she can go <i>anywhere</i>.'</p>
+
+<p>'<i>Can</i> she?' exclaimed Maia. 'Oh, what wonderful stories we can make her
+tell us, then! Godmother, godmother, do you hear what Silva says?' she
+went on, turning round to where she thought the carriage and ponies and
+godmother were standing. But&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE SQUIRREL FAMILY.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i11">'How extremely pretty!<br /></span>
+<span class="i11">Won't you jump again?'<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i25"><i>Child-World.</i><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>----Godmother was no longer there. She and the carriage and the ponies
+had completely disappeared. Maia opened her eyes and mouth with
+amazement, and stood staring. Waldo and Silva and Rollo too could not
+help bursting out laughing; she looked so funny. Maia felt a little
+offended.</p>
+
+<p>'I don't see what there is to laugh at,' she said; 'especially for
+<i>you</i>, Rollo. Aren't you astonished too?'</p>
+
+<p>'I don't think I should ever be astonished at anything about godmother,'
+said Rollo. 'Besides, I saw her drive off while you were kissing Silva.
+She certainly went like the wind.'</p>
+
+<p>'And where are we?' asked Maia, looking round her for the first time;
+'and what are we going to do, Silva?'</p>
+
+<p>'We are going to pay a visit,' said Silva. 'Waldo and I had already
+promised we would when we got the message that you were coming, so
+godmother said she would go back and fetch you.'</p>
+
+<p>'But who brought you a message that we were coming?' asked Maia.</p>
+
+<p>'One of godmother's carrier-pigeons. Ah, I forgot, you haven't seen them
+yet!'</p>
+
+<p>'And <i>where</i> are we going?'</p>
+
+<p>'To spend the afternoon with the squirrel family. It's close to here,
+but we must be quick. They will have been expecting us for some time.
+You show us the way, Waldo; you know it best.'</p>
+
+<p>It was dark in the wood, but not so dark as it had been when they were
+driving with godmother, for a few steps brought them out into a little
+clearing, something like the one where the cottage stood, but smaller.
+The mossy grass here was particularly beautiful, so bright and green and
+soft that Maia stooped down to feel it with her hand.</p>
+
+<p>'I suppose no one ever comes this way?' she said. 'Is it because no one
+ever tramples on it that the moss is so lovely?'</p>
+
+<p>'Nobody but us and the squirrels,' said Silva. 'Sometimes we play with
+them out here, but to-day we are going to see them in their house.
+Sometimes they have parties, when they invite their cousins from the
+other side of the wood. But I don't think any of them are coming
+to-day.'</p>
+
+<p>Silva spoke so simply that Maia could not think she was making fun of
+her, and yet it was very odd to speak of squirrels as if they were
+<i>people</i>. Maia could not, however, ask any more, for suddenly Waldo
+called out:</p>
+
+<p>'Here we are! Silva, you are going too far.'</p>
+
+<p>Rollo and Maia looked round, but they saw nothing except the trees.
+Waldo was standing just in front of one, and as the others came up to
+him he tapped gently on the trunk.</p>
+
+<p>'Three times,' said Silva.</p>
+
+<p>'I know,' he replied. Then he tapped twice again, Rollo and Maia looking
+on with all their eyes. But it was their ears that first gave them
+notice of an answer to Waldo's summons. A quick pattering sound, like
+the rush of many little feet, was heard inside the trunk, then with a
+kind of squeak, as if the hinges were somewhat rusty, a door, so
+cleverly made that no one could have guessed it was there, for it was
+covered with bark like the rest of the trunk, slowly opened from the
+inside, showing a dark hollow about large enough for one child at a time
+to creep into on hands and knees.</p>
+
+<p>'Who will go first?' said Waldo, lifting his little red cap as he looked
+at Maia.</p>
+
+<p>'What nice manners he has,' she thought to herself. 'I think you had
+better go first, please,' she said aloud. For though she would not own
+it, the appearance of the dark hole rather alarmed her.</p>
+
+<p>'But we can't <i>all</i> get in there,' said Rollo.</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, yes,' replied Waldo. 'I'll go first, and when I call out "all
+right," one of you can come after me. The passage gets wider directly,
+or&mdash;any way there's lots of room&mdash;you'll see,' and, ducking down, he
+crept very cleverly into the hollow, and after a moment his voice was
+heard, though in rather muffled tones, calling out 'all right.' Rollo,
+not liking to seem backward, went next, and Maia, who was secretly
+trembling, was much comforted by hearing him exclaim, 'Oh, how
+beautiful!' and when Silva asked her to go next, saying 'Maia might like
+to know she was behind her,' she plunged valiantly into the dark hole.
+She groped with her hands for a moment or two, till the boys' voices a
+little way above her led her to a short flight of steps, which she
+easily climbed up, and then a soft light broke on her eyes, and she
+understood why Rollo had called out, 'Oh, how beautiful!'</p>
+
+<p>They stood at the entrance of a long passage, quite wide enough for two
+to walk abreast comfortably. It was entirely lined and carpeted with
+moss, and the light came from the roof, though <i>how</i> one could not tell,
+for it too was trellised over with another kind of creeping plant,
+growing too thickly for one to see between. The moss had a sweet fresh
+fragrance that reminded the children of the scent of their other world
+flowers, and it was, besides, deliciously soft and yet springy to walk
+upon.</p>
+
+<p>Waldo and Rollo came running back to meet the little girls, for Silva
+had quickly followed Maia.</p>
+
+<p>'Isn't this a nice place?' said Rollo, jumping up and down as he spoke.
+'We might run races here all the afternoon.'</p>
+
+<p>'Yes; but we must hasten on,' said Silva. 'They're expecting us, you
+know. But we can run races all the same, for we've a good way along here
+to go. You and Waldo start first, and then Maia and I.'</p>
+
+<p>So they did, and never was there a race pleasanter to run. They felt as
+if they had wings on their feet, they went so fast and were so untired.
+The moss gallery resounded with their laughter and merry cries, though
+their footfalls made no sound on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>'What was the pattering we heard after Waldo knocked?' asked Maia
+suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>'It was the squirrels overhead. They all have to run together to pull
+open the door,' said Silva. 'The rope goes up to their hall. But you
+will see it all for yourself now. This is the end of the gallery.'</p>
+
+<p>'This' was a circular room, moss-lined like the passage, with a wide
+round hole in the roof, from which, as the children stood waiting,
+descended a basket, fitted with moss cushions, and big enough to hold
+all of them at once. In they got, and immediately the basket rose up
+again and stopped at what, in a proper house, one would call the next
+floor. And even before it stopped a whole mass of brown heads were to be
+seen eagerly watching for it, and numbers of little brown paws were
+extended to help the visitors to step out.</p>
+
+<p>'Good-day, good-day,' squeaked a multitude of shrill voices; 'welcome to
+Squirrel-Land. We have been watching for you ever so long, since the
+pigeon brought the news. And the supper is all ready. The acorn cakes
+smelling so good and the chestnut pasties done to a turn.'</p>
+
+<p>'Thank you, thank you, Mrs. Bushy!' said Silva. 'I am sure they will be
+excellent. But first, I must introduce our friends and you to each
+other. Maia and Rollo, this is Mrs. Bushy,' and as she said so the
+fattest and fussiest of the squirrels made a duck with its head and a
+flourish with its tail, which were meant for the most graceful of
+curtsies. 'Mr. Bushy&mdash;&mdash;' she stopped and looked round.</p>
+
+<p>'Alas! my dear husband is very lame with his gout to-day,' said Mrs.
+Bushy. 'He took too much exercise yesterday. I'm sure if he went once to
+the top of the tree he went twenty times&mdash;he is <i>so</i> active, you know;
+so he's resting in the supper-room; but you'll see him presently. And
+here are my dear children, Miss Silva. Stand forward, my dears, you have
+nothing to be ashamed of. <i>Do</i> look at their tails&mdash;though I say it that
+shouldn't, <i>did</i> you ever see such tails?' and Mrs. Bushy's bright eyes
+sparkled with maternal pride. 'There they are, all nine of them: Nibble,
+Scramble, Bunchy, Friskit, and Whiff, my dear boys; and Clamberina,
+Fluffy, Tossie, and sweet little Curletta, my no less beloved
+daughters.'</p>
+
+<p>Whereupon each one of the nine, who had collected in a row, made the
+same duck with its head and flourish with its tail as Mrs. Bushy,
+though, of course, with somewhat less perfection of style and finish
+than their dear mamma.</p>
+
+<p>'Such manners, such sweet manners!' she murmured confidentially to Silva
+and Maia.</p>
+
+<p>Maia was by this time nearly choking with laughter&mdash;'Though I say it
+that shouldn't say it, I am sure you young ladies must be pleased with
+their sweet manners.'</p>
+
+<p>'Very pleased, dear Mrs. Bushy,' said Silva; 'I'm sure they've learned
+to duck their heads and wave their tails beautifully.'</p>
+
+<p>'Beautifully,' said Maia, at which Mrs. Bushy looked much gratified.</p>
+
+<p>'And shall we proceed to supper, then?' she said. 'I am sure you must be
+hungry.'</p>
+
+<p>'Yes, I think we are,' said Waldo; 'and I know your chestnut cakes are
+very good, Mrs. Bushy.'</p>
+
+<p>Rollo and Maia looked at each other. <i>Chestnuts</i> were very nice, but
+what would chestnut cakes be like? Besides, it wasn't the season for
+chestnuts; they must be very old and stale.</p>
+
+<p>'How can you have chestnuts now?' asked Maia. Mrs. Bushy looked at her
+patronisingly.</p>
+
+<p>'Ah, to be sure,' she said, 'the young lady does not know all about our
+magic preserving cupboards, and all the newest improvements. To be sure,
+it is her first visit to Squirrel-Land,' she added encouragingly; 'we
+can make allowance. Now, lead the way, my dears, lead the way,' she said
+to her nine treasures, who thereupon set off with a rush, jumping and
+frisking and scuttering along, till Maia could hardly help bursting out
+laughing again, while she and Silva and Rollo and Waldo followed them
+into the supper-room, where, at the end of a long narrow table, covered
+with all sorts of queer-looking dishes, decorated with fern leaves, Papa
+Bushy, in a moss arm-chair, his tail comfortably waving over him like an
+umbrella, was already installed.</p>
+
+<p>'I beg your pardon, my dear young friends,' he began, in a rather
+deeper, though still squeaky voice, 'for receiving you like this. Mrs.
+Bushy will have made my apologies. This unfortunate attack of gout! I
+am, I fear, too actively inclined, and have knocked myself up!'</p>
+
+<p>'Ah, yes,' said Mrs. Bushy, shaking her head; 'I'm sure if Mr. Bushy
+goes once a day to the top of the tree, he goes twenty times.'</p>
+
+<p>'But what does he go for if it makes him ill?' exclaimed Maia.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Bushy looked at her and gasped, Mr. Bushy shut his eyes and waved
+his paws about as if to say, 'We must excuse her, she knows no better,'
+and all the young Bushys ducked their heads and squeaked
+faintly,&mdash;evidently Maia had said something very startling. At last,
+when she had to some extent recovered her self-control, Mrs. Bushy said
+faintly, looking round her for sympathy:</p>
+
+<p>'Poor child! Such deplorable ignorance; but we must excuse it. Imagine
+her not knowing&mdash;imagine <i>any one</i> not knowing what would happen if Mr.
+Bushy did not go to the top of the tree!'</p>
+
+<p>'What <i>would</i> happen?' said Maia, not sure if she felt snubbed or not,
+but not inclined to give in all at once.</p>
+
+<p>'My poor child,' said Mrs. Bushy, in the most solemn tone her squeaky
+voice was capable of, '<i>the world would stop</i>!'</p>
+
+<p>Maia stared at her, but what she was going to say I cannot tell you, for
+Silva managed to give her a little pinch, as a sign that she had better
+make no more remarks, and Mrs. Bushy, feeling that she had done her
+duty, requested everybody to take their places at table. The dishes
+placed before them were so comical-looking that Rollo and Maia did not
+know what to reply when asked what they would have.</p>
+
+<p>'An apple, if you please!' said Maia, catching sight at last of
+something she knew the name of. But when Mrs. Bushy pressed her to try a
+chestnut cake she did not like to refuse, and seeing that Waldo and
+Silva were careful to eat like the squirrels, holding up both hands
+together like paws to their mouths, she and Rollo did the same, which
+evidently gave the Bushy family a better opinion of the way in which
+they had been brought up. The chestnut cakes were rather nice, but poor
+Rollo, having ventured on some fried acorns which smelt good, could not
+help pulling a very wry face. Supper, however, was soon over, and then
+Waldo and Silva asked leave very politely to go 'up the tree,' which in
+squirrel language was much the same as if they had asked to go out to
+the garden, and Mrs. Bushy, with many excuses for not accompanying them
+on account of her household cares, and Mr. Bushy, pleading his gout,
+told her nine darlings to escort the visitors upstairs.</p>
+
+<p>Now began the real fun of the afternoon. A short flight of steps, like a
+little ladder, led them to the outside of the tree. The nine Bushys
+scampered and rushed along, squeaking and chattering with the greatest
+good-nature, followed more slowly by the four children. For a moment or
+two, when Rollo and Maia found themselves standing on a branch very near
+the top of the tree, though, strange to say, they found it wide enough
+to hold them quite comfortably, they felt rather giddy and frightened.</p>
+
+<p>'How dreadfully high up we seem!' said Maia. 'Rollo, I'm <i>sure</i> we must
+have grown smaller. The trees never looked so big as this before. It
+makes me giddy to look either up or down.'</p>
+
+<p>'You'll get used to it in a minute,' said Waldo. 'Silva and I don't mind
+it the least now. Look at the Bushys, Maia, isn't it fun to see them?'</p>
+
+<p>And Maia forgot her fears in watching the nine young squirrels. Had Mrs.
+Bushy been with them, her maternal vanity would have been gratified by
+the admiration their exploits drew forth. It really was the funniest
+and prettiest sight in the world to see them at their gambols. No
+dancers on the tight-rope were ever half so clever. They swung
+themselves up by the branches to the very top of the tree, and then in an
+instant&mdash;flash!&mdash;there they were ever so far below where the children
+were standing. And in another instant, like a brown streak, up they
+were again, darting hither, there, and everywhere, so that one felt as
+if the whole tree were alive. When they had a little worked off their
+spirits they squeaked to the children to join them; Waldo and Silva did
+so at once, for they were used to these eccentric gymnastics, and to
+Rollo and Maia they looked nearly as clever as the squirrels themselves,
+as, holding on by their companions' paws and tails, they jumped and
+clambered and slid up and down. So in a little while the new-comers too
+took courage and found the performances, like many other things, not
+half so hard as they looked. And oh, how they all laughed and screamed,
+and how the squirrels squeaked with enjoyment! I don't think ever
+children before had such fun. Fancy the pleasure of swaying in a branch
+ever so far overhead quite safe, for there were the nine in a circle
+ready to catch you if you slipped, and then hand in hand, or rather hand
+in paw, dancing round the trunk by hopping two and two from branch to
+branch, nine squirrels and four children&mdash;a merry baker's dozen. Then
+the sliding down the tree, like a climber on a May-pole, was great fun
+too, for the Bushys had a way of twisting themselves round it so as to
+avoid the sticking-out branches that was really very clever. So that
+when suddenly, in the middle of it all, a little silvery tinkling bell
+was heard to ring, and they all stood still looking at each other, Rollo
+and Maia felt quite vexed at the interruption.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="illus6" id="illus6"></a>
+<img src="images/illus6.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>I don't think ever children before had such fun.</h3>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>'Go on,' said Maia, 'what are you all stopping for?'</p>
+
+<p>'The summons,' said Waldo and Silva together. 'We must go. Good-night,
+all of you,' to the squirrels. Had their mother been there, I fancy they
+would have addressed Clamberina and her brothers and sisters more
+ceremoniously. 'Good-bye, and thank you for all the fun.'</p>
+
+<p>'Good-bye, and thank you,' said Rollo and Maia, rather at a loss as to
+whether they should offer to shake paws, or if that was not squirrel
+fashion. But before they had time to consider, 'Quick,' said a voice
+behind them, which they were not slow to recognise, 'slide down the
+tree,' and down they slid, all four, though, giving one glance upwards,
+they caught sight of the nine squirrels all seated in a row on a branch,
+each with their pocket-handkerchief at their eyes, weeping copiously.</p>
+
+<p>'Poor things,' said Maia, 'how tender-hearted they are!'</p>
+
+<p>'They always do that when we come away,' said Waldo; 'it's part of
+their manners. But they are very good-natured.'</p>
+
+<p>'And where's godmother,' said Maia, when they found themselves on
+terra-firma again. 'Wasn't it her voice that spoke to us up on the tree,
+and told us to come down?'</p>
+
+<p>'Yes,' said Silva; 'but she called up through a speaking-trumpet. I
+don't know where she is herself. She may be a good way off. But that
+doesn't matter. We can tell what to do. Lay your ear to the ground,
+Waldo.'</p>
+
+<p>Waldo did so.</p>
+
+<p>'Are they coming,' asked Silva.</p>
+
+<p>'Yes,' said Waldo, getting up; 'they'll be here directly;' and almost
+before he had left off speaking the pretty sound of tinkling bells was
+heard approaching, nearer and nearer every second, till the children, to
+their delight, caught sight of the little carriage and the tiny piebald
+ponies, which came dancing up to them all of themselves, and stood
+waiting for them to get in.</p>
+
+<p>'But where's godmother?' exclaimed Maia; 'how can we get home without
+her?'</p>
+
+<p>'All right,' said Waldo; 'she often lends Silva and me her ponies. I can
+drive you home quite safely, you'll see. Get in, Maia and Silva
+behind&mdash;Rollo and I will go in front.'</p>
+
+<p>And off they set. It was not quite such a harum-scarum drive as it had
+been coming. Waldo did not take any flying leaps&mdash;indeed, I think nobody
+but godmother herself could have managed that! but it was very
+delightful all the same.</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, Silva,' exclaimed Maia, 'I do so wish we need not go back to the
+white castle and Lady Venelda and our lessons! I do so wish we might
+live in the cottage with you and Waldo, <i>always</i>.'</p>
+
+<p>Silva looked a little sorry when Maia spoke thus.</p>
+
+<p>'Don't say that, Maia,' she said. 'Godmother wouldn't like it. We want
+to make you happy while you're here&mdash;not to make you impatient. If you
+and Rollo were always at the cottage, you wouldn't like it half so much
+as you do now, coming sometimes. You would soon get tired of it, unless
+you worked hard like Waldo and me.'</p>
+
+<p>'Do you work hard?' said Maia, with some surprise.</p>
+
+<p>'Yes, of course we do. You only see us at our play-time. Waldo goes off
+to the forester's at the other side of the wood every morning at six,
+and I take him his dinner every day, and then I stay there and work in
+the dairy till we come home together in the evening.'</p>
+
+<p>'But you sometimes have holidays,' said Maia.</p>
+
+<p>'Yes, of course we do,' said Silva, smiling. 'Godmother sees to that.'</p>
+
+<p>'How?' asked Maia. 'Does she know the forester and his wife? Does she go
+and ask them to give you a holiday?'</p>
+
+<p>'Not exactly,' said Silva, smiling. 'I can't tell you how she does it.
+She has her own ways for doing everything. How does she get you <i>your</i>
+holidays?'</p>
+
+<p>'Does <i>she</i> get us them?' said Maia, astonished. 'Why, Lady Venelda
+never speaks of her. Do you think she knows her?'</p>
+
+<p>'I can't tell you,' said Silva, again smiling in the same rather strange
+way as before, and somehow when she smiled like that she reminded Maia
+of godmother herself; 'but she does know <i>somebody</i> at the white castle,
+and somebody there knows her.'</p>
+
+<p>'The old doctor!' exclaimed Maia, clapping her hands. 'I'm <i>sure</i> you
+mean the old doctor. Ah! that's how it is, is it? Godmother sends to the
+old doctor or writes to him, or&mdash;or&mdash;I don't know what&mdash;and then he
+finds out we need a holiday, and&mdash;oh, he manages it somehow, I suppose!'</p>
+
+<p>'Yes,' said Silva; 'but as long as you get your holiday it's all right.
+When godmother tells us of anything we're to do, or that she has
+settled for us, we're quite pleased without asking her all the little
+bits about it.'</p>
+
+<p>'I see,' said Maia; 'but then, Silva, you're different from me.'</p>
+
+<p>'Of course I am,' said Silva; 'but it wouldn't be at all nice if
+everybody was the same. That's one of the things godmother always says.'</p>
+
+<p>'Yes, like what she says about how stupid it would be if we knew
+everything, and if there was nothing more to puzzle and wonder about. It
+<i>is</i> nice to wonder and puzzle sometimes, but not always. Just now I
+don't mind about anything except about the fun of going so fast, with
+those dear little ponies' bells tinkling all the way. I shall be so
+sorry to get to the cottage, for we shan't have time to go in, Silva. We
+shall have to hurry home not to be too late for supper.'</p>
+
+<p>Just as she spoke Waldo pulled up sharply.</p>
+
+<p>'What's the matter?' called out Maia. She had been talking so much to
+Silva that she had not noticed the way they were going. Now she looked
+about her, and it seemed to her that she recognised the look of the
+trees, which were much less close and thick than in the middle of the
+forest. But before she had time to think more about it a voice close at
+hand made both her and Rollo start.</p>
+
+<p>'Well, young people,' it said, 'you have had, I hope, a pleasant day?
+You, too, Waldo and Silva? It is some time since I have seen you, my
+children.'</p>
+
+<p>It was, of course, the voice of the doctor. All the four jumped out of
+the little carriage and ran forward to their old friend, for to Rollo's
+and Maia's surprise, the two forest children seemed to know him quite as
+well as they did themselves.</p>
+
+<p>He seemed delighted to see them all, and his kind old face shone with
+pleasure as he patted the curly heads of the boys and Maia, and stroked
+gently Silva's pretty, smooth hair.</p>
+
+<p>'But you must go home,' he said to Waldo and Silva. 'Good-night, my
+children;' and quickly bidding their little friends farewell, the
+brother and sister sprang up again into the tiny carriage, and in
+another moment the more and more faintly-tinkling bells were all left of
+them, as Rollo and Maia stood a little sadly, gazing in the direction in
+which they had disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>'And you have been happy?' said the old doctor.</p>
+
+<p>'<i>Very</i> happy,' both replied together. 'We have had such fun.' But
+before they had time to tell their old friend anything more he
+interrupted them.</p>
+
+<p>'You, too, must hurry home,' he said. 'You see where you are? Up the
+path to the right and you will come out at the usual place just behind
+the castle wall at the back.'</p>
+
+<p>Rollo and Maia hastened to obey him.</p>
+
+<p>'How queer he is!' said Maia. 'He doesn't seem to care to hear what
+we've been doing&mdash;he never asks anything but if we've been happy.'</p>
+
+<p>'Well, what does it matter?' said Rollo. 'I like only to talk to
+ourselves of the queer things we see when we're with Waldo and Silva. I
+wonder what they will show us or where they will take us the next time?'</p>
+
+<p>'So do I,' said Maia.</p>
+
+<p>'Waldo said something about the eagles that live up in the high rocks at
+the edge of the forest,' said Rollo. 'He did not exactly say so, but he
+spoke as if he had been there. Wouldn't you like to see an eagles' nest,
+Maia?'</p>
+
+<p>'I should think so, indeed!' replied Maia eagerly. 'But I don't think
+that's what they call it, Rollo; there's another name.'</p>
+
+<p>'Yes, I think there is, but I can't remember it,' he answered. 'But
+never mind, Maia, here we are at the gate. We must run in and get ready
+for supper.'</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+<h3>A COMMITTEE OF BIRDS.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i11">'Then a sound is heard,<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">A sudden rushing sound of many wings.'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>Nothing was asked of the children as to where or how they had spent
+their day. Lady Venelda looked at them kindly as they took their places
+at the supper-table, and she kissed them when they said good-night as if
+she were quite pleased with them. They were not sorry to go to bed; for
+however delightful squirrel gymnastics are, they are somewhat fatiguing,
+especially to those who are not accustomed to them, and I can assure you
+that Rollo and Maia slept soundly that night; thanks to which, no doubt,
+they woke next morning as fresh as larks.</p>
+
+<p>Their lessons were all done to the satisfaction of their teachers, so
+that in the afternoon, when, as they were setting off with Nanni for
+their usual walk, they met the old doctor on the terrace, he nodded at
+them good-humouredly.</p>
+
+<p>'That's right,' he said; 'holidays do you no harm, I see.'</p>
+
+<p>'And we may have another before very long, then, mayn't we?' said Maia,
+whose little tongue was always the readiest.</p>
+
+<p>'All in good time,' said the old man, and as they had found his memory
+so good hitherto, the children felt that they might trust him for the
+future.</p>
+
+<p>They did not go in the direction of the cottage to-day. Though they had
+not exactly been told so, they had come to understand that when
+godmother wanted them, or had arranged some pleasure for them and her
+forest children, she would find some means of letting them know, and the
+sort of desire to please and obey her which they felt seemed even
+stronger than if her wishes had been put down in plain rules. And when
+Nanni was with them they now took care not to speak of the cottage or
+their friends there, for she could not have understood about them, and
+she would only have been troubled and frightened. But yet the thought of
+Waldo and Silva and godmother and the cottage, and all the pleasure and
+fun they had had, seemed never quite away. It hovered about them like
+the impression of a happy dream, which seems to make the whole day
+brighter, though we can scarcely tell how.</p>
+
+<p>The spring was now coming on fast; and what <i>can</i> be more delightful
+than spring-time in the woods? With the increasing warmth and sunshine
+the scent of the pines seemed to waft out into the air, the primroses
+and violets opened their eyes, and the birds overhead twittered and
+trilled in their perfect happiness.</p>
+
+<p>'How can any one be so cruel as to shoot them?' said Maia one afternoon
+about a week after the visit to the squirrels.</p>
+
+<p>'I don't think any one would shoot these tiny birds,' said Rollo.</p>
+
+<p>'I am afraid they do in some countries,' said Maia. 'Not here; I don't
+think godmother would let them. I think nobody can do anything in these
+woods against her wishes,' she went on in a lower tone, glancing in
+Nanni's direction. But that young woman was knitting away calmly, with
+an expression of complete content on her rosy face.</p>
+
+<p>'Rollo,' Maia continued, 'come close to me. I want to speak in a
+whisper;' and Rollo, who, like his sister, was stretched at full length
+on the ground, thickly carpeted with the tiny dry-brown spikes which
+had fallen from the fir-trees during the winter, edged himself along by
+his elbows without getting up, till he was near enough to hear Maia's
+lowest murmur.</p>
+
+<p>'Lazy boy,' she said, laughing. 'Is it too much trouble to move?'</p>
+
+<p>'It's too much trouble to stand up any way,' replied Rollo. 'What is it
+you want to say, Maia? I do think there's something in these woods that
+puts one to sleep, as Nanni says.'</p>
+
+<p>'So do I,' said Maia, and her voice had a half sleepy sound as she
+spoke. 'I don't quite know what I wanted to say, Rollo. It was only
+something about <i>them</i>, you know.'</p>
+
+<p>'You needn't be the least afraid&mdash;Nanni can't hear,' said Rollo, without
+moving.</p>
+
+<p>'Well, I only wanted to talk a little about them. Just to wonder, you
+know, if they won't soon be sending for us&mdash;making some new treat. It
+seems such a long time since we saw them.'</p>
+
+<p>'Only a week,' said Rollo, sleepily.</p>
+
+<p>'Well, a week's a good while,' pursued Maia; 'and I'm sure we've done
+our lessons <i>very</i> well all this time, and nobody's had to scold us for
+anything. <i>Rollo</i>&mdash;&mdash;'</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, I do wish you'd let me take a little sleep,' said poor Rollo.</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, very well, then! I won't talk if you want to go to sleep,' said
+Maia, in a slightly offended tone; 'though I must say I think it is very
+stupid of you when we've been shut up at our lessons all the morning,
+and we have only an hour to stay out, to want to spend it all in
+sleeping.'</p>
+
+<p>But she said no more, for by this time Rollo was quite asleep, and the
+click-click of Nanni's knitting-needles grew fainter and fainter, till
+Maia, looking round to see why she was stopping, discovered that Nanni
+too had given in to the influence of the woods. She was asleep, and
+doubtless dreaming pleasantly, for there was a broad smile on her
+good-natured face.</p>
+
+<p>'Stupid things!' thought Maia to herself. And then she began wondering
+what amusement she could find till it was time to go home again. 'For
+<i>I'm</i> not sleepy,' she said; 'it is only the twinkling way the sunshine
+comes through the trees that makes my eyes feel rather dazzled. I may as
+well shut them a little, and as I have no one to talk to I will try to
+say over my French poetry, so that I shall know it <i>quite</i> well for
+Mademoiselle Delphine to-morrow morning.'</p>
+
+<p>The French poetry was long and dull. The complaint of a shepherdess for
+the loss of her sheep was the name of it, and Maia had not found it easy
+to learn, for, like many things it was then the custom to teach
+children, it was neither interesting nor instructive. But if it did her
+good in no other way, it was a lesson of patience, and Maia had worked
+hard at it. She now began to say it over to herself from the beginning
+in a low monotonous voice, her eyes closed as she half lay, half sat,
+leaning her head on the trunk of one of the great trees. It seemed to
+her that her poetry went wonderfully well. Never before had it sounded
+to her so musical. She really felt quite a pleasure in softly murmuring
+the lines, and quite unconsciously they seemed to set themselves to an
+air she had often been sung to sleep to by her nurse when a very little
+girl, till to her surprise Maia found herself singing in a low but
+exquisitely sweet voice.</p>
+
+<p>'I <i>never</i> knew I could sing so beautifully,' she thought to herself; 'I
+must tell Rollo about it.' But she did not feel inclined to wake him up
+to listen to it. She had indeed forgotten all about him being asleep at
+her side&mdash;she had forgotten everything but the beauty of her song and
+the pleasure of her newly-discovered talent. And on and on she sang,
+like the bewitched Princess, though what she was singing about she could
+not by this time have told, till all of a sudden she became aware that
+she was not singing alone&mdash;or, at least, not without an accompaniment.
+For all through her singing, sometimes rising above it, sometimes gently
+sinking below, was a sweet trilling warble, purer and clearer than the
+sound of a running brook, softer and mellower than the music of any
+instrument Maia had ever heard.</p>
+
+<p>'What can it be?' thought Maia. She half determined to open her eyes to
+look, but she refrained from a vague fear that if she did so it might
+perhaps scare the music away. But unconsciously she had stopped singing,
+and just then a new sound as of innumerable wings close to her made her
+forget all in her curiosity to see what it was. She opened her eyes in
+time to see fluttering downwards an immense flock of birds&mdash;birds of
+every shape and colour, though none of them were very big, the largest
+being about the size of a parrot. There lay Rollo, fast asleep, in the
+midst of the crowd of feathered creatures, and something&mdash;an instinct
+she could not explain&mdash;made Maia quickly shut her eyes again. She was
+not afraid, but she felt sure the birds would not have come so near had
+they not thought her asleep too. So she remained perfectly still,
+leaning her head against the trunk of the tree and covering her face
+with her hand, so that she could peep out between the fingers while yet
+seeming to be asleep.</p>
+
+<p>The flutter gradually ceased, and the great flock of birds settled
+softly on the ground. Then began a clear chirping which, to Maia's
+delight, as she listened with all her ears, gradually seemed to shape
+itself into words which she could understand.</p>
+
+<p>'Do you think they liked our music?' piped a bird, or several birds
+together&mdash;it was impossible to say which.</p>
+
+<p>'I think so,' answered some other; '<i>he</i>'&mdash;and Maia understood that they
+were speaking of Rollo&mdash;'has heard it but dimly&mdash;he is farther away. But
+<i>she</i> was nearer us and will not forget it.'</p>
+
+<p>'They seem good children,' said in a more squeaky tone a black and white
+bird, hopping forward a little by himself. He appeared to Maia to be
+some kind of crow or raven, but she disliked his rather patronising
+tone.</p>
+
+<p>'Good children,' she said to herself. 'What business has an old crow to
+talk of us as good children!'</p>
+
+<p>'Ah, yes!' replied a little brown bird which had established itself on
+a twig just above Rollo's head. 'If they had not been so, you may be
+sure <i>she</i> would have had nothing to do with them, instead of making
+them as happy as she can, and giving orders all through the forest that
+they are to be entertained. I hear they amused themselves very well at
+the squirrels' the other day.'</p>
+
+<p>'Ah, indeed! A party?'</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, no&mdash;just a simple gambolade. Had it been a party, of course <i>our</i>
+services would have been retained for the music.'</p>
+
+<p>'Naturally,' replied the little brown bird. 'Of course no musical
+entertainment would be complete without <i>you</i>, Mr. Crow.'</p>
+
+<p>The old black bird giggled. He seemed quite flattered, and was evidently
+on the point of replying to his small brown friend by some amiable
+speech, when a soft cooing voice interrupted him. It was that of a
+wood-pigeon, who, with two or three companions, came hopping up to them.</p>
+
+<p>'What are we to do?' she said. 'Shall we warble a slumber-song for them?
+They are sleeping still.'</p>
+
+<p>The old crow glanced at the children.</p>
+
+<p>'I fancy they have had enough music for to-day,' he said. 'I think we
+should consult together seriously about what we can do for their
+entertainment. It won't do to let the squirrels be the only ones to show
+them attention. Besides, children who come to our woods and amuse
+themselves without ever robbing a nest, catching a butterfly, or causing
+the slightest alarm to even a hare&mdash;such children <i>deserve</i> to be
+rewarded.'</p>
+
+<p>'What can we do for them?' chirruped a brisk little robin. 'We have
+given them a concert, which has had the effect'&mdash;and he made a
+patronising little bow in the direction of Rollo and Maia&mdash;'the
+effect&mdash;of sending them to sleep.'</p>
+
+<p>'I beg your pardon,' said a sparrow pertly. 'They were asleep before our
+serenade began. It was <i>intended</i> to lull their slumbers. That was <i>her</i>
+desire.'</p>
+
+<p>'Doubtless,' said the crow snappishly. 'Mr. Sparrow is always the best
+informed as to matters in the highest quarters. And, of
+course&mdash;considering his world-wide fame as a songster&mdash;&mdash;'</p>
+
+<p>'No sparring&mdash;no satirical remarks, gentlemen,' put in a bird who had
+not yet spoken. It was a blackbird, and all listened to him with
+respect. 'We should give example of nothing but peace and unity to
+these unfeathered visitors of ours, otherwise they might carry away a
+most mistaken idea of our habits and principles and of the happiness in
+which we live.'</p>
+
+<p>'Certainly&mdash;certainly,' agreed the crow. 'It was but a little amiable
+repartee, Mr. Blackbird. My young friend Sparrow has not quite thrown
+off the&mdash;the slight&mdash;sharpness of tone acquired, almost unconsciously,
+by a long residence in cities.'</p>
+
+<p>'And you, my respected friend,' observed the sparrow, 'are
+naturally&mdash;but we can all make allowance for each other&mdash;not altogether
+indisposed to croak. But these are trifling matters in no way
+interfering with the genuine brotherliness and good feeling in which we
+all live together in this favoured land.'</p>
+
+<p>A gentle but general buzz, or twitter rather, of applause greeted this
+speech.</p>
+
+<p>'And now to business,' said the robin. 'What are we to arrange for the
+amusement of our young friends?'</p>
+
+<p>'A remark reached my ears&mdash;I may explain, in passing, that some members
+of my family have a little nest just under the eaves of the castle,
+and&mdash;and&mdash;I now and then hear snatches of conversation&mdash;not, of course,
+that we are given to <i>eavesdropping</i>&mdash;of course, none of my family could
+be suspected of such a thing&mdash;but, as I was saying, a remark reached my
+ears that our young friends would like to visit what, in human language,
+would be called our king's palace&mdash;that is to say, the eyrie of the
+great eagle at the summit of the forest,' said a swallow, posing his
+awkward body ungracefully on one leg and looking round for approval.</p>
+
+<p>'Nothing easier,' replied the robin. 'We are much obliged to you for the
+suggestion, Mr. Swallow. If it meets with approval in the highest
+quarters, I vote that we should carry it out.'</p>
+
+<p>Another twitter of approval greeted this speech.</p>
+
+<p>'And when shall the visit take place?' asked the wood-pigeon softly,
+'and how shall it be accomplished?'</p>
+
+<p>'As to <i>when</i>, that is not for us to decide,' said the robin. 'As to
+<i>how</i>, I should certainly think a voyage through the air would be far
+the greatest novelty and amusement. And this, by laying our wings all
+together, we can easily arrange. The first thing we have to do is to
+submit the idea for approval, and then we can all meet together again
+and fix the details. But now I think we should be on the wing to regain
+our nests. Besides, our young friends will be awaking soon. It would not
+do for them to see us here assembled in such numbers. It might alarm
+them.'</p>
+
+<p>'That is true,' said the crow. 'Their education in some respects has
+been neglected. They have not enjoyed the unusual advantages of Waldo
+and Silva. But still&mdash;they are very good children, in their way.'</p>
+
+<p>This last speech made Maia so angry that, forgetting all pretence of
+being asleep, she started up to give the old crow a bit of her mind.</p>
+
+<p>'You impertinent old croaker,' she began to say, but to her amazement
+there was neither crow nor bird of any kind to be seen! Maia rubbed her
+eyes&mdash;was she, or had she been dreaming? No, it was impossible. But yet,
+how had all the birds got away so quickly, without the least flutter or
+bustle, and in less than half a second? She turned to Rollo and gave him
+a shake.</p>
+
+<p>'Rollo,' she said, 'do wake up, you lazy boy. Where have they all gone
+to?'</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+<h3>A SAIL IN THE AIR.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i11">'Bright are the regions of the air,<br /></span>
+<span class="i11">And among the winds and beams<br /></span>
+<span class="i11">It were delight to wander there.'<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i25"><span class="smcap">Shelley.</span><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>'What are you talking about?' said Rollo, sitting up, and in his turn
+rubbing his eyes. 'Where have "who" gone to?'</p>
+
+<p>'The birds, of course,' replied Maia. 'You can't be so stupid, Rollo, as
+not to have seen them.'</p>
+
+<p>'I've been asleep,' said the poor boy, looking rather ashamed of
+himself. 'What birds were they? Did you see them? I have a queer sort of
+feeling,' and he hesitated, looking at Maia as if she could explain it,
+'as if I had dreamt something about them&mdash;as if I heard some sort of
+music through my sleep. What did <i>you</i> see, Maia? do tell me.'</p>
+
+<p>Maia described it all to him, and he listened with the greatest
+interest. But at the end he made an observation which roused her
+indignation.</p>
+
+<p>'I believe you were dreaming too,' he said. 'Nobody ever heard of birds
+speaking like that.'</p>
+
+<p>'And yet you say you heard something of it through your sleep? Is it
+likely we both dreamt the same thing all of ourselves?'</p>
+
+<p>'But I didn't dream that birds were talking,' objected Rollo. 'They
+can't talk.'</p>
+
+<p>Maia glanced at him with supreme contempt.</p>
+
+<p>'Can squirrels talk?' she said. 'Would anybody believe all the things we
+have seen and done since we have been in this Christmas-tree land? Think
+of our drives in godmother's carriage; think of our finding our way
+through a tree's trunk; think of godmother herself, with her wonderful
+ways and her beautiful dress, and yet that she can look like a poor old
+woman! Would anybody believe all that, do you think? And we know it's
+all true; and yet you can't believe birds can talk! Oh, you are too
+stupid.'</p>
+
+<p>Rollo smiled; he did not seem vexed.</p>
+
+<p>'I don't see that all that prevents it being possible that you were
+dreaming all the same,' he said. 'But dreams are true sometimes.'</p>
+
+<p>'Are they?' said Maia, looking puzzled in her turn. 'Well, what was the
+use of going on so about birds never talking, then? Never mind, now;
+just wait and see if what I've told you doesn't come true. <i>I</i> shall go,
+Rollo; if the birds come to fetch us to go to see the eagle, <i>I</i> shall
+go.'</p>
+
+<p>'So shall I,' said Rollo coolly. 'I never had the slightest intention of
+not going. But we must go home now, Maia; it's getting late, and you
+know we were not to stay long to-day.'</p>
+
+<p>'Where's Nanni?' said Maia.</p>
+
+<p>'Perhaps the birds have flown off with her,' said Rollo mischievously.
+But for a moment or two neither he nor Maia could help feeling a little
+uneasy, for no Nanni was to be seen! They called her and shouted to her,
+and at last a sort of grunt came in reply, which guided them to where,
+quite hidden by a little nest of brushwood, Nanni lay at full length,
+blinking her eyes as if she had not the slightest idea where she was.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as she saw them, up she jumped.</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, I am so ashamed,' she cried. 'What could have come over me to fall
+asleep like that, just when I thought I should have got such a great
+piece of Master Rollo's stockings done! And you have been looking for
+me, lazy girl that I am! But I can assure you, Miss Maia, when I first
+sat down I was not here&mdash;I was sitting over there,' and she pointed to
+another tree-stump a little way off, 'not asleep at all, and knitting so
+fast. There are fairies in the wood, Miss Maia,' she added in a lower
+voice. 'I've thought it many a time, and I'm more sure than ever of it
+now. I don't think we should come into the woods at all, I really
+don't.'</p>
+
+<p>'We shouldn't have anywhere to walk in, then,' said Rollo. 'I don't see
+why you should be afraid of fairies, Nanni, even supposing there are
+any. They've never done us any harm. Now, have they?'</p>
+
+<p>But though she could not say they had, Nanni did not look happy. She was
+one of those people that did not like anything she did not understand.
+Maia gave Rollo's sleeve a little pull as a sign to him that he had
+better not say any more, and then they set off quickly walking back to
+the castle.</p>
+
+<p>For some days things went on as usual, though every morning when she got
+up and every evening when she went to bed Maia wondered if the summons
+would not come soon. She went all round the castle, peeping up into the
+eaves to see if she could find the swallows' nest; but she did not
+succeed, and it was no wonder, for the solitary nest was hidden away in
+a corner where even Maia's sharp eyes could not penetrate, and the
+swallows flew out and in through a hole in the parapet round the roof
+which no one suspected.</p>
+
+<p>'I know there <i>are</i> swallows here,' she said to Rollo, 'for I've seen
+them. But I can't fancy where they live.'</p>
+
+<p>'Nanni would say they were fairies,' said Rollo, smiling. He was more
+patient than his sister, and he was quite sure that godmother would not
+forget them. And by degrees Maia began to follow his example, especially
+after Rollo happened to remark one day that he had noticed that it was
+always when they had been working the most steadily at their lessons,
+and thinking the least of holidays and treats that the holidays and
+treats came. This counsel Maia took to heart, and worked so well for
+some days that Mademoiselle Delphine and the old chaplain had none but
+excellent reports to give of both children, and Lady Venelda smiled on
+them so graciously that they felt sure her next letter to their father
+would be a most satisfactory one.</p>
+
+<p>One evening&mdash;it was the evening of a most lovely spring day&mdash;when Rollo
+and Maia had said good-night in the usual ceremonious way to Lady
+Venelda, they were coming slowly along the great corridor, white like
+the rest of the castle, which led to their own rooms, when a sound at
+one of the windows they were passing made them stop.</p>
+
+<p>'What was that?' said Maia. 'It sounded like a great flutter of wings.'</p>
+
+<p>Rollo glanced out of the window. It was nearly dark, but his eyes were
+quick.</p>
+
+<p>'It was wings,' he said. 'Quite a flight of birds have just flown off
+from under the roof.'</p>
+
+<p>'Ah,' said Maia, nodding her head mysteriously, 'I thought so. Well,
+Rollo, <i>I</i> don't intend to go to sleep to-night, whether you do or not.'</p>
+
+<p>Rollo shook his head.</p>
+
+<p>'I shall wake if there's anything to wake for,' he said. 'I'm much more
+sure of doing that than you can be of keeping awake.'</p>
+
+<p>'Why, I couldn't <i>go</i> to sleep if I thought there was going to be
+anything to wake for,' said Maia.</p>
+
+<p>Before long they were both in bed. Rollo laid his head on the pillow
+without troubling himself about keeping awake or going to sleep. Maia,
+on the contrary, kept her eyes as wide open as she could. It was a
+moonlight night; the objects in the room stood out in sharp black
+shadow against the bright radiance, seeming to take queer fantastic
+forms which made her every minute start up, feeling sure that she saw
+some one or something beside her bedside. And every time that she found
+it a mistake she felt freshly disappointed. At last, quite tired with
+expecting she knew not what, she turned her face to the wall and shut
+her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>'Stupid things that they all are!' she said to herself. 'Godmother, and
+the birds, and Waldo, and Silva, and the old doctor, and everybody.
+They've no business to promise us treats, and then never do anything
+about them. I shan't think any more about it, that I won't. I believe
+it's all a pretence.'</p>
+
+<p>Which you will, I am sure, agree with me in thinking not very reasonable
+on Maia's part!</p>
+
+<p>She fell asleep at last, and, as might have been expected, much more
+soundly than usual. When she woke, it was from a deep, dreamless
+slumber, but with the feeling that for some time some one had been
+calling her, and that she had been slow of rousing herself.</p>
+
+<p>'What is it?' she called out, sitting up in bed, and trying to wink the
+sleep out of her eyes. 'Who is there?'</p>
+
+<p>'Maia!' a voice replied. A voice that seemed to come from a great
+distance, and yet to reach her as clearly as any sound she had ever
+heard in her life. 'Maia, are you ready?'</p>
+
+<p>Up sprang Maia.</p>
+
+<p>'Godmother, is it you calling me?' she said. 'Oh, yes, it must be you!
+I'll be ready in a moment, godmother. If I could but find my shoes and
+stockings! Oh, dear! oh, dear! and I meant to keep awake all night. I've
+been expecting you such a long time.'</p>
+
+<p>'I know,' said the voice, quite close beside her this time; 'you have
+been expecting me too much,' and, glancing round, Maia saw in the
+moonlight&mdash;right <i>in</i> the moonlight, looking indeed almost as if the
+bright rays came from her&mdash;a shadowy silvery figure, quite different
+from godmother as she had hitherto known her, but which, nevertheless,
+she knew in a moment could be no one else. Maia flung her arms round her
+and kissed her.</p>
+
+<p>'Yes,' she said, 'now I'm <i>quite</i> sure it's you and not a dream. No
+dream has cheeks so soft as yours, godmother, and no one else kisses
+like you. Your kisses are just like violets. But what am I to do? Must I
+get dressed at once?'</p>
+
+<p>Godmother passed her hands softly round the child. She seemed to stroke
+her.</p>
+
+<p>'You are dressed,' she said. 'The clothes you wear generally would be
+too heavy, so I brought some with me. You do not need shoes and
+stockings.'</p>
+
+<p>But Maia was looking at herself with too much surprise almost to hear
+what she said. 'Dressed,' yes, indeed! She was dressed as never before
+in her life, and though she turned herself about, and stroked herself
+like a little bird proud of its plumage, she could not find out of what
+her dress was made, nor what exactly was its colour. Was it velvet, or
+satin, or plush? Was it green or blue?</p>
+
+<p>'I know,' she cried at last joyously; 'it's the same stuff your red
+dress is made of, godmother! Oh, how nice, and soft, and warm, and light
+all together it is! I feel as if I could jump up to the sky.'</p>
+
+<p>'And not be seen when you got there,' said godmother. 'The colour of
+your dress <i>is</i> sky colour, Maia. But when you have finished admiring
+yourself we must go&mdash;the others have been ready ever so long. They had
+not been expecting me <i>too</i> much, like you, and so they were ready all
+the quicker.'</p>
+
+<p>'Do you mean Rollo?' said Maia. 'Rollo, and Silva, and Waldo?'</p>
+
+<p>Godmother nodded her head.</p>
+
+<p>'I'm ready now, any way,' said Maia.</p>
+
+<p>'Give me your hand,' said godmother, and taking it she held it firm, and
+led Maia to the window. To the little girl's surprise it was wide open.
+Godmother, still holding her hand, softly whistled&mdash;once, twice, three
+times. Then stood quietly waiting.</p>
+
+<p>A gentle, rustling, wafting sound became gradually audible. Maia
+remained perfectly still&mdash;holding her breath in her curiosity to see
+what was coming next. The sound grew nearer and louder, if one can use
+the word loud to so soft and delicate a murmur. Maia stretched out her
+head.</p>
+
+<p>'Here they are,' said godmother, and as she spoke, a large object,
+looking something like a ship with two great sails swimming through the
+air instead of on the sea, came in sight, and, as if steered by an
+invisible hand, came slowly up to the window and there stopped.</p>
+
+<p>'What is it?' cried Maia, not quite sure, in spite of godmother's firm
+clasp, whether she was not a little frightened, for even godmother
+herself looked strangely shadowy and unreal in the moonlight, and the
+great air-boat was like nothing Maia had ever seen or dreamt of.
+Suddenly she gave a joyful spring, for she caught sight of what took
+away all her fear. There in the centre of the huge sails, seated in a
+sort of car, and joyfully waving their hands to her, were Rollo, and
+Silva, and Waldo.</p>
+
+<p>'Come, Maia,' they called out; 'the birds have come to fetch us, you
+see. There's a snug seat for you among the cushions. Come, quick.'</p>
+
+<p>How was she to come, Maia was on the point of asking, when she felt
+godmother draw her quickly forward.</p>
+
+<p>'Spring, my child, and don't be afraid,' she said, and Maia sprang
+almost without knowing it, for before she had time to ask or think
+anything about it, she found herself being kissed by Silva, and
+comfortably settled in her place by the boys.</p>
+
+<p>'All right&mdash;we're off now,' Waldo called out, and at once, with a steady
+swing, the queer ship rose into the air.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="illus7" id="illus7"></a>
+<img src="images/illus7.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>'All right&mdash;we're off now,' Waldo called out, and at once, with a steady
+swing, the queer ship rose into the air.</h3>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>'But godmother,' exclaimed Maia, 'where is she? Isn't she coming with
+us?'</p>
+
+<p>'I am with you, my child,' answered godmother's clear, well-known voice.
+But where it came from Maia could not tell.</p>
+
+<p>'Godmother is steering us,' said Silva softly, 'but we can't see her.
+She doesn't want us to see her. But she'll take care of us.'</p>
+
+<p>'But where are we?' asked Maia bewildered. 'What is this queer ship or
+balloon that we are in? What makes it go?'</p>
+
+<p>'Look closer, and you'll see,' said Silva. 'Look at the sails.'</p>
+
+<p>And Maia looking, saw by the bright moonlight something stranger than
+any of the strange things she had yet seen in Christmas-tree land. The
+sails were made of an immense collection of birds all somehow or other
+holding together. Afterwards Silva explained to her that they were all
+clinging by their claws to a great frame, round which they were arranged
+in order according to their size, and all flapping their wings in
+perfect time, so as to have much the same effect in propelling the
+vessel through the air as the regular motion of several pairs of oars in
+rowing a boat over the sea. And gradually, as Maia watched and
+understood, a soft murmur reached her ears&mdash;it was the waft of the many
+pairs of wings as they all together clove the air.</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, the dear, sweet birds!' she exclaimed. 'They have planned it all
+themselves, I am sure. Oh, Silva, isn't it lovely? Have you ever had a
+sail in the air like this before?'</p>
+
+<p>'Not exactly like this,' said Silva.</p>
+
+<p>'We've had <i>rides</i> in the air,' said Waldo mysteriously.</p>
+
+<p>'<i>Have</i> you?' said Maia eagerly. 'Oh, do tell us about them!'</p>
+
+<p>But Rollo laid his hand on her arm.</p>
+
+<p>'Hush!' he said softly; 'the birds are going to sing,' and before Maia
+had time to ask him how he knew, the song began.</p>
+
+<p>'Shut your eyes,' said Waldo; 'let's all shut our eyes. It sounds ever
+so much prettier.'</p>
+
+<p>The others followed his advice. You can imagine nothing more delicious
+than the feeling of floating&mdash;for it felt more like quick floating than
+anything else&mdash;swiftly through the air, with the sweet warbling voices
+all keeping perfect time together, so that even the queer sounds which
+now and then broke through the others&mdash;a croak from the crow, who was
+quite satisfied that he alone conducted the bass voices, or a sudden
+screech from an owl, who had difficulty in subduing his tones&mdash;did not
+seem to mar the effect of the whole. The children did not speak; they
+did not feel as if they cared to do so. They held each others' hands,
+and Maia leant her head on Silva's shoulder in perfect content. It was
+like a beautiful dream.</p>
+
+<p>Gradually the music ceased, and just as it did so godmother's well-known
+voice came clearly through the air. It seemed to come from above, and
+yet it sounded so near.</p>
+
+<p>'Children,' she said, 'we are going higher. It will be colder for a
+while, for we must hasten, to be in good time for the dawn. Wrap
+yourselves up well!'</p>
+
+<p>And as she spoke down dropped on their heads a great soft fleecy shawl
+or mantle. Softer and fleecier and lighter than any eider-down or lambs'
+wool that ever was seen or felt, and warmer too, for the children had
+but to give it the tiniest pull or pat in any direction and there it
+settled itself in the most comfortable way, creeping round them like the
+gentle hand of a mother covering up the little ones at night.</p>
+
+<p>'It must be godmother who is tucking us up, though we can't see her,'
+said Rollo.</p>
+
+<p>'Dear godmother,' said Maia, and a sort of little echo was murmured all
+round, even the birds seeming to join in it, of 'dear godmother.'</p>
+
+<p>It did get colder, much colder; but the well-protected children,
+nestling in the cushions of their air-boat, did not feel it, except when
+inquisitive Maia poked up her sharp little nose, very quickly to
+withdraw it again.</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, it <i>is</i> so freezy,' she said. 'My nose feels as if it would drop
+off. Do rub it for me, Silva.'</p>
+
+<p>'I told you it would be cold,' said godmother's voice again. 'Stay where
+you are, Maia; indeed, I think I don't need to warn you now. A burnt
+child dreads the fire. I will tell you all when the time comes for you
+to peep out.'</p>
+
+<p>Maia felt a very little ashamed of her restlessness, and for the rest of
+the journey she was perfectly quiet. Especially when in a few moments
+the birds began to sing again&mdash;still more softly and sweetly this time,
+so that it seemed a kind of cradle song. Whether the children slept or
+not I cannot tell. I don't think they could have told themselves; but in
+any case they were very still for a good long while after the serenade
+had ceased.</p>
+
+<p>And then once more&mdash;clearer and more ringing than before&mdash;sounded
+godmother's voice.</p>
+
+<p>'Children, look out! The dawn is breaking.'</p>
+
+<p>And as the strange air-boat slowly relaxed its speed, floating downwards
+in the direction of some great cliffs almost exactly underneath where it
+was, the four children sat up, throwing off the fairy mantle which had
+so well protected them, and gazed with all their eyes, as well they
+might, at the wonderful beauty of the sight before them.</p>
+
+<p>For they had sailed up to the eagles' eyrie in time to see the sun
+rise!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE EAGLES' EYRIE.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i11">'Where, yonder, in the upper air<br /></span>
+<span class="i11">The solemn eagles watch the sun.'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>Did you ever see the sun rise? I hope so; but still I am sure you never
+saw it from such a point as that whereon their winged conductors gently
+deposited the castle and the forest children that early summer morning.</p>
+
+<p>'Jump out,' said the voice they had all learnt to obey, when the
+air-boat came to a stand-still a few feet above the rock. And the
+children, who as yet had noticed nothing of the ground above which they
+were hovering, for their eyes were fixed on the pink and azure and
+emerald and gold, spreading out like a fairy kaleidoscope on the sky
+before them, joined hands and sprang fearlessly on to they knew not
+what. And as they did so, with a murmuring warble of farewell, the birds
+flapped their wings, and the air-boat rose swiftly into the air and
+disappeared from view.</p>
+
+<p>The four looked at each other.</p>
+
+<p>'Has godmother sailed away in it? I thought she was going to stay with
+us,' exclaimed Maia in a disappointed tone.</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, Maia,' said Silva, 'you don't yet understand godmother a bit. But
+we must not stand here. You know the way, Waldo?'</p>
+
+<p>'Here,' where they were standing, was, as I said, a rock, ragged and
+bare, though lower down, its sides were clothed with short thymy grass.
+And stretching behind them the children saw a beautiful expanse of hilly
+ground, beautiful though treeless, for the heather and bracken and gorse
+that covered it looked soft and mellow in the distance, more especially
+with the lovely light and colour just now reflected from the sky.</p>
+
+<p>But Waldo turned in the other direction. He walked a little way across
+the hard, bare rock, which he seemed to be attentively examining, till
+suddenly he stopped short, and tapped on the ground with a little stick
+he had in his hand.</p>
+
+<p>'It must be about here,' he said. The other three children came close
+round him.</p>
+
+<p>'Here,' exclaimed Silva, and she pointed to a small white cross cut in
+the stone at their feet.</p>
+
+<p>Waldo knelt down, and pressed the spot exactly in the centre of the
+cross. Immediately a large slab of rock, forming a sort of door, but
+fitting so closely when shut that no one would have suspected its
+existence, opened inwards, disclosing a flight of steps. Waldo looked
+round.</p>
+
+<p>'This is the short cut to the face of the cliff,' he said. 'Shall I go
+down first?'</p>
+
+<p>'Yes, and I next,' said Rollo, eagerly springing forward.</p>
+
+<p>Then followed Silva and Maia. The flight of steps was a short one. In a
+few moments they found themselves in a rocky passage, wide enough for
+them to walk along comfortably, one by one, and not dark, as light came
+in from little shafts cut at intervals in the roof. The passage twisted
+and turned about a good deal, but suddenly Waldo stopped, calling out:</p>
+
+<p>'Here we are! Is not this worth coming to see?'</p>
+
+<p>The passage had changed into a gallery, with the rock on one side only,
+on the other a railing, to protect those walking along it from a
+possible fall; for they were right on the face of an enormous cliff,
+far down at the bottom of which they could distinguish the tops of
+their old friends the firs. And far as the eye could reach stretched
+away into the distance, miles and miles and miles, here rising, there
+again sweeping downwards, the everlasting Christmas-trees!</p>
+
+<p>The passage stopped suddenly. It ended in a sort of little shelf in the
+rock, and higher up in the wall, at the back of this shelf as it were,
+the children saw two large round holes cut in the rock: they were the
+windows of the eagles' eyrie.</p>
+
+<p>Waldo went forward, and with his little stick tapped three times on the
+smooth, shining rock-wall. But the others, intently watching though they
+were, could not see how a door opened&mdash;whether it drew back inwards or
+rolled in sidewards. All they saw was that just before them, where a
+moment before there had been the rock-surface, a great arched doorway
+now invited them to enter.</p>
+
+<p>Waldo glanced round, though without speaking. The other three
+understood, and followed him through the doorway, which, in the same
+mysterious way in which it had opened, was now closed up behind them.
+But that it was so they hardly noticed, so delighted were they with what
+they saw before them. It was the prettiest room, or hall, you could
+imagine&mdash;the roof rising very high, and the light coming in through the
+two round windows of which I told you. And the whole&mdash;roof, walls,
+floor&mdash;was completely lined with what, at first sight, the children took
+for some most beautifully-embroidered kind of velvet. But velvet it was
+not. No embroidery ever showed the exquisite delicacy of tints, fading
+into each other like the softest tones of music, from the purest white
+through every silvery shade to the richest purple, or from deep glowing
+scarlet to pink paler than the first blush of the peach-blossom, while
+here and there rainbow wreaths shone out like stars on a glowing sky. It
+was these wreaths that told the secret.</p>
+
+<p>'Why,' exclaimed Maia, 'it is all <i>feathers</i>!'</p>
+
+<p>'Yes,' said Silva, 'I had forgotten. I never was here before, but
+godmother told me about it.'</p>
+
+<p>'And where&mdash;&mdash;?' Maia was going on, but a sound interrupted her. It was
+that of a flutter of wings over their heads, and looking up the children
+perceived two enormous birds slowly flying downwards to where they
+stood, though whence they had come could not be seen.</p>
+
+<p>They alighted and stood together&mdash;their great wings folded, while their
+piercing eyes surveyed their guests.</p>
+
+<p>'We make you welcome,' they said at last, in a low soft tone which
+surprised the children, whose heads were full of the idea that eagles
+were fierce and their only voice a scream. 'We have been looking for
+your visit, of which our birds gave us notice. We have ordered a
+collation to be prepared for you, and we trust you will enjoy the view.'</p>
+
+<p>Waldo, who seemed to be master of the ceremonies to-day, stepped forward
+a little in front of the others.</p>
+
+<p>'We thank you,' he said quietly, making his best bow as he spoke.</p>
+
+<p>The eagle queen raised her great wing&mdash;the left wing&mdash;and with it
+pointed to a spot among the feather hangings where, though they had not
+noticed it, the children now saw gleaming a silver knob.</p>
+
+<p>'Up that stair leads to the balcony overhanging the cliff,' she said.
+'There you will find our respected attendants, the falcon and the hawk,
+who have purveyed for your wants. And before you leave, the king and I
+hope to show you something of this part of our domains. <i>Au
+revoir!</i>&mdash;the sun awaits us to bid him good-morning.'</p>
+
+<p>And with a slow, majestic movement the two strange birds spread their
+wings and rose upwards, where, though the children's eyes followed them
+closely, they disappeared they knew not how or where.</p>
+
+<p>Then Waldo turned the silver knob and opened a door, through which, as
+the eagle queen had said, they saw a staircase mounting straight
+upwards. It led out on to a balcony cut in the rock, but carefully
+carpeted with moss, and with rustic seats and a rustic table, on which
+were laid out four covers evidently intended for the four children. Two
+birds, large, but very much smaller than the eagles, stood at the side,
+each with a table-napkin over one wing, which so amused the children
+that it was with difficulty they returned the exceedingly dignified
+'reverence' with which the hawk and the falcon greeted them. And they
+were rather glad when the two attendants spread their wings and flew
+over the edge of the balcony, evidently going to fetch the dishes.</p>
+
+<p>'What will they give us to eat, I wonder?' said Maia. 'I hope it won't
+be pieces of poor little lambs, all raw, you know. That's what they
+always tell you eagles eat in the natural history books.'</p>
+
+<p>'Not the eagles of <i>this</i> country,' said Silva. 'I am sure you never
+read about them in your books. <i>Our</i> eagles are not cruel and fierce;
+they would never eat little lambs.'</p>
+
+<p>'But they must kill lots of little birds, whether they eat them or not,'
+said Maia, 'to get all those quantities and quantities of feathers.'</p>
+
+<p>'Kill the little birds!' cried Silva and Waldo both at once. 'Kill their
+own birds! Maia, what are you thinking of? As if any creature that lives
+in Christmas-tree Land would kill any other! Why, the feathers are the
+birds' presents to the king and queen. They keep all that drop off and
+bring them once a year, and that's been done for years and years, till
+the whole of the nest is lined with them.'</p>
+
+<p>'How nice!' replied Maia. 'I'm very glad the eagles are so kind. But
+they're not so <i>funny</i> as the squirrels. They look so very solemn.'</p>
+
+<p>'They must be solemn,' said Waldo. 'They're not like the squirrels, who
+have nothing to do but jump about.'</p>
+
+<p>'I beg your pardon,' said Rollo. 'Have you forgotten that the world
+would stop if Mr. Bushy didn't climb to the top of the tree?'</p>
+
+<p>'And what would happen if the eagles left off watching the sun?' said
+Waldo.</p>
+
+<p>'I don't know,' said Maia eagerly. 'Do tell us, Waldo.'</p>
+
+<p>Waldo looked at her.</p>
+
+<p>'I don't know either,' he said. 'Perhaps the sun would go to sleep, and
+then there would be a nice confusion.'</p>
+
+<p>'You're laughing at me,' said Maia, in rather an offended tone. 'I don't
+see how I'm to be expected to know everything; if the squirrels and the
+eagles and all the creatures here are different from everywhere else,
+how could I tell?'</p>
+
+<p>'Here's the collation!' exclaimed Rollo, and looking up, the others saw
+the falcon and the hawk flying back again, carrying between them a large
+basket, from which, when they had set it down beside the table, they
+cleverly managed, with beaks and claws, to take all sorts of mysterious
+things, which they arranged upon the table. There was no lamb, either
+raw or roasted, for all the repast consisted of fruits. Fruits of every
+kind the children had ever heard of, and a great many of which they did
+not even know the names, but which were more delicious than you, who
+have never tasted them, can imagine.</p>
+
+<p>'You see the eagle king and queen have no need to kill poor little
+lambs,' said Silva. And Maia agreed with her that no one who could get
+such fruits to eat, need ever wish for any other food. While she was
+speaking, the same soft rustle which they had heard before sounded
+overhead, and again the two great majestic birds alighted beside them.
+The four children started to their feet.</p>
+
+<p>'Thank you so much for the delicious fruit, eagle king and eagle queen,'
+said Maia, who was seldom backward at making speeches.</p>
+
+<p>'We are glad you found it to your taste,' said the king. 'It has come
+from many a far-away land&mdash;lands you have perhaps scarcely even dreamt
+of, but which to us seem not so strange or distant.'</p>
+
+<p>'Do you fly away so very far?' asked Maia, but the eagles only gleamed
+at her with their wonderful eyes, and shook their heads.</p>
+
+<p>'It is not for us to tell what you could not understand,' said the king.
+'They who can gaze undazzled on the sun must see many things.'</p>
+
+<p>Maia drew back a little.</p>
+
+<p>'They frighten me rather,' she whispered to the others. 'They are so
+solemn and mysterious.'</p>
+
+<p>'But that needn't frighten you,' said Silva. 'Rollo isn't frightened.'</p>
+
+<p>'Rollo's a boy,' replied Maia, as if that settled the matter.</p>
+
+<p>Waldo now pointed out some steps in the rock leading up still higher.</p>
+
+<p>'The eagles want us to go up there,' he said. 'We shall see right over
+the forest and ever so far.'</p>
+
+<p>And so they did, for the steps led up a long way till they ended on
+another rock-shelf right on the face of the cliff. From here the great
+fir-forests looked but like dark patches far below, while away, away in
+the distance stretched on one side the great plain across which the
+children had journeyed on their first coming to the white castle; and on
+the other the distant forms of mountain ranges, gray-blue, shading
+fainter and fainter till the clouds themselves looked more real.</p>
+
+<p>It was cold, very cold, up here on the edge of the great bare rocks. The
+beauty of the sunrise had sobered down into the chilly freshness of an
+early summer morning; the world seemed still asleep, and the children
+shivered a little.</p>
+
+<p>'I don't think I should like to live always as high up as this,' said
+Maia. 'It's very lonely and very cold.'</p>
+
+<p>'You would need to be dressed in feathers like the eagles if you did,'
+replied Silva; 'and if one had eyes like theirs, I dare say one would
+never feel lonely. One would see so much.'</p>
+
+<p>'I wonder,' said Maia&mdash;and then she stopped.</p>
+
+<p>'What were you going to say?' asked Rollo.</p>
+
+<p>Maia's eyes looked far over the plain as if, like the eagles, they would
+pierce the distance.</p>
+
+<p>'It was from there we came,' she said. 'I wonder if it will be from
+there that father will come to take us away. Do you think that the
+eagles will know when he is coming? do you think they will see him from
+very far off?'</p>
+
+<p>Silva looked over the plain without speaking, and into her dark eyes
+there crept something that was not in Maia's blue ones.</p>
+
+<p>'Maia,' exclaimed Rollo reproachfully, 'Silva is crying. She doesn't
+like you to talk of us going away.'</p>
+
+<p>In an instant Maia's arms were round Silva's neck.</p>
+
+<p>'Don't cry, Silva&mdash;you mustn't,' she said. 'When we go away you and
+Waldo shall come too&mdash;we will ask our father, won't we, Rollo?'</p>
+
+<p>'And godmother?' said Silva, smiling again. 'What would she say? We are
+her children, Maia, and the children of the forest. We should not be fit
+to live as you do in the great world of men out away there. No; we can
+always love each other, and perhaps you and Rollo will come away out of
+the world sometimes to see us&mdash;but we must stay in our own country.'</p>
+
+<p>'Never mind&mdash;don't talk about it just now,' said Maia. 'I wish I hadn't
+said anything about father coming. I dare say he won't come for a very
+long while, and when we can see you and Waldo we are never dull. It's
+only at the castle when they give us such lots of lessons and everybody
+is so prim and so cross if we're the least bit late. Oh, dear!&mdash;I was
+forgetting&mdash;shan't we be late for breakfast this morning? Is godmother
+coming to fetch us?'</p>
+
+<p>'We are going home now,' said Waldo. 'But first we must say good-bye to
+the eagles. Here they are,' for as he spoke the two royal birds came
+circling down from overhead and settled themselves on the very edge of
+the cliff, whose dizzy height they calmly overlooked&mdash;their gaze fixed
+far beyond.</p>
+
+<p>'That is where they always stay watching,' said Waldo, in a low voice,
+and then the children went forward till they were but a few steps behind
+the pair. Farther it would not have been safe to go.</p>
+
+<p>'Good-bye, king and queen,' they said all together, and the eagles,
+slowly turning round, though without moving from their places, answered
+in their grave voices:</p>
+
+<p>'Farewell, children. We will watch you, though you may not know it.
+Farewell.'</p>
+
+<p>Then Waldo led the others down the rock stair by which they had come
+up&mdash;down past the balcony where they had had their collation of fruit,
+till they found themselves in the feather-lined hall.</p>
+
+<p>'There is something rather sad about the eagles,' said Maia. 'Do you
+think it is watching so much that makes them sad?'</p>
+
+<p>'Perhaps,' said Silva. 'Come and sit down here in this snug corner.
+Look, there is a feather arm-chair for each of us&mdash;it is a little
+chilly, don't you think?'</p>
+
+<p>'Yes, perhaps it is. But tell me if you know why the eagles are sad.'</p>
+
+<p>'I think they are more grave than sad,' replied Silva. 'I dare say
+watching so much does make them so.'</p>
+
+<p>'Why? Do they see so far? Do they see all sorts of things?' asked Maia
+in a rather awe-struck tone. 'Are they like fairies, Silva?'</p>
+
+<p>'I don't know exactly,' said Silva. 'But I think they are very wise, and
+I expect they know a great deal.'</p>
+
+<p>'But they can't know as much as godmother, and she isn't sad,' said
+Maia.</p>
+
+<p>'Sometimes she is,' said Silva. 'Besides, she has more to do than the
+eagles. They have only to watch&mdash;she puts things right. You'll
+understand better some day,' she added, seeing that Maia looked puzzled.
+'But isn't it cold? Oh, see there&mdash;that's to wrap ourselves up in,' for
+just at this moment there flapped down on them, from no one could tell
+where, the great soft fluffy cloak or rug which had kept them so
+beautifully warm during their air-journey.</p>
+
+<p>'Come under the shawl,' cried Maia to the two boys, and all the children
+drew their seats close together and wrapped the wonderful cloak well
+round them.</p>
+
+<p>'But aren't we going home soon?' said Maia. 'I'm so afraid of being
+late.'</p>
+
+<p>'Godmother knows all about it,' said Waldo. 'She's sent us this cloak on
+purpose. There's nothing to do but sit still&mdash;till she tells us what
+we're to do. I don't mind, for somehow I'm rather sleepy.'</p>
+
+<p>'I think I am too,' said Rollo, and though Silva and Maia were less
+ready to allow it, I think they must have felt the same, for somehow or
+other two minutes later all the four were taking a comfortable nap, and
+knew nothing more till a soft clear voice whispered in their ears:</p>
+
+<p>'Children, it is time to wake up.'</p>
+
+<p>'Time to go home! Are the birds coming for us again?' said Maia, rubbing
+her eyes and staring about her. A voice softly laughing replied to her:</p>
+
+<p>'Birds&mdash;what birds are you talking about? You're not awake yet, Maia,
+and I've been telling you to wake ever so long.'</p>
+
+<p>It was Rollo.</p>
+
+<p>'You, why I thought it was godmother,' said Maia; 'I heard her say,
+"Children, it is time to wake up," and I thought we were all in the
+feather-hall still. How did we get back, Rollo?'</p>
+
+<p>For 'back' they were. Maia in her own little bed in the white castle,
+and Rollo standing beside her in his ordinary dress. Where were Waldo
+and Silva&mdash;where the feather-hall&mdash;where the wonderful dresses in which
+godmother had clothed them for the air-journey? Maia looked up at Rollo
+as she spoke, with disappointment in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>'We <i>are</i> back,' he said, 'and that's all there is to say about it, as
+far as I can see. But come, Maia, don't look so unhappy. We've had great
+fun, and we must be very good after it to please godmother. It's a
+lovely day, and after we've finished our lessons we can have some nice
+runs in the fields. Jump up&mdash;you're not a bit tired, are you? I'm not.'</p>
+
+<p>'Nor am I,' said Maia, slowly bestirring herself. 'But I'm rather dull.
+I'm afraid we shan't see them again for a good while, Rollo.'</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+<h3>A VISION OF CHRISTMAS TREES.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i11">'The angels are abroad to-night.'<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i25"><i>At Christmas-tide.</i><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>It was early summer when <i>we</i> saw them last. It is
+mid-winter&mdash;December&mdash;now. And winter comes in good earnest in the
+country where I have shown you the white castle, and told you of the
+doings and adventures of its two little guests. Many more could I tell
+you of&mdash;many a joyous summer day had they spent with their forest
+friends, many a wonderful dance had godmother led them, till they had
+got to know nearly as much as Waldo and Silva themselves of the strange
+happy creatures that lived in this marvellous Christmas-tree Land, and
+in other lands too. For as the days shortened again, and grew too cold
+for air-journeys and cave explorings and visits to many other denizens
+of the forest than I have space to tell you about, then began the
+season of godmother's story-tellings, which I think the children found
+as delightful as any other of her treats. Oh, the wonderful tales that
+were told round the bright little fire in Silva's dainty kitchen! Oh,
+the wood-fairies, and water-sprites, and dwarfs, and gnomes that they
+learnt about! Oh, the lovely songs that godmother sang in that witching
+voice of hers&mdash;that voice like none other that the children had ever
+heard! It was a true fairyland into which she led them&mdash;a fairyland
+where entered nothing ugly or cruel or mean or false, though the
+dwellers in it were of strange and fantastic shape and speech, children
+of the rainbow and the mist, unreal and yet real, like the cloud-castles
+that build themselves for us in the sky, or the music that weaves itself
+in the voice of the murmuring stream.</p>
+
+<p>But even to these happy times there came an end&mdash;and the beginning of
+this end began to be felt when the first snow fell and Christmas-tree
+Land was covered with the thick white mantle it always wore till the
+spring's soft breath blew it off again.</p>
+
+<p>'A storm is coming&mdash;a heavy storm is on its way, my darlings,' said
+godmother one afternoon, when she had been spinning some lovely stories
+for them with her invisible wheel. She had left the fireside and was
+standing by the open doorway, looking out at the white landscape, and as
+she turned round, it seemed to the children that her own face was whiter
+than usual&mdash;her <i>hair</i> certainly was so. It had lost the golden tinge it
+sometimes took, which seemed to make a gleam all over her features&mdash;so
+that at such times it was impossible to believe that godmother was
+old&mdash;and now she seemed a very tiny little old woman, as small and
+fragile as if she herself was made out of a snowflake, and her face
+looked anxious and almost sad. 'A storm is on its way,' she repeated;
+'you must hasten home.'</p>
+
+<p>'But why do you look so sad, godmother dear?' said Maia. 'We can get
+home quite safely. <i>You</i> can see to that. Nothing will ever hurt us when
+<i>you</i> are taking care of us.'</p>
+
+<p>'But there are some things I cannot do,' said godmother, smiling, 'or
+rather that I would not do if I could. Times and seasons pass away and
+come to an end, and it is best so. Still, it may make even me sad
+sometimes.'</p>
+
+<p>All the four pairs of eyes looked up in quick alarm. They felt that
+there was something&mdash;though what, they did not know&mdash;that godmother was
+thinking of in particular, and the first idea that came into their
+minds was not far from the truth.</p>
+
+<p>'Godmother! oh, godmother!' exclaimed all the voices together, so that
+they sounded like one, 'you don't mean that we're not to see each other
+any more?'</p>
+
+<p>'Not yet, dears, not yet,' said godmother. 'But happy times pass and sad
+times pass. It must be so. And, after all, why should one fret? Those
+who love each other meet again as surely as the bees fly to the
+flowers.'</p>
+
+<p>'In Heaven, godmother? Do you mean in Heaven?' asked Maia, in a low
+voice and with a look in her eyes telling that the tears were not far
+off.</p>
+
+<p>Godmother smiled again.</p>
+
+<p>'Sooner than that sometimes. Do not look so distressed, my pretty Maia.
+But come now. I must get you home before the storm breaks. Kiss each
+other, my darlings, but it is not good-bye yet. You will soon be
+together again&mdash;sooner than you think.'</p>
+
+<p>No one ever thought of not doing&mdash;and at once&mdash;what godmother told them.
+Rollo and Maia said good-bye even more lovingly than usual to their dear
+Waldo and Silva, and then godmother, holding a hand of each, set out on
+their homeward journey.</p>
+
+<p>It was as she had said&mdash;the storm-spirits were in the air. Above the
+wind and the cracking of the branches, brittle with the frost, and the
+far-off cries of birds and other creatures on their way to shelter in
+their nests or lairs, came another sound which the children had heard of
+but never before caught with their own ears&mdash;a strange, indescribable
+sound, neither like the murmuring of the distant sea nor the growl of
+thunder nor the shriek of the hurricane, yet recalling all of these.</p>
+
+<p>''Tis the voice of the storm,' said godmother softly. 'Pray to the good
+God, my darlings, for those that travel by land or sea. And now,
+farewell!&mdash;that beaten path between the trees will bring you out at the
+castle gate, and no harm will come to you. Good-bye!'</p>
+
+<p>She lingered a little over the last word, and this encouraged Maia to
+ask a question.</p>
+
+<p>'When shall we see you again, dear godmother? And will you not tell us
+more about why you are sad?'</p>
+
+<p>'It will pass with the storm, for all is for the best,' said godmother
+dreamily. 'When one joy passes, another comes. Remember that. And no
+true joy is ever past. Keep well within shelter, my children, till the
+storm has had its way, and then&mdash;&mdash;' she stopped again.</p>
+
+<p>'Then? What then? Oh, <i>do</i> tell us,' persisted Maia. 'You know, dear
+godmother, it is <i>very</i> dull in the white castle when we mayn't go out.
+Lady Venelda makes them give us many more lessons to keep us out of
+mischief, she says, and we really don't much mind. It's better to do
+lessons than nothing. Oh, godmother, we would have been <i>so</i> miserable
+here if we hadn't had you and Waldo and Silva!'</p>
+
+<p>Godmother stroked Maia's sunny head and smiled down into her eyes. And
+something just then&mdash;was it a last ray of the setting sun hurrying off
+to calmer skies till the storm should have passed?&mdash;lighted up
+godmother's own face and hair with a wonderful glow. She looked like a
+beautiful young girl.</p>
+
+<p>'Oh, how pretty you are!' said the children under their breath. But they
+were too used to these strange changes in godmother's appearance to be
+as astonished as many would have been.</p>
+
+<p>'Three nights from now will be the day before Christmas Eve,' said
+godmother. 'When you go to bed look out in the snow and you will see my
+messenger. And remember, remember, if one joy goes, another comes. And
+no true joys are ever lost.'</p>
+
+<p>And as they listened to her words, she was gone! So hand-in-hand,
+wondering what it all might mean, the children turned to the path in the
+snow she had shown them, which in a few minutes brought them safely
+home.</p>
+
+<p>Though none too soon&mdash;scarcely were they within shelter when the tempest
+began. The wind howled, the sleet and hail dashed down, even the
+growling of distant thunder, or what sounded like it, was heard&mdash;the
+storm-spirits had it all their own way for that night and the day
+following; and when the second night came, and the turmoil seemed to
+have ceased, it had but changed its form, for the snow again began to
+fall, ever more and more heavily, till it lay so deep that one could
+hardly believe the world would ever again burst forth from its silent
+cold embrace.</p>
+
+<p>And the white castle looked white no longer. Amid the surrounding purity
+it seemed gray and soiled and grimly ashamed of itself.</p>
+
+<p>Three days had passed; the third night was coming.</p>
+
+<p>'The snow has left off falling, and seems hardening,' Lady Venelda had
+said that afternoon. 'If it continues so, the children can go out
+to-morrow. It is not good for young people to be so long deprived of
+fresh air and exercise. But it is a hard winter. I only hope we shall
+have no more of these terrible storms before&mdash;&mdash;,' but then she stopped
+suddenly, for she was speaking to the old doctor, and had not noticed
+that Rollo and Maia were standing near.</p>
+
+<p>The children had seen with satisfaction that the snow had left off
+falling, for, though they had faith in godmother's being able to do what
+no one else could, they did not quite see how she was to send them a
+message if the fearful weather had continued.</p>
+
+<p>'We might have looked out the whole of last night without seeing
+anything,' said Maia, 'the snow was driving so. And if godmother means
+to take us anywhere, Rollo, it <i>is</i> a good thing it's so fine to-night.
+She was afraid of our being out in the storm the other day, you
+remember.'</p>
+
+<p>'Because there was no need for it,' said Rollo. 'It was already time for
+us to be home. I'm sure she could prevent any storm hurting us if she
+really wanted to take us anywhere. There's Nanni coming, Maia&mdash;as soon
+as she's gone call me, and we'll look out together.'</p>
+
+<p>Maia managed to persuade Nanni that she&mdash;Nanni, not Maia&mdash;was extra
+sleepy that evening, and had better go to bed without waiting to
+undress her. I am not quite sure that Nanni <i>did</i> go at once to bed, for
+the servants were already amusing themselves with Christmas games and
+merriment down in the great kitchen, where the fireplace itself was as
+large as a small room, and she naturally liked to join the fun. But all
+Maia cared about was to be left alone with Rollo. She called to him, and
+then in great excitement the two children drew back the window-curtains,
+and extinguishing their candles, stood hand-in-hand looking out to see
+what was going to happen. There was no moon visible, but it must have
+been shining all the same, faintly veiled perhaps behind a thin cloud,
+for a soft light, increased by the reflection of the spotless snow,
+gleamed over all. But there was nothing to be seen save the smooth white
+expanse, bounded at a little distance from the house by the trees which
+clothed the castle hill, whose forms looked strangely fantastic, half
+shrouded as they were by their white garment.</p>
+
+<p>'There is no one&mdash;nothing there,' said Maia in a tone of disappointment.
+'She must have forgotten.'</p>
+
+<p>'<i>Forgotten</i>&mdash;never!' said Rollo reproachfully. 'When has godmother ever
+forgotten us? Wait a little, Maia; you are so impatient.'</p>
+
+<p>They stood for some minutes in perfect silence. Suddenly a slight, very
+slight crackling was heard among the branches&mdash;so slight was it, that,
+had everything been less absolutely silent, it could not have been
+heard&mdash;and the children looked at each other in eager expectation.</p>
+
+<p>'Is it Silva&mdash;or Waldo?' said Maia in a whisper. 'She said her
+<i>messenger</i>.'</p>
+
+<p>'Hush!' said Rollo, warningly.</p>
+
+<p>A dainty little figure hopped into view from the shade of some low
+bushes skirting the lawn. It was a robin-redbreast. He stood still in
+the middle of the snow-covered lawn, his head on one side, as if in deep
+consideration. Suddenly a soft, low, but very peculiar whistle was
+heard, and the little fellow seemed to start, as if it were a signal he
+had been listening for, and then hopped forward unhesitatingly in the
+children's direction.</p>
+
+<p>'Did <i>you</i> whistle, Rollo?' said Maia in a whisper.</p>
+
+<p>'No, certainly not. I was just going to ask if <i>you</i> did,' answered
+Rollo.</p>
+
+<p>But now the robin attracted all their attention. He came to a stand just
+in front of their window, and then looked up at them with the most
+unmistakable air of invitation.</p>
+
+<p>'We're to go with him, I'm sure we are,' said Maia, beginning to dance
+with excitement; 'but <i>how</i> can we get to him? All the doors downstairs
+will be closed, and it's far too high to jump.'</p>
+
+<p>Rollo, who had been leaning out of the window the better to see the
+robin, suddenly drew his head in again with a puzzled expression.</p>
+
+<p>'It's <i>very</i> strange,' he said. 'I'm <i>sure</i> it wasn't there this
+morning. Look, Maia, do you see the top of a ladder just a tiny bit at
+this side of the window? I could get on to it quite easily.'</p>
+
+<p>'So could I,' said Maia, after peeping out. 'It's all right, Rollo.
+<i>She's</i> had it put there for us. Look at the robin&mdash;he knows all about
+it. You go first, and when you get down call to me and tell me how to
+manage.'</p>
+
+<p>Two minutes after, Rollo's voice called up that it was all right. Maia
+would find it quite easy if she came rather slowly, which she did, and
+to her great delight soon found herself beside her brother.</p>
+
+<p>'Dear me, we've forgotten our hats and jackets,' she exclaimed. 'But
+it's not cold&mdash;how is that?'</p>
+
+<p>'<i>You</i> haven't forgotten your&mdash;what is it you've got on?' said Rollo,
+looking at her.</p>
+
+<p>'And you&mdash;what have you got on?' said Maia in turn. 'Why, we've <i>both</i>
+got cloaks on, something like the shawl we had for the air-journey, only
+they're quite, <i>quite</i> white.'</p>
+
+<p>'Like the snow&mdash;we can't be seen. They're as good as invisible cloaks,'
+said Rollo, laughing in glee.</p>
+
+<p>'And they fit so neatly&mdash;they seem to have grown on to us,' said Maia,
+stroking herself. But in another moment, 'Oh, Rollo!' she exclaimed,
+half delighted and half frightened, 'they <i>are</i> growing, or we're
+growing, or something's growing. Up on your shoulders there are little
+<i>wings</i> coming, real little white wings&mdash;they're getting bigger and
+bigger every minute.'</p>
+
+<p>'And they're growing on you too,' exclaimed Rollo. 'Why, in a minute or
+two we'll be able to fly. Indeed, I think I can fly a little already,'
+and Rollo began flopping about his white wings like a newly-fledged and
+rather awkward cygnet. But in a minute or two Maia and he found&mdash;thanks
+perhaps to the example of the robin, who all this time was hovering just
+overhead, backwards and forwards, as if to say, 'do like me'&mdash;to their
+great joy that they could manage quite well; never, I am sure, did two
+little birds ever learn to fly so quickly!</p>
+
+<p>All was plain-sailing now&mdash;no difficulty in following their faithful
+little guide, who flew on before, now and then cocking back his dear
+little head to see if the two queer white birds under his charge were
+coming on satisfactorily. I wonder in what tribe or genus the learned
+men of that country, had there been any to see the two strange creatures
+careering through the cold wintry air, would have classed them!</p>
+
+<p>But little would they have cared. Never&mdash;oh, never, if I talked about it
+for a hundred years&mdash;could I give you an idea of the delightfulness of
+being able to fly! All the children's former pleasures seemed as nothing
+to it. The drive in godmother's pony-carriage, the gymnastics with the
+squirrels, the sail in the air&mdash;all seemed nothing in comparison with
+it. It was so perfectly enchanting that Maia did not even feel inclined
+to talk about it. And on, and on, and on they flew, till the robin
+stopped, wheeled round, and looking at them, began slowly to fly
+downwards. Rollo and Maia followed him. They touched the ground almost
+before they knew it; it seemed as if for a moment they melted into the
+snow which was surrounding them here, too, on all sides, and then as if
+they woke up again to find themselves wingless, but still with their
+warm white garments, standing at the foot of an immensely high
+tree&mdash;for they were, it was evident, at the borders of a great forest.</p>
+
+<p>The robin had disappeared. For an instant or two they remained standing
+still in bewilderment; perhaps, to tell the truth, a <i>very</i> little
+frightened, for it was much darker down here than it had been up in the
+air; indeed, it appeared to them that but for the gleaming snow, which
+seemed to have a light of its own, it would have been quite, <i>quite</i>
+dark.</p>
+
+<p>'Rollo,' said Maia tremulously, 'hold my hand tight; don't let it go.
+What&mdash;&mdash;' 'Are we to do?' she would have added, but a sound breaking on
+the silence made her stop short.</p>
+
+<p>A soft, far-away sound it was at first, though gradually growing clearer
+and nearer. It was that of children's voices singing a sweet and
+well-known Christmas carol, and somehow in the refrain at the end of
+each verse it seemed to Rollo and Maia that they heard their own names.
+'Come, come,' were the words that sounded the most distinctly. They
+hesitated no longer; off they ran, diving into the dark forest
+fearlessly, and though it was so dark they found no difficulty. As if by
+magic, they avoided every trunk and stump which might have hurt them,
+till, half out of breath, but with a strange brightness in their hearts,
+they felt themselves caught round the necks and heartily kissed, while a
+burst of merry laughter replaced the singing, which had gradually melted
+away. It was Waldo and Silva of course!</p>
+
+<p>'Keep your eyes shut,' they cried. 'Still a moment, and then you may
+open them.'</p>
+
+<p>'But they're <i>not</i> shut,' objected the children.</p>
+
+<p>'Ah, aren't they? Feel them,' said Waldo; and Rollo and Maia, lifting
+their hands to feel, found it was true. Their eyes were not only shut,
+but a slight, very fine gossamer thread seemed drawn across them.</p>
+
+<p>'We could not open them if we would,' they said; but I don't think they
+minded, and they let Waldo and Silva draw them on still a little
+farther, till&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>'Now,' they cried, and snap went the gossamer thread, and the two
+children stood with eyes well open, gazing on the wonderful scene around
+them.</p>
+
+<p>They seemed to be standing in the centre of a round valley, from which
+the ground on every side sloped gradually upwards. And all about them,
+arranged in the most orderly manner, were rows and rows&mdash;tiers, perhaps,
+I should say&mdash;of Christmas trees&mdash;real, genuine Christmas trees of every
+kind and size. Some loaded with toys of the most magnificent kind, some
+simpler, some with but a few gifts, and those of little value. But one
+and all brilliantly lighted up with their many-coloured tapers&mdash;one and
+all with its Christmas angel at the top. And nothing in fairy-doll shape
+that Rollo and Maia had ever seen was so beautiful as these angels with
+their gleaming wings and sweet, joyous loving faces. I think, when they
+had a little recovered from their first astonishment, that the beauty of
+the tree-angels was what struck them most.</p>
+
+<p>'Yes,' said a voice beside them, in answer to their unspoken thought;
+'yes, each tree has <i>always</i> its angel. Not always to be seen in its
+true beauty&mdash;sometimes you might think it only a poor, coarsely-painted
+little doll. But <i>the</i> angel is there all the same. Though it is only in
+Santa Claus' own garden that they are to be seen to perfection.'</p>
+
+<p>'Are we in Santa Claus' garden now, dear godmother?' asked Maia softly.</p>
+
+<p>'Yes, dears. He is a very old friend of mine&mdash;one of my oldest friends,
+I may say. And he allowed me to show you this sight. No other children
+have ever been so favoured. By this time to-morrow night&mdash;long before
+then, indeed&mdash;these thousands of trees will be scattered far and wide,
+and round each will be a group of the happy little faces my old friend
+loves so well.'</p>
+
+<p>'But, godmother,' said Maia practically, 'won't the tapers be burning
+down? Isn't it a pity to keep them lighted just for us? And, oh, dear
+me! however can Santa Claus get them packed and sent off in time? I
+<i>hope</i> he hasn't kept them too late to please us?'</p>
+
+<p>Godmother smiled.</p>
+
+<p>'Don't trouble your little head about that,' she said. 'But come, have
+you no curiosity to know which is your own Christmas-tree? Among all
+these innumerable ones, is there not one for you too?'</p>
+
+<p>Maia and Rollo looked up in godmother's eyes&mdash;they were smiling, but
+something in their expression they could not quite understand. Suddenly
+a kind of darkness fell over everything&mdash;darkness almost complete in
+comparison with the intense light of the million tapers that had gleamed
+but an instant before&mdash;though gradually, as their eyes grew used to it,
+there gleamed out the same soft faint light as of veiled moonbeams, that
+they had remarked before.</p>
+
+<p>'You can see now,' said godmother. 'Go straight on&mdash;quite straight
+through the trees'&mdash;for they were still in the midst of the
+forest&mdash;'till you come to what is waiting for you. But first kiss me, my
+darlings&mdash;a long kiss, for it is good-bye&mdash;and kiss, too, your little
+friends, Waldo and Silva, for in this world one may <i>hope</i>, but one can
+never be as <i>sure</i> as one would fain be, that good-byes are not for
+long.'</p>
+
+<p>Too overawed by her tone to burst into tears, as they were yet ready to
+do, the children threw themselves into each other's arms.</p>
+
+<p>'We <i>must</i> see each other again, we must; oh, godmother, say we shall!'
+cried all the four voices. And godmother, as she held them all together
+in her arms seemed to whisper&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>'I hope it. Yes, I hope and think you will.' And then, almost without
+having felt that Waldo and Silva were gently but irresistibly drawn from
+them, Rollo and Maia found themselves again alone, hand-in-hand in the
+midst of the forest, as they had so often stood before. Without giving
+themselves time to realise that they had said good-bye to their dear
+little friends, off they set, as godmother had told them, running
+straight on through the trees, where it almost seemed by the clear
+though soft light that a little path opened before them as they went.
+Till, suddenly, for a moment the light seemed to fade and disappear,
+leaving them almost in darkness, which again was as unexpectedly
+dispersed by a wonderful brilliance, spreading and increasing, so that
+at first they were too dazzled to distinguish whence it came. But not
+for long.</p>
+
+<p>'See, Rollo,' cried Maia; 'see, there is <i>our</i> Christmas tree.'</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="illus8" id="illus8"></a>
+<img src="images/illus8.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>'See, Rollo,' cried Maia; 'see, there is <i>our</i> Christmas
+tree.'</h3>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>And there it was&mdash;the most beautiful they had yet seen&mdash;all radiant with
+light and glistening with every pretty present child-heart could desire.</p>
+
+<p>'We are only to <i>look</i> at it, you know,' said Maia; 'it has to be packed
+up and sent us, of course, like the others. But,' she stopped short,
+'who is that, Rollo,' she went on, 'standing just by the tree? Can it be
+Santa Claus himself come to see if it is all right?'</p>
+
+<p>'Santa Claus,' exclaimed a well-known voice, 'Santa Claus, indeed! Is
+that your new name for me, my Maia?'</p>
+
+<p>Then came a cry of joy&mdash;a cry from two little loving hearts&mdash;a cry which
+rang merry echoes through the forest, and at which, though it woke up
+lots of little birds snugly hidden away in the warmest corners they
+could find, no one thought of grumbling, except, I think, an old owl,
+who greatly objected to any disturbance of his nightly promenades and
+meditations.</p>
+
+<p>'Papa, papa, dear papa!' was the cry. 'Papa, you have come back to us.
+<i>That</i> was what godmother meant,' they said together. And their father,
+well pleased, held them in his arms as if he would never again let them
+go.</p>
+
+<p>'So you have learnt to know what godmother means&mdash;that is well,' he
+said. 'But kiss me once more only, just now, my darlings, and then you
+must go home and sleep till the morning. And keep it a secret that you
+have seen me to-night.'</p>
+
+<p>He kissed them again, and before their soft childish lips had left his
+face, a strange dreamy feeling overpowered them. Neither Rollo nor Maia
+knew or thought anything more of where they were or how they had come
+there for many hours.</p>
+
+<p>And then they were awakened&mdash;Rollo first, then Maia&mdash;by the sound of
+Nanni's delighted voice at their bedside.</p>
+
+<p>'Wake up, wake up,' she said, 'for the most beautiful surprise has come
+to you for this happy Christmas Eve.'</p>
+
+<p>And even without her telling them, they knew what it was&mdash;they knew who
+was waiting for them downstairs, nor could all their awe of Lady Venelda
+prevent them rushing at their father and hugging him till he was nearly
+choked. But Lady Venelda, I must confess, was too happy herself to see
+her kinsman again to be at all vexed with them. And her pleasure, as
+well as that of the kind old doctor, was increased by the thanks they
+received for all their care of the children, whom their father declared
+he had never seen so bright or blooming.</p>
+
+<p>And, a few days afterwards, they went back with him to their own happy
+home; and what then?&mdash;did they ever see godmother and Waldo and Silva
+again? I can only answer, like godmother herself, 'I hope so; yes, I
+hope so, and think so.' But as to how or where&mdash;ah, that I cannot say!</p>
+
+
+<h3>THE END.</h3>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Christmas Tree Land, by Mary Louisa Molesworth
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+</body>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Christmas Tree Land, by Mary Louisa Molesworth
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+
+
+Title: Christmas Tree Land
+
+Author: Mary Louisa Molesworth
+
+Release Date: April 4, 2012 [EBook #39375]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTMAS TREE LAND ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Delphine Lettau, Mary Meehan, Clive Pickton
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at
+http://www.pgdpcanada.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                       CHRISTMAS-TREE LAND
+
+                        BY MRS MOLESWORTH
+
+    AUTHOR OF 'CARROTS,' 'CUCKOO CLOCK,' 'TELL ME A STORY.'
+
+[Illustration: THE WHITE CASTLE]
+
+ILLUSTRATED BY WALTER CRANE
+
+    London
+    MACMILLAN AND CO.
+    1884
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Rollo could not help noticing the pretty picture the two
+made.]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                                     PAGE
+
+     CHAPTER I. THE WHITE CASTLE                                        1
+
+    CHAPTER II. IN THE FIR-WOODS                                       18
+
+   CHAPTER III. THE MYSTERIOUS COTTAGE                                 36
+
+    CHAPTER IV. FAIRY HOUSEKEEPING                                     50
+
+     CHAPTER V. THE STORY OF A KING'S DAUGHTER                         70
+
+    CHAPTER VI. THE STORY OF A KING'S DAUGHTER--(_continued_)          87
+
+   CHAPTER VII. A WINDING STAIR AND A SCAMPER                         113
+
+  CHAPTER VIII. THE SQUIRREL FAMILY                                   137
+
+    CHAPTER IX. A COMMITTEE OF BIRDS                                  157
+
+     CHAPTER X. A SAIL IN THE AIR                                     170
+
+    CHAPTER XI. THE EAGLES' EYRIE                                     186
+
+   CHAPTER XII. A VISION OF CHRISTMAS TREES                           203
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+                                                           _To face page_
+
+THE WHITE CASTLE                                               _Vignette_
+
+'ROLLO,' SHE EXCLAIMED, HER EYES SPARKLING, HALF WITH
+FEAR, HALF WITH EXCITEMENT, 'I DO BELIEVE WE'VE GOT INTO
+THE COTTAGE OF THE THREE BEARS'                                        37
+
+ROLLO COULD NOT HELP NOTICING THE PRETTY PICTURE THE TWO MADE          60
+
+'IT WAS THE PRETTIEST SIGHT IN THE WORLD TO SEE AUREOLE IN
+HER BOWER EVERY MORNING'                                               81
+
+'AUREOLE COULD NOT HELP SHIVERING AS THE FORM OF THE MONSTER
+CAME IN SIGHT'                                                        108
+
+I DON'T THINK EVER CHILDREN BEFORE HAD SUCH FUN                       149
+
+'ALL RIGHT--WE'RE OFF NOW,' WALDO CALLED OUT, AND AT ONCE,
+WITH A STEADY SWING, THE QUEER SHIP ROSE INTO THE AIR                 180
+
+'SEE, ROLLO,' CRIED MAIA; 'SEE, THERE IS OUR CHRISTMAS TREE'          221
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE WHITE CASTLE.
+
+    'The way was long, long, long, like the journey in a fairy tale.'
+
+    MISS FERRIER.
+
+
+It was not their home. That was easy to be seen by the eager looks of
+curiosity and surprise on the two little faces inside the heavy
+travelling carriage. Yet the faces were grave, and there was a weary
+look in the eyes, for the journey had been long, and it was not for
+pleasure that it had been undertaken. The evening was drawing in, and
+the day had been a somewhat gloomy one, but as the light slowly faded, a
+soft pink radiance spread itself over the sky. They had been driving for
+some distance through a flat monotonous country; then, as the ground
+began to rise, the coachman relaxed his speed, and the children, without
+knowing it, fell into a half slumber.
+
+It was when the chariot stopped to allow the horses breathing time that
+they started awake and looked around them. The prospect had entirely
+changed. They were now on higher ground, for the road had wound up and
+up between the hills, which all round encircled an open space--a sort of
+high up valley, in the centre of which gleamed something white. But this
+did not at first catch the children's view. It was the hills rising ever
+higher and higher, clothed from base to summit with fir-trees,
+innumerable as the stars on a clear frosty night, that struck them with
+surprise and admiration. The little girl caught her breath with a
+strange thrill of pleasure, mingled with awe.
+
+'Rollo,' she said, catching her brother's sleeve, 'it is a land of
+Christmas trees!'
+
+Rollo gazed out for a moment or two without speaking. Then he gave a
+sigh of sympathy.
+
+'Yes, Maia,' he said; 'I never could have imagined it. Fancy, only
+fancy, if they were all lighted up!'
+
+Maia smiled.
+
+'I don't think even the fairies themselves could do that,' she answered.
+
+But here their soft-voiced talking was interrupted. Two attendants, an
+elderly man and a young, rosy-faced woman, whose eyes, notwithstanding
+her healthy and hearty appearance, bore traces of tears, had got down
+from their seat behind the carriage.
+
+'Master Rollo,'--'My little lady,' they said, speaking together; 'yonder
+is the castle. The coachman has just shown it to us. This is the first
+sight of it.'
+
+'The white walls one sees gleaming through the trees,' said the girl,
+pointing as she spoke. 'Marc cannot see it as plainly as I.'
+
+'My eyes are not what they were,' said the old servant apologetically.
+
+'I see it,'--'and so do I,' exclaimed Rollo and Maia. 'Shall we soon be
+there?'
+
+'Still an hour,' replied Marc; 'the road winds about, he says.'
+
+'And already we have been so many, many hours,' said Nanni, the maid, in
+doleful accents.
+
+'Let us hope for a bright fire and a welcome when we arrive,' said old
+Marc cheerfully. 'Provided only Master Rollo and Miss Maia are not too
+tired, _we_ should not complain,' he added reprovingly, in a lower
+voice, turning to Nanni. But Maia had caught the words.
+
+'Poor Nanni,' she said kindly. 'Don't be so sad. It will be better when
+we get there, and you can unpack our things and get them arranged
+again.'
+
+'And then Marc will have to leave us, and who knows how they will treat
+us in this outlandish country!' said Nanni, beginning to sob again.
+
+But just then the coachman looked round to signify that the horses were
+rested, and he was about to proceed.
+
+'Get up, girl--quickly--get up,' said Marc, reserving his scolding, no
+doubt, till they were again in their places and out of hearing of their
+little master and mistress.
+
+The coachman touched up his horses; they seemed to know they were
+nearing home, and set off at a brisk pace, the bells on their harness
+jingling merrily as they went.
+
+The cheerful sound, the quicker movement, had its effect on the
+children's spirits.
+
+'It _is_ a strange country,' said Maia, throwing herself back among the
+cushions of the carriage, as if tired of gazing out. 'Still, I don't see
+that we need be so very unhappy here.'
+
+'Nor I,' said Rollo. 'Nanni is foolish. She should not call it an
+outlandish country. That to _us_ it cannot be, for it is the country of
+our ancestors.'
+
+'But _so_ long ago, Rollo,' objected Maia.
+
+'That does not matter. We are still of the same blood,' said the boy
+sturdily. 'We must love, even without knowing why, the place that was
+home to them--the hills, the trees--ah, yes, above all, those wonderful
+forests. They seem to go on for ever and ever, like the stars, Maia.'
+
+'Yet I don't think them as _pretty_ as forests of different kinds of
+trees,' said Maia thoughtfully. 'They are more _strange_ than beautiful.
+Fancy them always, always there, in winter and summer, seeing the sun
+rise and set, feeling the rain fall, and the snow-flakes flutter down on
+their branches, and yet never moving, never changing. I wouldn't like to
+be a tree.'
+
+'But they _do_ change,' said Rollo. 'The branches wither and then they
+sprout again. It must be like getting new clothes, and very interesting
+to watch, I should think. Fancy how funny it would be if our clothes
+grew on us like that.'
+
+Maia gave a merry little laugh.
+
+'Yes,' she said; 'fancy waking up in the morning and looking to see if
+our sleeves had got a little bit longer, or if our toes were beginning
+to be covered! I suppose that's what the trees talk about.'
+
+'Oh, they must have lots of things to talk about,' said Rollo. 'Think of
+how well they must see the pictures in the clouds, being so high up.
+And the stars at night. And then all the creatures that live in their
+branches, and down among their roots,--the birds, and the squirrels, and
+the field-mice, and the----'
+
+'Yes,' interrupted Maia; 'you have rather nice thoughts sometimes,
+Rollo. After all, I dare say it is not so very stupid to be a tree. I
+should like the squirrels best of all. I do love squirrels! Can you see
+the castle any better now, Rollo? It must be at your side.'
+
+'I don't see it at all just now,' said Rollo, after peering out for some
+moments. 'I'm not sure but what it's got round to _your_ side by now,
+Maia.'
+
+'No, it hasn't,' said Maia. 'It couldn't have done. It's somewhere over
+there, below that rounded hill-top--we'll see it again in a minute, I
+dare say. Ah, see, Rollo, there's the moon coming out! I do hope we
+shall often see the moon here. It would be so pretty--the trees would
+look nearly black. But what are you staring at so, Rollo?'
+
+Rollo drew in his head again.
+
+'There must be somebody living over there,' he said. 'I see smoke
+rising--you can _hardly_ see it now, the light is growing so dim, but
+I'm sure I did see it. There must be a little cottage there somewhere
+among the trees.'
+
+'Oh, how nice!' exclaimed Maia. 'We must find it out. I wonder what sort
+of people live in it--gnomes or wood-spirits, perhaps? There couldn't be
+any real _people_ in such a lonely place.'
+
+'Gnomes and wood-spirits don't need cottages, and they don't make
+fires,' replied Rollo.
+
+'How do _you_ know?' and Rollo's answer was not quite ready. 'I dare say
+gnomes like to come up above sometimes, for a change; and I dare say the
+wood-spirits are cold sometimes, and like to warm themselves. Any way I
+shall try to find that cottage and see who does live in it. I hope she
+will let us go on walks as often as we wish, Rollo.'
+
+'She--who?' said the boy dreamily. 'Oh, our lady cousin! Yes, I hope
+so;' but he sighed as he spoke, and this time the sigh was sad.
+
+Maia nestled closer to her brother.
+
+'I think I was forgetting a little, Rollo,' she said. 'I can't think how
+I could forget, even for a moment, all our troubles. But father wanted
+us to try to be happy.'
+
+'Yes, I know he did,' said Rollo. 'I am very glad if you can feel
+happier sometimes, Maia. But for me it is different; I am so much
+older.'
+
+'Only two years,' interrupted Maia.
+
+'Well, well, I _feel_ more than that older. And then I have to take care
+of _you_ till father comes home; that makes me feel older too.'
+
+'I wish we could take care of each other,' said Maia; 'I wish we were
+going to live in a little cottage by ourselves instead of in Lady
+Venelda's castle. We might have Nanni just to light the fires and cook
+the dinner, except the creams and pastry and cakes--_those_ I would make
+myself. And she might also clean the rooms and wash the dishes--I cannot
+bear washing dishes--and all the rest we would do ourselves, Rollo.'
+
+'There would not be much else to do,' said Rollo, smiling.
+
+'Oh yes, there would. We should need a cow, you know, and cocks and
+hens; those we should take care of ourselves, though Nanni might churn.
+You have no idea how tiring it is to churn; I tried once at our
+country-house last year, and my arms ached so. And then there would be
+the garden; it must be managed so that there should always, all the year
+round, be strawberries and roses. Wouldn't that be charming, Rollo?'
+
+'Yes; but it certainly couldn't be done out of fairyland,' said the boy.
+
+'Never mind. What does it matter? When one is wishing one may wish for
+anything.'
+
+'Then, for my part, I would rather wish to be at our own home again, and
+that our father had not had to go away,' said Rollo.
+
+'Ah, yes!' said Maia; and then she grew silent, and the grave expression
+overspread both children's faces again.
+
+They had meant to look out to see if the white-walled castle was once
+more within sight, but it was now almost too dark to see anything, and
+they remained quietly in their corners. Suddenly they felt the wheels
+roll on to a paved way; the carriage went more slowly, and in a moment
+or two they stopped.
+
+'Can we have arrived?' said Maia. But Rollo, looking out, saw that they
+had only stopped at a postern. An old man, bent and feeble, came out of
+an ivy-covered lodge, round and high like a light-house, looking as if
+it had once been a turret attached to the main building, and pressed
+forward as well as he could to open the gate, which swung back rustily
+on its hinges. The coachman exchanged a few words in the language of the
+country, which the children understood but slightly, and then the
+chariot rolled on again, slowly still, for the road ascended, and even
+had there been light there would have been nothing to see but two high
+walls, thickly covered with creeping plants. In a moment or two they
+stopped again for another gate to be opened--this time more
+quickly--then the wheels rolled over smoother ground, and the coachman
+drew up before a doorway, and a gleam of white walls flashed before the
+children's eyes.
+
+The door was already open. Marc and Nanni got down at the farther side,
+for a figure stood just inside the entrance, which they at once
+recognised as that of the lady of the house come forward to welcome her
+young relatives. Two old serving-men, older than Marc and in well-worn
+livery, let down the ladder of steps and opened the chariot door. Rollo
+got out, waited a moment to help his sister as she followed him, and
+then, leading her by the hand, bowed low before their cousin Venelda.
+
+'Welcome,' she said at once, as she stooped to kiss Maia's forehead,
+extending her hand to Rollo at the same time. Her manner was formal but
+not unkindly. 'You must be fatigued with your journey,' she said.
+'Supper is ready in the dining-hall, and then, no doubt, you will be
+glad to retire for the night.'
+
+'Yes, thank you, cousin,' said both children, and then, as she turned to
+show them the way, they ventured to look up at their hostess, though
+they were still dazzled by the sudden light after the darkness outside.
+Lady Venelda was neither young nor old, nor could one well imagine her
+ever to have been, or as ever going to be, different from what she was.
+She was tall and thin, simply dressed, but with a dignified air as of
+one accustomed to command. Her hair was gray, and surmounted by a high
+white cap, a number of keys attached to her girdle jingled as she went;
+her step was firm and decided, but not graceful, and her voice was
+rather hard and cold, though not sharp. Her face, as Rollo and Maia saw
+it better when she turned to see if they were following her, was of a
+piece with her figure, pale and thin, with nothing very remarkable save
+a well-cut rather eagle nose and a pair of very bright but not tender
+blue eyes. Still she was not a person to be afraid of, on the whole,
+Rollo decided. She might not be very indulgent or sympathising, but
+there was nothing cruel or cunning in her face and general look.
+
+'You may approach the fire, children,' she said, as if this were a
+special indulgence; and Rollo and Maia, who had stood as if uncertain
+what to do, drew near the enormous chimney, where smouldered some
+glowing wood, enough to send out a genial heat, though it had but a poor
+appearance in the gigantic grate, which looked deep and wide enough to
+roast an ox.
+
+Their eyes wandered curiously round the great room or hall in which they
+found themselves. It, like the long corridor out of which opened most of
+the rooms of the house, was painted or washed over entirely in
+white--the only thing which broke the dead uniformity being an
+extraordinary number of the antlered heads of deer, fastened high up at
+regular intervals. The effect was strange and barbaric, but not
+altogether unpleasing.
+
+'What quantities of deer there must be here!' whispered Maia to her
+brother. 'See, even the chairs are made of their antlers.'
+
+She was right. What Rollo had at first taken for branches of trees
+rudely twisted into chair backs and feet were, in fact, the horns of
+several kinds of deer, and he could not help admiring them, though he
+thought to himself it was sad to picture the number of beautiful
+creatures that must have been slain to please his ancestors' whimsical
+taste in furniture; but he said nothing, and Lady Venelda, though she
+noticed the children's observing eyes, said nothing either. It was not
+her habit to encourage conversation with young people. She had been
+brought up in a formal fashion, and devoutly believed it to be the best.
+
+At this moment a bell clanged out loudly in the courtyard. Before it had
+ceased ringing the door opened and two ladies, both of a certain age,
+both dressed exactly alike, walked solemnly into the room, followed by
+two old gentlemen, of whom it could not be said they were exactly alike,
+inasmuch as one was exceedingly tall and thin, the other exceedingly
+short and stout. These personages the children came afterwards to know
+were the two ladies-in-waiting, or _dames de compagnie_, of Lady
+Venelda, her chaplain, and her physician. They all approached her, and
+bowed, and curtseyed; then drew back, as if waiting for her to take her
+place at the long table before seating themselves. Lady Venelda glanced
+at the children.
+
+'How comes it?' she began, but then, seeming to remember something,
+stopped. 'To be sure, they have but just arrived,' she said to herself.
+Then turning to one of the old serving-men: 'Conduct the young gentleman
+to his apartment,' she said, 'that he may arrange his attire before
+joining us at supper. And you, Delphine,' she continued to one of the
+ancient damsels, who started as if she were on wires, and Lady Venelda
+had touched the spring, 'have the goodness to perform the same office
+for this young lady, whose waiting-maid will be doubtless in attendance.
+For this once,' she added in conclusion, this time addressing the
+children, 'the repast shall be delayed for ten minutes; but for this
+once only. Punctuality is a virtue that cannot be exaggerated.'
+
+Rollo and Maia looked at each other; then both followed their respective
+guides.
+
+'Is my lady cousin angry with me?' Maia ventured timidly to inquire. 'We
+did not know--we could not help it. I suppose the coachman came as fast
+as he could.'
+
+'Perfectly, perfectly, Mademoiselle,' replied Delphine in a flutter.
+Poor thing, she had once been French--long, long ago, in the days of her
+youth, which she had well-nigh forgotten. But she still retained some
+French expressions and the habit of agreeing with whatever was said to
+her, which she believed to show the highest breeding. 'Of course
+Mademoiselle could not help it.'
+
+'Then why is my cousin angry?' said Maia, again looking up with her
+bright brown eyes.
+
+'My lady Venelda angry?' repeated Delphine, rather embarrassed how to
+reconcile her loyalty to her patroness, to whom she was devotedly
+attached, with courtesy to Maia. 'Ah, no! My lady is never angry. Pardon
+my plain speaking.'
+
+'Oh, then, I mistook, I suppose,' said Maia, considerably relieved. 'I
+suppose some people seem angry when they're not, till one gets to know
+them.'
+
+And then Maia, who was of a philosophic turn of mind, made Nanni hurry
+to take off her wraps and arrange her hair, that she might go down to
+supper: 'for I'm dreadfully hungry,' she added, 'and it's very funny
+downstairs, Nanni,' she went on. 'It's like something out of a book,
+hundreds of years ago. I can quite understand now why father told us to
+be so particular always to say "our lady cousin," and things like that.
+Isn't it funny, Nanni?'
+
+Nanni's spirits seemed to have improved.
+
+'It is not like home, certainly, Miss Maia,' she replied. 'But I dare
+say we shall get on pretty well. They seem very kind and friendly
+downstairs in the kitchen, and there was a very nice supper getting
+ready. And then, I'm never one to make the worst of things, whatever
+that crabbed old Marc may say.'
+
+Maia was already on her way to go. She only stopped a moment to glance
+round the room. It was large, but somewhat scantily furnished. The walls
+white, like the rest of the house, the floor polished like a
+looking-glass. Maia's curtainless little bed in one corner looked
+disproportionately small. The child gave a little shiver.
+
+'It feels very cold in this big bare room,' she said. 'I hope you and
+Rollo aren't far off.'
+
+'I don't know for Master Rollo,' Nanni replied. 'But this is _my_ room,'
+and she opened a door leading into a small chamber, neatly but plainly
+arranged.
+
+'Oh, that's very nice,' said Maia, approvingly. 'If Rollo's room is not
+far off, we shall not feel at all lonely.'
+
+Her doubts were soon set at rest, for, as she opened the door, Rollo
+appeared coming out of a room just across the passage.
+
+'Oh, that's your room,' said Maia. 'I didn't see where you went to. I
+was talking to Mademoiselle Delphine. I'm so glad you're so near,
+Rollo.'
+
+'Yes,' said Rollo. 'These big bare rooms aren't like our rooms at home.
+I should have felt rather lonely if I'd been quite at the other end of
+the house.'
+
+Then they took each other's hand and went slowly down the uncarpeted
+white stone staircase.
+
+'Rollo,' said Maia, nodding her head significantly as if in the
+direction of the dining-hall, 'do you think we shall like her? Do you
+think she's going to be kind?'
+
+Rollo hesitated.
+
+'I think she'll be kind. Father said she would. But I don't think she
+cares about children, and we'll have to be very quiet, and all that.'
+
+'The best thing will be going long walks in the woods,' said Maia.
+
+'Yes, if she'll let us,' replied Rollo doubtfully.
+
+'Well, I'll tell you how to do. We'll show her we're awfully good and
+sensible, and then she won't be afraid to let us go about by ourselves.
+Oh, Rollo, those lovely Christmas-tree woods! We can't feel dull if only
+we may go about in the woods!'
+
+'Well, then, let's try, as you say, to show how very good and sensible
+we are,' said Rollo.
+
+And with this wise resolution the two children went in to supper.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+IN THE FIR-WOODS.
+
+    ...'Gloomy shades, sequestered deep,
+    ....whence one could only see
+    Stems thronging all around.'...
+
+    KEATS.
+
+
+Supper was a formal and stately affair. The children were placed one on
+each side of their cousin, and helped to such dishes as she considered
+suitable, without asking them what they liked. But they were not greedy
+children, and even at their own home they had been accustomed to much
+more strictness than is _nowadays_ the case, my dear children, for those
+were still the days when little people were expected to be 'seen but not
+heard,' to 'speak when they were spoken to,' but not otherwise. So Rollo
+and Maia were not unduly depressed, especially as there was plenty of
+amusement for their bright eyes in watching the queer, pompous manners
+of Lady Venelda's attendants, and making notes to discuss together
+afterwards on the strange and quaint china and silver which covered the
+table, and even in marvelling at the food itself, which, though all
+good, was much of it perfectly new to them.
+
+Now and then their hostess addressed a few words to them about their
+journey, their father's health when they had left him, and such things,
+to which Rollo and Maia replied with great propriety. Lady Venelda
+seemed pleased.
+
+'They have been well brought up, I see. My cousin has not neglected
+them,' she said in a low voice, as if speaking to herself, which was a
+habit of hers. Rollo and Maia exchanged signals with each other at this,
+which they had of course overheard, and each understood as well as if
+the other had said it aloud, that the meaning of the signals was, 'That
+is right. If we go on like this we shall soon get leave to ramble about
+by ourselves.'
+
+After supper Lady Venelda told the children to follow her into what she
+chose to call her retiring-room. This was a rather pretty room at the
+extreme end of the long white gallery, but unlike that part of the
+castle which the children had already seen. The walls were not white,
+but hung with tapestry, which gave it a much warmer and more
+comfortable look. One did not even here, however, get rid of the poor
+deer, for the tapestry all round the room represented a hunting-scene,
+and it nearly made Maia cry, when she afterwards examined it by
+daylight, to see the poor chased creatures, with the cruel dogs upon
+them and the riders behind lashing their horses, and evidently shouting
+to the hounds to urge them on. It was a curious subject to have chosen
+for a lady's boudoir, but Lady Venelda's tastes were guided by but one
+rule--the most profound respect and veneration for her ancestors, and as
+they had seen fit thus to decorate the prettiest room in the castle, it
+would never have occurred to her to alter it.
+
+She seated herself on an antlered couch below one of the windows, which
+by day commanded a beautiful view of the wonderful woods, but was now
+hidden by rather worn curtains of a faded blue, the only light in the
+room coming from a curiously-shaped oil lamp suspended from the ceiling,
+which illumined but here and there parts of the tapestry, and was far
+too dim to have made it possible to read or work. But it was not much
+time that the lady of the castle passed in her bower, and seldom that
+she found leisure to read, for she was a very busy and practical
+person, managing her large possessions entirely for herself, and caring
+but little for the amusements or occupations most ladies take pleasure
+in. She beckoned to the children to come near her.
+
+'You are tired, I dare say,' she said graciously. 'At your age I
+remember the noble Count, my father, took me once a journey lasting two
+or three days, and when I arrived at my destination I slept twelve hours
+without awaking.'
+
+'Oh, but we shall not need to sleep as long as that,' said Rollo and
+Maia together. 'We shall be quite rested by to-morrow morning;' at which
+the Lady Venelda smiled, evidently pleased, even though they had spoken
+so quickly as _almost_ to interrupt her.
+
+'That is well,' she said. 'Then I shall inform you of how I propose to
+arrange your time, at once, though I had intended giving orders that you
+should not be awakened till eight o'clock. At what hour do you rise at
+home?'
+
+'At seven, lady cousin,' said Rollo.
+
+'That is not very early,' she replied. 'However, as it is but for a time
+that you are confided to my care, I cannot regulate everything exactly
+as I could wish.'
+
+'We would like to get up earlier,' said Maia hastily. 'Perhaps not
+_to-morrow_,' she added.
+
+'I will first tell you my wishes,' said Lady Venelda loftily. 'At eight
+o'clock prayers are read to the household in the chapel. You will
+already have had some light refreshment. At nine you will have
+instruction from Mademoiselle Delphine for one hour. At ten the chaplain
+will take her place for two hours. At twelve you may walk in the grounds
+round the house for half an hour. At one we dine. At two you shall have
+another hour from Mademoiselle Delphine. From three to five you may walk
+with your attendants. Supper is at eight; and during the evening you may
+prepare your tasks for the next day.'
+
+Rollo and Maia looked at each other. It was not so very bad; still it
+sounded rather severe. Rollo took courage.
+
+'If we get up earlier and do our tasks, may we stay out later
+sometimes?' he inquired.
+
+'Sometimes--if the weather is very fine and you have been very
+industrious,' their cousin replied.
+
+'And,' added Maia, emboldened by this success, 'may we sometimes ramble
+alone all about the woods? We do so love the woods,' she continued,
+clasping her hands.
+
+Now, if Lady Venelda herself had a weakness, it was for these same
+woods. They were to her a sort of shrine dedicated to the memory of her
+race, for the pine forests of that country had been celebrated as far
+back as there was any record of its existence. So, though she was rather
+startled at Maia's proposal, she answered graciously still:
+
+'They are indeed beautiful, my child. Beautiful and wonderful. There
+have they stood in their solemn majesty for century after century,
+seeing generation after generation of our race pass away while yet they
+remain. They and I alone, my children. I, the last left of a long line!'
+
+Her voice trembled, and one could almost have imagined that a tear
+glittered in her blue eyes. Maia, and Rollo too, felt very sorry for
+her.
+
+'Dear cousin,' said the girl, timidly touching her hand, 'are we not a
+little _little_, relations to you? Please don't say you are all alone.
+It sounds so very sad. Do let Rollo and me be like your little boy and
+girl.'
+
+Lady Venelda smiled again, and this time her face really grew soft and
+gentle.
+
+'Poor children,' she said, in the peculiar low voice she always used
+when speaking to herself, and apparently forgetting the presence of
+others, 'poor children, they too have suffered. They have no mother!'
+Then turning to Maia, who was still gently stroking her hand: 'I thank
+you, my child, for your innocent sympathy,' she said, in her usual tone.
+'I rejoice to have you here. You will cheer my solitude, and at the same
+time learn no harm, I feel sure, from the associations of this ancient
+house.'
+
+Maia did not quite understand her, but as the tone sounded kind, she
+ventured to repeat, as she kissed her cousin's hand for good-night, 'And
+you will let us ramble about the woods if we are very good, won't you?
+And _sometimes_ we may have a whole holiday, mayn't we?'
+
+Lady Venelda smiled.
+
+'All will depend on yourselves, my child,' she said.
+
+But Rollo and Maia went upstairs to bed very well satisfied with the
+look of things.
+
+They _meant_ to wake very early, and tried to coax Nanni to promise to
+go out with them in the morning before prayers, but Nanni was cautious,
+and would make no rash engagements.
+
+'_I_ am very tired, Miss Maia,' she said, 'and I am sure you must be if
+you would let yourself think so. I hope you will have a good long
+sleep.'
+
+She was right. After all, the next morning Rollo and Maia had hardly
+time to finish their coffee and rolls before the great bell in the
+courtyard clanged for prayers, and they had to hurry to the chapel not
+to be too late. Prayers over, they were taken in hand by Mademoiselle
+Delphine, and then by the old chaplain, till, by twelve o'clock, when
+they were sent out for a little fresh air before dinner, they felt more
+sleepy and tired than the night before.
+
+'I don't care to go to the woods now,' said Maia dolefully. 'I am so
+tired--ever so much more tired than with lessons at home.'
+
+'So am I,' said Rollo. 'I don't know what is the matter with me,' and he
+seated himself disconsolately beside his sister on a bench overlooking
+the stiff Dutch garden at one side of the castle.
+
+'Come--how now, my children?' said a voice beside them; 'why are you not
+running about, instead of sitting there like two old invalids?'
+
+'We are so tired,' said both together, looking up at the new-comer, who
+was none other than the short, stout old gentleman who had been
+introduced to them as Lady Venelda's physician.
+
+'Tired; ah, well, to be sure, you have had a long journey.'
+
+'It is not only that. We weren't so tired this morning, but we've had
+such a lot of lessons.' 'Mademoiselle Delphine's French is very hard,'
+said Maia; 'and Mr.--I forget his name--the chaplain says the Latin
+words quite differently from what I've learnt before,' added Rollo.
+
+The old doctor looked at them both attentively.
+
+'Come, come, my children, you must not lose heart. What would you say to
+a long afternoon in the woods and no more lessons to-day, if I were to
+ask the Lady Venelda to give you a holiday?'
+
+The effect was instantaneous. Both children jumped up and clapped their
+hands.
+
+'Oh, thank you, thank you, Mr.--Doctor,' they said, for they had not
+heard his name. 'Yes, that is just what we would like. It did not seem
+any good to go to the woods for just an hour or two. And, oh, Mr.
+Doctor, do ask our cousin to give us one holiday a week--we always have
+that at home. It is so nice to wake up in the morning and know there are
+_no_ lessons to do! And we should be so good all the other days.'
+
+'Ah, well,' said the old doctor, 'we shall see.'
+
+But he nodded his head, and smiled, and looked so like a good-natured
+old owl, that Rollo and Maia felt very hopeful.
+
+At dinner, where they took their places as usual at each side of their
+cousin, nothing was said till the close. Then Lady Venelda turned
+solemnly to the children:
+
+'You have been attentive at your lessons, I am glad to hear,' she said;
+'but you are doubtless still somewhat tired with your journey. My kind
+physician thinks some hours of fresh air would do you good. I therefore
+shall be pleased for you to spend all the afternoon in the woods--there
+will be no more lessons to-day.'
+
+'Oh, thank you, thank you,' repeated the children, and Maia glanced at
+her cousin with some thought of throwing her arms round her and kissing
+her, but Lady Venelda looked so very stiff and stately that she felt her
+courage ebb.
+
+'It is better only to kiss her when we are alone with her,' she said
+afterwards to Rollo, in which he agreed.
+
+But they forgot everything except high spirits and delight when, half an
+hour later, they found themselves with Nanni on their way to the
+longed-for woods.
+
+'Which way shall we go?' said Maia; and indeed it was a question for
+consideration. For it was not on one side only that there were woods,
+but on every side, far as the eye could reach, stretched out the
+wonderful forests. The white castle stood on raised ground, but in the
+centre of a circular valley, so that to reach the outside world one had
+first to descend and then rise again; so the entrance to the woods was
+sloping, for the castle hill was bare of trees, which began only at its
+base.
+
+'Which way?' repeated Rollo; 'I don't see that it matters. We get into
+the woods every way.'
+
+'Except over there,' said Maia, pointing to the road by which they had
+come, gleaming like a white ribbon among the trees, which had been
+thinned a little in that direction.
+
+'Well, we don't want to go there,' said Rollo, but before he had time to
+say more Maia interrupted him.
+
+'Oh, Rollo, let's go the way that we saw the little cottage. No, I don't
+mean that we saw the cottage, but we saw the smoke rising, and we were
+sure there was a cottage. It was--let me see----' and she tried to put
+herself in the right direction; 'yes, it was on my left hand--it must be
+on that side,' and she pointed where she meant.
+
+Rollo did not seem to care particularly about the real or imaginary
+cottage, but as to him all roads were the same in this case, seeing all
+led to the woods, he made no objection, and a few minutes saw the little
+party, already in the shade of the forest, slowly making their way
+upwards. It was milder than the day before; indeed, for early spring it
+was very mild. The soft afternoon sunshine came peeping through the
+branches, the ground was beautifully dry, and their steps made a
+pleasant crackling sound, as their feet broke the innumerable little
+twigs which, interspersed with moss and the remains of last year's
+leaves, made a nice carpet to walk on.
+
+'Let us stand still a moment,' said Maia, 'and look about us. How
+delicious it is! _What_ flowers there will be in a little while!
+Primroses, I am sure, and violets, and later on periwinkle and cyclamen,
+I dare say.'
+
+A sigh from Nanni interrupted her.
+
+'What is the matter?' said the children.
+
+'I am so tired, Miss Maia,' said poor Nanni. 'I haven't got over the
+journey, and I was so afraid of being late this morning that I got up I
+don't know how early--they told me in the kitchen that their lady was so
+angry if any one was late. I think if I were to sit down on this nice
+mossy ground I should really go to sleep.'
+
+'_Poor_ Nanni!' said Maia, laughing. 'Well, do sit down, only I think
+you'd better not go to sleep; you might catch cold.'
+
+'It's beautifully warm here among the trees, somehow,' said Nanni.
+'Well, then, shall I just stay here and you and Master Rollo play about?
+You won't go far?'
+
+'You _would_ get a nice scolding if we were lost,' said Rollo
+mischievously.
+
+'Don't tease her, Rollo,' said Maia; adding in a lower tone, 'If you do,
+she'll persist in coming with us, and it will be such fun to run about
+by ourselves.' Then turning to Nanni, 'Don't be afraid of us, Nanni; we
+shan't get lost. You may go to sleep for an hour or two if you like.'
+
+The two children set off together in great glee. Here and there among
+the trees there were paths, or what looked like paths, some going
+upwards till quite lost to view, some downwards,--all in the most
+tempting zigzag fashion.
+
+'I should like to explore all the paths one after the other, wouldn't
+you?' said Maia.
+
+'I expect they all lead to nowhere in particular,' said Rollo,
+philosophically.
+
+'But we want to go somewhere in particular,' said Maia; 'I want to find
+the cottage, you know. I am sure it must be _somewhere_ about here.'
+
+'Upwards or downwards--which do you think?' said Rollo. 'I say, Maia,
+suppose you go downwards and I upwards, and then we can meet again here
+and say if we've found the cottage or had any adventures, like the
+brothers in the fairy tales.'
+
+'No,' said Maia, drawing nearer Rollo as she spoke; 'I don't want to go
+about alone. You know, though the woods are so nice they're _rather_
+lonely, and there are such queer stories about forests always. There
+must be queer people living in them, though we don't see them. Gnomes
+and brownies down below, very likely, and wood-spirits, perhaps. But I
+think about the gnomes is the most frightening, don't you, Rollo?'
+
+'I don't think any of it's frightening,' he replied. But he was a kind
+boy, so he did not laugh at Maia, or say any more about separating.
+'Which way shall we go, then?'
+
+'Oh, we'd better go on upwards. There can't be much forest downwards,
+for we've come nearly straight up. We'd get out of the wood directly.'
+
+They went on climbing therefore for some way, but the ascent became
+quickly slighter, and in a short time they found themselves almost on
+level ground.
+
+'We can't have got to the top,' said Rollo. 'This must be a sort of
+ledge on the hillside. However, I begin to sympathise with Nanni--it's
+nice to get a rest,' and he threw himself down at full length as he
+spoke. Maia quickly followed his example.
+
+'We shan't do much exploring at this rate,' she said.
+
+'No,' Rollo agreed; 'but never mind. Isn't it nice here, Maia? Just like
+what father told us, isn't it? The scent of the fir-trees is so
+delicious too.'
+
+It was charmingly sweet and peaceful, and the feeling of mystery caused
+by the dark shade of the lofty trees, standing there in countless rows
+as they had stood for centuries, the silence only broken by the
+occasional dropping of a twig or the flutter of a leaf, impressed the
+children in a way they could not have put in words. It was a sort of
+relief when a slight rustle in the branches overhead caught their
+attention, and looking up, their quick eyes saw the bright brown, bushy
+tail of a squirrel whisking out of sight.
+
+Up jumped Maia, clapping her hands.
+
+'A squirrel, Rollo, did you see?'
+
+'Of course I did, but you shouldn't make such a noise. We might have
+seen him again if we'd been quite quiet. I wonder where his home is.'
+
+'So do I. _How_ I should like to see a squirrel's nest and all the
+little ones sitting in a row, each with a nut in its two front paws!
+_How_ nice it would be to have the gift of understanding all the animals
+say to each other, wouldn't it?'
+
+'Yes,' said Rollo, but he stopped suddenly. 'Maia,' he exclaimed, 'I
+believe I smell burning wood!' and he stood still and sniffed the air a
+little. 'I shouldn't wonder if we're near the cottage.'
+
+'Oh, do come on, then,' said Maia eagerly. 'Yes--yes; I smell it too. I
+hope the cottage isn't on fire, Rollo. Oh, no; see, it must be a
+bonfire,' for, as she spoke, a smouldering heap of leaves and dry
+branches came in sight some little way along the path, and in another
+moment, a few yards farther on, a cottage actually appeared.
+
+Such an original-looking cottage! The trees had been cleared for some
+distance round where it stood, and a space enclosed by a rustic fence of
+interlaced branches had been planted as a garden. A very pretty little
+garden too. There were flower-beds in front, already gay with a few
+early blossoms, and neat rows of vegetables and fruit-bushes at the
+back. The cottage was built of wood, but looked warm and dry, with deep
+roof and rather small high-up windows. A little path, bordered primly by
+a thick growing mossy-like plant, led up to the door, which was closed.
+No smoke came out of the chimney, not the slightest sound was to be
+heard. The children looked at each other.
+
+'What a darling little house!' said Maia in a whisper. 'But, Rollo, do
+you think there's anybody there? Can it be _enchanted_, perhaps?'
+
+Rollo went on a few steps and stood looking at the mysterious cottage.
+There was not a sound to be heard, not the slightest sign of life about
+the place; and yet it was all in such perfect order that it was
+impossible to think it deserted.
+
+'The people must have gone out, I suppose,' said Rollo.
+
+'I wonder if the door is locked,' said Maia. 'I am _so_ thirsty, Rollo.'
+
+'Let's see,' Rollo answered, and together the two children opened the
+tiny gate and made their way up to the door. Rollo took hold of the
+latch; it yielded to his touch.
+
+'It's not locked,' he said, looking back at his sister, and he gently
+pushed the door a little way open. 'Shall I go in?' he said.
+
+Maia came forward, walking on her tiptoes.
+
+'Oh, Rollo,' she whispered, '_suppose_ it's enchanted, and that we never
+get out again.'
+
+But all the same she crept nearer and nearer to the tempting half-open
+door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE MYSTERIOUS COTTAGE.
+
+    '"A pretty cottage 'tis indeed,"
+      Said Rosalind to Fanny,
+    "But yet it seems a little strange,
+      I trust there's naught uncanny."'
+
+    _The Wood-Fairies._
+
+
+Rollo pushed a little more, and still a little. No sound was heard--no
+voice demanded what they wanted; they gathered courage, till at last the
+door stood sufficiently ajar for them to see inside. It was a neat,
+plain, exceedingly clean, little kitchen which stood revealed to their
+view. Rollo and Maia, with another glance around them, another instant's
+hesitation, stepped in.
+
+The floor was only sanded, the furniture was of plain unvarnished deal,
+yet there was something indescribably dainty and attractive about the
+room. There was no fire burning in the hearth, but all was ready laid
+for lighting it, and on the table, covered with a perfectly clean,
+though coarse cloth, plates and cups for a meal were set out. It seemed
+to be for three people. A loaf of brownish bread, and a jug filled with
+milk, were the only provisions to be seen. Maia stepped forward softly
+and looked longingly at the milk.
+
+'Do you think it would be wrong to take some, Rollo?' she said. 'I _am_
+so thirsty, and they must be nice people that live here, it looks so
+neat.' But just then, catching sight of the three chairs drawn round the
+table, as well as of the three cups and three plates upon it, she drew
+back with a little scream. '_Rollo_,' she exclaimed, her eyes sparkling,
+half with fear, half with excitement, 'I do believe we've got into the
+cottage of _the three bears_.'
+
+[Illustration: '_Rollo_,' she exclaimed, her eyes sparkling, half with
+fear, half with excitement, 'I do believe we've got into the cottage of
+_the three bears_.']
+
+Rollo burst out laughing, though, to tell the truth, he was not quite
+sure if his sister was in fun or earnest.
+
+'Nonsense, Maia!' he said. 'Why, that was hundreds of years ago. You
+don't suppose the bears have gone on living ever since, do you? Besides,
+it wouldn't do at all. See, there are two smaller chairs and one
+arm-chair here. Two small cups and one big one. It's just the wrong way
+for the bears. It must be two children and one big person that live
+here.'
+
+Maia seemed somewhat reassured.
+
+'Do you think I may take a drink of milk, then?' she said. 'I am _so_
+thirsty.'
+
+'I should think you might,' said Rollo. 'You see we can come back and
+pay for it another day when they're at home. If we had any money we
+might leave it here on the table, to show we're honest. But we haven't
+any.'
+
+'No,' said Maia, as she poured out some milk, taking care not to spill
+any on the tablecloth, 'not a farthing. Oh, Rollo,' she continued,
+'_such_ delicious milk! Won't you have some?'
+
+'No; I'm not thirsty,' he replied. 'See, Maia, there's another little
+kitchen out of this--for washing dishes in--a sort of scullery,' for he
+had opened another door as he spoke.
+
+'And, oh, Rollo,' said Maia, peering about, 'see, there's a little
+stair. Oh, _do_ let's go up.'
+
+It seemed a case of 'in for a penny, in for a pound.' Having made
+themselves so much at home, the children felt inclined to go a little
+farther. They had soon climbed the tiny staircase and were rewarded for
+their labour by finding two little bed-rooms, furnished just alike, and
+though neat and exquisitely clean, as plain and simple as the kitchen.
+
+'Really, Rollo,' said Maia, 'this house might have been built by the
+fairies for us two, and see, isn't it odd? the beds are quite small,
+like ours. I don't know where the big person sleeps whom the arm-chair
+and the big cup downstairs are for.'
+
+'Perhaps there's another room,' said Rollo, but after hunting about they
+found there was nothing more, and they came downstairs again to the
+kitchen, more puzzled than ever as to whom the queer little house could
+belong to.
+
+'We'll come back again, the very first day we can,' said Maia, 'and tell
+the people about having taken the milk,' and then they left the cottage,
+carefully closing the door and gate behind them, and made their way back
+to where they had left Nanni. It took them longer than they had
+expected--either they mistook their way, or had wandered farther than
+they had imagined. But Nanni had suffered no anxiety on their account,
+for, even before they got up to her, they saw that she was enjoying a
+peaceful slumber.
+
+'Poor thing!' said Maia. 'She must be very tired. I never knew her so
+sleepy before. Wake up, Nanni, wake up,' she went on, touching the maid
+gently on the shoulder. Up jumped Nanni, rubbing her eyes, but looking
+nevertheless very awake and good-humoured.
+
+'Such a beautiful sleep as I've had, to be sure,' she exclaimed.
+
+'Then you haven't been wondering what had become of us?' said Rollo.
+
+'Bless you, no, sir,' replied Nanni. 'You haven't been very long away,
+surely? I never did have such a beautiful sleep. There must be something
+in the air of this forest that makes one sleep. And such lovely dreams!
+I thought I saw a lady all dressed in green--dark green and light
+green,--for all the world like the fir-trees in spring, and with long
+light hair. She stooped over me and smiled, as if she was going to say
+something, but just then I awoke and saw Miss Maia.'
+
+'And what do you think _we've_ seen?' said Maia. 'The dearest little
+cottage you can fancy. Just like what Rollo and I would like to live in
+all by ourselves. And there was nobody there; wasn't it queer, Nanni?'
+
+Nanni was much impressed, but when she had heard all about the
+children's adventure she grew a little frightened.
+
+'I hope no harm will come of it,' she said. 'If it were a witch's
+cottage;' and she shivered.
+
+'Nonsense, Nanni,' said Rollo; 'witches don't have cottages like
+that,--all so bright and clean, and delicious new milk to drink.'
+
+But Nanni was not so easily consoled. 'I hope no harm may come of it,'
+she repeated.
+
+By the lengthening shadows they saw that the afternoon was advancing,
+and that, if they did not want to be late for dinner, they must make the
+best of their way home.
+
+'It would not do to be late to-day--the first time they have let us come
+out by ourselves,' said Maia sagely. 'If we are back in very good time
+perhaps Lady Venelda will soon let us come again.'
+
+They _were_ back in very good time, and went down to the dining-hall,
+looking very fresh and neat, as their cousin entered it followed by her
+ladies.
+
+'That is right,' said Lady Venelda graciously.
+
+'You look all the better for your walk, my little friends,' said the old
+doctor. 'Come, tell us what you think of our forests, now you have seen
+the inside of them.'
+
+'They are lovely,' said both children enthusiastically. 'I should like
+to _live_ there,' Maia went on; 'and, oh, cousin, we saw the dearest
+little cottage, _so_ neat and pretty! I wonder who lives there.'
+
+'You went to the village, then,' Lady Venelda replied. 'I did not think
+you would go in that direction.'
+
+'No,' said Rollo, 'we did not go near any village. It was a cottage
+quite alone, over that way,' and he pointed in the direction he meant.
+
+Lady Venelda looked surprised and a little annoyed.
+
+'I know of no cottage by itself. I know of no cottages, save those in my
+own village. You must have been mistaken.'
+
+'Oh, no, indeed,' said Maia, 'we could not be mistaken, for we----'
+
+'Young people should not contradict their elders,' said Lady Venelda
+freezingly, and poor Maia dared say no more. She was very thankful when
+the old doctor came to the rescue.
+
+'Perhaps,' he said good-naturedly, 'perhaps our young friends sat down
+in the forest and had a little nap, in which they _dreamt_ of this
+mysterious cottage. You are aware, my lady, that the aromatic odours of
+our delightful woods are said to have this tendency.'
+
+Rollo and Maia looked at each other. 'That's true,' the look seemed to
+say, for the old doctor's words made them think of Nanni's beautiful
+dream. Not that _they_ had been asleep, oh, no, that was impossible.
+
+Everything about the cottage had been so real and natural. And besides,
+as Maia said afterwards to Rollo, 'People don't dream _together_ of
+exactly the same things at exactly the same moment, as if they were
+reading a story-book,' with which Rollo of course agreed.
+
+Still, at the time, they were not sorry that their cousin took up the
+doctor's idea, for she had seemed so very vexed before he suggested it.
+
+'To be sure,' she replied graciously; 'that explains it. I have often
+heard of that quality of our wonderful woods. No doubt--tired as they
+were too--the children fell asleep without knowing it. Just so; but
+young people must never contradict their elders.'
+
+The children dared not say any more, and, indeed, just then it would
+have been no use.
+
+'She would not have believed anything we said about it,' said Maia as
+they went upstairs to their own rooms. 'But it isn't nice not to be
+allowed to tell anything like that. _Father_ always believes us.'
+
+'Yes,' said Rollo thoughtfully. 'I don't quite understand why Lady
+Venelda should have taken us up so about it. I don't much like going
+back to the cottage without leave--at least without telling her about
+it, and yet we _must_ go. It would be such a shame not to pay for the
+milk.'
+
+'Yes,' said Maia, 'and they might think there had been _robbers_ there
+while they were out. Oh, we must go back!'
+
+But their perplexities were not decreased by what Nanni had to say to
+them.
+
+'Oh, Master Rollo and Miss Maia!' she exclaimed, 'we should be _very_
+thankful that no harm came to you this afternoon. I've been speaking to
+them in the kitchen about where you were, and, oh, but it must be an
+uncanny place! No one knows who lives there, though 'tis said about 'tis
+a witch. And the queer thing is, that 'tis but very few that have ever
+seen the cottage at all. Some have seen it and told the others about it,
+and when they've gone to look, no cottage could they find. Lady
+Venelda's own maid is one of those who was determined to find it, but
+she never could. And my Lady herself was so put out about it that she
+set off to look for it one day,--for no one has a right to live in the
+woods just hereabout without her leave,--and she meant to turn the
+people, whoever they were, about their business. But 'twas all for no
+use. She sought far and wide; ne'er a cottage could she find, and she
+wandered about the woods near a whole day for no use. Since then she is
+that touchy about it that, if any one dares but to mention a cottage
+hereabouts, save those in the village, it quite upsets her.'
+
+Rollo and Maia looked at each other, but something made them feel it was
+better to say little before Nanni.
+
+'So I do beg you never to speak about the cottage to my Lady,' Nanni
+wound up.
+
+'We don't want to speak about it to her,' said Rollo drily.
+
+'And you won't want to go there again, I do hope,' the maid persisted.
+'Whatever would I do if the witch got hold of you and turned you perhaps
+into blue birds or green frogs, or something dreadful? Whatever _would_
+your dear papa say to me? Oh, Miss Maia, do tell Master Rollo never to
+go there again.'
+
+'Don't be afraid,' said Maia; 'we'll take care of ourselves. I can quite
+promise you we won't be turned into frogs or birds. But don't talk any
+more about it to-night, Nanni. I'm _so_ sleepy, and I don't want to
+dream of horrible witches.'
+
+And this was all the satisfaction Nanni could get.
+
+But the next morning Rollo and Maia had a grand consultation together.
+They did not like the idea of not going to the cottage again, for they
+felt it would not be right not to explain about the milk, and they had
+besides a motive, which Nanni's strange story had no way lessened--that
+of great curiosity.
+
+'It would be a shame not to pay for the milk,' said Rollo. 'I should
+feel uncomfortable whenever I thought of it.'
+
+'So should I,' said Maia; 'even more than you, for it was I that drank
+it! And I do _so_ want to find out who lives there. There _must_ be
+children, I am sure, because of the little beds and chairs and cups, and
+everything.'
+
+'If they are all for children, I don't know what there is for big
+people,' said Rollo. 'Perhaps they're some kind of dwarfs that live
+there.'
+
+'Oh, what fun!' said Maia, clapping her hands. 'Oh, we _must_ go back to
+find out!'
+
+She started, for just as she said the words a voice behind them was
+heard to say, 'Go back; go back where, my children?'
+
+They were walking up and down the terrace on one side of the castle,
+where Mademoiselle Delphine had sent them for a little fresh air between
+their lessons, and they were so engrossed by what they were talking of
+that they had not heard nor seen the old doctor approaching them. It was
+his voice that made Maia start. Both children looked rather frightened
+when they saw who it was, and that he had overheard what they were
+saying.
+
+'Go back where?' he repeated. 'What are you talking about?'
+
+The children still hesitated.
+
+'We don't like to tell you, sir,' said Rollo frankly. 'You would say it
+was only fancy, as you did last night, and we _know_ it wasn't fancy.'
+
+'Oh, about the cottage?' said the old doctor coolly. 'You needn't be
+afraid to tell me about it, fancy or no fancy. Fancy isn't a bad thing
+sometimes.'
+
+'But it _wasn't_ fancy,' said both together; 'only we don't like to talk
+about it for fear of vexing our cousin, and we don't like to go back
+there without leave, and yet we _should_ go back.'
+
+'Why should you?' asked their old friend.
+
+Then Maia explained about the milk, adding, too, the strange things that
+Nanni had heard in the servants' hall. The old doctor listened
+attentively. His face looked quite pleased and good-humoured, and yet
+they saw he was not at all inclined to laugh at them. When they had
+finished, to the children's surprise he said nothing, but drew out a
+letter from his pocket.
+
+'Do you know this writing?' he said.
+
+Rollo and Maia exclaimed eagerly, 'Oh, yes; it is our father's. Do you
+know him? Do you know our father, Mr. Doctor?'
+
+'I have known him,' said the old man, quietly drawing the contents out
+of the cover, 'I have known him since he was much smaller than either of
+you is now. It was by my advice he sent you here for a time, and see
+what he gave me for you.'
+
+He held up as he spoke a small folded paper, which had been inside the
+other letter. It bore the words: 'For Rollo and Maia--to be given them
+when you think well.' 'I think well now,' he went on, 'so read what he
+says, my children.'
+
+They quickly opened the paper. There was not much written inside--just a
+few words:
+
+'Dear children,' they were, 'if you are in any difficulty, ask the
+advice of my dear old friend and adviser, the doctor, and you may be
+sure you will do what will please your father.'
+
+For a moment or two the children were almost too surprised to speak. It
+was Rollo who found his voice first.
+
+'Give us your advice now, Mr. Doctor. May we go back to the cottage
+without saying any more about it to Lady Venelda?'
+
+'Yes,' said the old doctor. 'You may go anywhere you like in the woods.
+No harm will come to you. It is no use your saying any more about the
+cottage to Lady Venelda. She cannot understand it because she cannot
+find it. If you can find it you will learn no harm there, and your
+father would be quite pleased for you to go.'
+
+'Then do you think we may go soon again?' asked the children eagerly.
+
+'You will always have a holiday once a week,' said the doctor. 'It would
+not be good for you to go _too_ often. Work cheerfully and well when you
+are at work, my children. I will see that you have your play.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+FAIRY HOUSEKEEPING.
+
+    'Neat, like bees, as sweet and busy,
+    .       .       .      .      .      .
+    Aired and set to rights the house;
+    Kneaded cakes of whitest wheat--
+    Cakes for dainty mouths to eat.'
+
+    _Goblin Market._
+
+
+The next few days passed rather slowly for the children. There was no
+talk of another expedition to the woods. And they had a good many
+lessons to do, so that short walks in the grounds close round the castle
+were all they had time for. They only saw the old doctor at meal-times,
+but he always smiled at them, as if to assure them he was not forgetting
+them, and to encourage them to patience.
+
+There was one person who certainly did not regret the children's not
+returning to the woods, and that person was Nanni. What she had heard
+from the servants about the mysterious cottage had thoroughly
+frightened her; she felt sure that if they went there again something
+dreadful would happen to them, and yet she was so devoted to them that,
+however terrified, she would never have thought of not following them
+wherever they chose to go. But, as day after day went by, and no more
+was said about it, she began to breathe freely. Her distress was
+therefore the greater when, one afternoon just six days after the last
+ramble, Rollo and Maia rushed upstairs after their lessons in the
+wildest spirits.
+
+'Hurrah for the doctor!' shouted Rollo, and Maia was on the point of
+joining him, till she remembered that if they made such a noise Lady
+Venelda would be sending up to know what was the matter.
+
+'We're to have a whole holiday to-morrow, Nanni,' they explained, 'and
+we're going to spend it in the woods. You're to come with us, and carry
+something in a basket for us to eat.'
+
+'Very well, Miss Maia,' replied Nanni, prudently refraining from
+mentioning the cottage, in hopes that they had forgotten about it, 'that
+will be very nice, especially if it is a fine day, but if not, of course
+you would not go.'
+
+'I don't know that,' said Rollo mischievously; 'green frogs don't mind
+rain.'
+
+'Nor blue birds,' added Maia. 'They could fly away if they did.'
+
+At these fateful words poor Nanni grew deadly pale. 'Oh, my children,'
+she cried; 'oh, Master Rollo and Miss Maia, don't, I beg of you, joke
+about such things. And oh, I entreat you, don't go looking for that
+witch's cottage. Unless you promise me you won't, I shall have to go and
+tell my Lady, however angry she is!'
+
+'No such thing, my good girl,' said a voice at the door. 'You needn't
+trouble your head about such nonsense. Rollo and Maia will go nowhere
+where they can get any harm. I know everything about the woods better
+than you or those silly servants downstairs. Lady Venelda would only
+tell you not to interfere with what didn't concern you if you went
+saying anything to her. Go off to the woods with your little master and
+mistress without misgiving, my good girl, and if the air makes you
+sleepy don't be afraid to take a nap. No harm will come to you or the
+children.'
+
+Nanni stood still in astonishment--the tears in her eyes and her mouth
+wide open, staring at the old doctor, for it was he, of course, who had
+followed the children upstairs and overheard her remonstrances. She
+looked so comical that Rollo and Maia could scarcely help laughing at
+her, as at last she found voice to speak.
+
+'Of course if the learned doctor approves I have nothing to say,' she
+said submissively; though she could not help adding, 'and I only hope no
+harm will come of it.'
+
+Rollo and Maia flew to the doctor.
+
+'Oh, that's right!' they exclaimed. 'We are so glad you have spoken to
+that stupid Nanni. She believes all the rubbish the servants here
+speak.'
+
+The doctor turned to Nanni again.
+
+'Don't be afraid,' he repeated. 'All will be right, you will see. But
+take my advice, do not say anything to the servants here about the
+amusements of your little master and mistress. Least said soonest
+mended. It would annoy Lady Venelda for it to be supposed they were
+allowed to go where any harm could befall them.'
+
+'Very well, sir,' replied Nanni, meekly enough, though she still looked
+rather depressed. She could not help remembering that before he left,
+old Marc, too, had warned her against too much chattering.
+
+The next morning broke fine and bright. The children started in the
+greatest spirits, which even Nanni, laden with a basket of provisions
+for their dinner, could not altogether resist. And before they went,
+Lady Venelda called them into her boudoir, and kissing them, wished them
+a happy holiday.
+
+'It's all that nice old doctor,' said Maia. 'You see, Rollo, she hasn't
+told us not to go to the cottage--he's put it all right, I'm sure.'
+
+'Yes, I expect so,' Rollo agreed; and then in a minute or two he added:
+'Do you know, Maia, though of course I don't believe in witches turning
+people into green frogs, or any of that nonsense, I do think there's
+_something_ funny about that cottage.'
+
+'What sort of something? What do you mean?' asked Maia, looking
+intensely interested. 'Do you mean something to do with fairies?'
+
+'I don't know--I'm not sure. But we'll see,' said Rollo.
+
+'If we can find it!' said Maia.
+
+'I'm _sure_ we shall find it. It's just because of that that I think
+there's something queer. It must be true that some people can't find
+it.'
+
+'Naughty people?' asked Maia apprehensively. 'For you know, Rollo, we're
+not always _quite_ good.'
+
+'No, I don't mean naughty people. I mean more people who don't care
+about fairies and wood-spirits, and things like that--people who call
+all that nonsense and rubbish.'
+
+'I see,' said Maia; 'perhaps you're right, Rollo. Well, any way, that
+won't stop _us_ finding it, for we certainly do care _dreadfully_ about
+fairy things, don't we, Rollo? But what about Nanni?' she went on, for
+Nanni was some steps behind, and had not heard what they were saying.
+
+'Oh, as to Nanni,' said Rollo coolly, 'I shouldn't wonder if she took a
+nap again, as the old doctor said. Any way, she can't interfere with us
+after _his_ giving us leave to go wherever we liked.'
+
+They stopped a little to give Nanni time to come up to them, and Rollo
+offered to help her to carry the basket. It was not heavy, she replied,
+she could carry it quite well alone, but she still looked rather
+depressed in spirits, so the children walked beside her, talking merrily
+of the dinner in the woods they were going to have, so that by degrees
+Nanni forgot her fears of the mysterious cottage, and thought no more
+about it.
+
+It was even a more beautiful day than the one, now nearly a week ago, on
+which they had first visited the woods. There was more sunshine to-day,
+and the season was every day farther advancing; the lovely little new
+green tips were beginning to peep out among the darker green which had
+already stood the wear and tear of a bitter winter and many a frosty
+blast.
+
+'How pretty the fir-trees look!' said Maia. 'They don't seem the least
+dim or gloomy in the sunshine, even though it only gets to them in
+little bits. See there, Rollo,' she exclaimed, pointing to one which got
+more than its share of the capricious gilding. 'Doesn't it look like a
+_real_ Christmas-tree?'
+
+'Like a lighted-up one, you mean,' said Rollo. 'It would be a very nice
+Christmas-tree for a family of giants, and if I could climb up so high,
+I'd be just about the right size for the angel at the top. Let's spread
+our table at the foot of this tree--it looks so nice and dry. I'm sure,
+Nanni,' he went on, 'you'll be glad to get rid of your basket.'
+
+'It's not heavy, Master Rollo,' said Nanni; 'but, all the same, it _is_
+queer how the minute I get into these woods I begin to be so
+sleepy--you'd hardly believe it.'
+
+Rollo and Maia looked at each other with a smile, but they said nothing.
+
+'We'd better have our dinner any way,' observed Rollo, kneeling down to
+unfasten the basket, of which the contents proved very good indeed.
+
+'What fun it is, isn't it?' said Maia, when they had eaten nearly as
+much cold chicken and bread, and cakes and fruit as they wanted. 'What
+fun it is to be able to do just as we like, and say just what we like,
+instead of having to sit straight up in our chairs like two dolls, and
+only speak when we're spoken to, and all that--how nice it would be if
+we could have our dinner in the woods every day!'
+
+'We'd get tired of it after a while, I expect,' said Rollo. 'It wouldn't
+be nice in cold weather, or if it rained.'
+
+'_I_ wouldn't mind,' said Maia. 'I'd build a warm little hut and cover
+it over with moss. We'd live like the squirrels.'
+
+'How do you know how the squirrels live?' said Rollo.
+
+But Maia did not answer him. Her ideas by this time were off on another
+flight--the thought of a little hut had reminded her of the cottage.
+
+'I want to go farther into the wood,' she said, jumping up. 'Come,
+Rollo, let's go and explore a little. Nanni, you can stay here and pack
+up the basket again, can't you?'
+
+'Then you won't be long, Miss Maia,' began Nanni, rather dolefully. 'You
+won't----'
+
+'We won't get turned into green frogs, if that's what you're thinking
+of, Nanni,' interrupted Rollo. 'Do remember what the old doctor said,
+and don't worry yourself. We shall come to no harm. And as you're so
+sleepy, why shouldn't you take a nap as you did the other day? Perhaps
+you'll dream of the beautiful lady again.'
+
+Nanni looked but half convinced.
+
+'It's not _my_ fault, any way,' she said. 'I've done all I could. I may
+as well stay here, for I know you like better to wander about by
+yourselves. But I'm not going to sleep--you needn't laugh, Master Rollo,
+I've brought my knitting with me on purpose,' and she drew out a half
+stocking and ball of worsted with great satisfaction.
+
+The children set off. They were not sure in what direction lay the
+cottage, for they had got confused in their directions, but they had a
+vague idea that by continuing upwards, for they were still on sloping
+ground, they would come to the level space where they had seen the smoke
+of the burning leaves. They were not mistaken, for they had walked but a
+very few minutes when the ground ceased to ascend, and looking round
+they felt sure that they recognised the look of the trees near the
+cottage.
+
+'This way, Rollo, I am sure,' said Maia, darting forward. She was
+right--in another moment they came out of the woods just at the side of
+the cottage. It looked just the same as before, except that no fire was
+burning outside, and instead, a thin column of smoke rose gently from
+the little chimney. The gate of the little garden was also open, as if
+inviting them to enter.
+
+'They must be at home, whoever they are,' said Rollo. 'There is a fire
+in the kitchen, you see, Maia.'
+
+Maia grew rather pale. Now that they were actually on the spot, she
+began to feel afraid, though of what she scarcely knew. Nanni's queer
+hints came back to her mind, and she caught hold of Rollo's arm,
+trembling.
+
+'Oh, Rollo,' she exclaimed, 'suppose it's true? About the witch, I
+mean--or suppose they have found out about the milk and are very angry?'
+
+'Well, we can't help it if they are,' replied Rollo sturdily. 'We've
+done the best thing we could in coming back to pay for it. You've got
+the little purse, Maia?'
+
+'Oh, yes, it's safe in my pocket,' she said. 'But----'
+
+She stopped, for just at that moment the door of the cottage opened and
+a figure came forward. It was no 'old witch,' no ogre or goblin, but a
+young girl--a little older than Maia she seemed--who stood there with a
+sweet, though rather grave expression on her face and in her soft dark
+eyes, as she said gently, 'Welcome--we have been expecting you.'
+
+'Expecting us?' exclaimed Maia, who generally found her voice more
+quickly than Rollo; 'how can you have been expecting us?'
+
+She had stepped forward a step or two before her brother, and now stood
+looking up in the girl's face with wonder in her bright blue eyes, while
+she tossed back the long fair curls that fell round her head. Boys are
+not very observant, but Rollo could not help noticing the pretty picture
+the two made. The peasant maiden with her dark plaits and brown
+complexion, dressed in a short red skirt, and little loose white bodice
+fastened round the waist with a leather belt, and Maia with a rather
+primly-cut frock and frilled tippet of flowered chintz, such as children
+then often wore, and large flapping shady hat.
+
+'How can you have been expecting us?' Maia repeated.
+
+Rollo came forward in great curiosity to hear the answer.
+
+The girl smiled.
+
+'Ah!' she said, 'there are more ways than one of knowing many things
+that are to come. Waldo heard you had arrived at the white castle, and
+my godmother had already told us of you. Then we found the milk gone,
+and----'
+
+Rollo interrupted this time. 'We were so vexed,' he said, 'not to be
+able to explain about it. We have wanted to come every day since to----'
+'To pay for it,' he was going to say, but something in the girl's face
+made him hesitate.
+
+'Not to pay for it,' she said quickly, though smiling again, as if she
+read his words in his face; 'don't say that. We were so glad it was
+there for you. Besides, it is not ours--Waldo and I would have nothing
+but for our godmother. But come in--come in--Waldo is only gone to fetch
+some brushwood, and our godmother, too, will be here soon.'
+
+Too surprised to ask questions--indeed, there seemed so many to ask that
+they would not have known where to begin--Rollo and Maia followed the
+girl into the little kitchen. It looked just as neat and dainty as the
+other day--and brighter too, for a charming little fire was burning in
+the grate, and a pleasant smell of freshly-roasted coffee was faintly
+perceived. The table was set out as before, but with the addition of a
+plate of crisp-looking little cakes or biscuits, and in place of _two_
+small cups and saucers there were _four_, as well as the larger one the
+children had seen before. This was too much for Maia to behold in
+silence. She stopped short, and stared in still greater amazement.
+
+'Why!' she exclaimed. 'You don't mean to say--why, just fancy, I don't
+even know your name.'
+
+'Silva,' replied the girl quietly, but with an amused little smile on
+her face.
+
+'Silva,' continued Maia, 'you _don't_ mean to say that you've put out
+those two cups for _us_--that you knew we'd come.'
+
+'Godmother did,' said Silva. 'She told us yesterday. So we've been very
+busy to get all our work done, and have a nice holiday afternoon. Waldo
+has nothing more to do after he's brought in the wood, and I baked those
+little cakes this morning and roasted the coffee. Godmother told us to
+have it ready early, so that there'll be plenty of time before you have
+to go. Oh, here's Waldo!' she exclaimed joyfully.
+
+Rollo and Maia turned round. There, in the doorway stood a boy, his cap
+in his hand, a pleasant smile on his bright ruddy face.
+
+'Welcome, my friends,' he said, with a kind of gravity despite his
+smile.
+
+He was such a nice-looking boy--just about as much bigger than Rollo as
+Silva was bigger than Maia. You could have told at once that they were
+brother and sister--there was the same bright and yet serious expression
+in their eyes; the same healthy, ruddy complexion; the same erect
+carriage and careless grace in Waldo in his forester's clothes as in
+Silva with her pretty though simple peasant maiden dress. They looked
+what they were, true children of the beautiful woods.
+
+'Thank you,' said Rollo and Maia, after a moment's hesitation. They did
+not know what else to say. Silva glanced at them. She seemed to have a
+curious power of reading in their faces the thoughts that were passing
+in their minds.
+
+'Don't think it strange,' she said quickly, 'that Waldo calls you thus
+"my friends," and that we both speak to you as if we had known you for
+long. We know we are not the same as you--in the world, I mean, we could
+not be as we are here with you, but this is not the world,' and here
+she smiled again--the strange, bright, and yet somehow rather sad smile
+which made her face so sweet--'and so we need not think about it.
+Godmother said it was best only to remember that we are just four
+children together, and when you see her you will feel that what she says
+is always best.'
+
+'We don't need to see her to feel that we like you to call us your
+friends,' exclaimed Rollo and Maia together. The words came from their
+hearts, and yet somehow they felt surprised at being able to say them so
+readily. Rollo held out his hand to Waldo, who shook it heartily, and
+little Maia going close up to Silva said softly, 'Kiss me, please, dear
+Silva.'
+
+And thus the friendship was begun.
+
+The first effect of this seemed to be the setting loose of Maia's
+tongue.
+
+'There are so many things I want to ask you,' she began. 'May I? Do you
+and Waldo live here alone, and have you always lived here? And does your
+godmother live here, for the other day when we went all over the cottage
+we only saw two little beds, and two little of everything, except the
+big chair and the big cup and saucer. And what----'
+
+Here Rollo interrupted her.
+
+'Maia,' he said, 'you really shouldn't talk so fast. Silva could not
+answer all those questions at once if she wanted; and perhaps she
+doesn't want to answer them all. It's rude to ask so much.'
+
+Maia looked up innocently into Silva's face.
+
+'I didn't mean to be rude,' she said, 'only you see I can't help
+wondering.'
+
+'We don't mind your asking anything you like,' Silva replied. 'But I
+don't think I _can_ tell you all you want to know. You'll get to see for
+yourself. Waldo and I have lived here a long time, but not _always_!'
+
+'But your godmother,' went on Maia; 'I do so want to know about her.
+Does _she_ live here? Is it she that the people about call a witch?'
+Maia lowered her voice a little at the last word, and looked up at Rollo
+apprehensively. Would not he think speaking of witches still ruder than
+asking questions? But Silva did not seem to mind.
+
+'I dare say they do,' she said quietly. 'They don't know her, you see. I
+don't think she would care if they did call her a witch. But now the
+coffee is ready,' for she had been going on with her preparations
+meanwhile, 'will you sit round the table?'
+
+'We are not very hungry,' said Rollo, 'for we had our dinner in the
+wood. But the coffee smells so good,' and he drew in his chair as he
+spoke. Maia, however, hesitated.
+
+'Would it not be more polite, perhaps,' she said to Silva, 'to wait a
+little for your godmother? You said she would be coming soon.'
+
+'She doesn't like us to wait for her,' said Silva. 'We always put her
+place ready, for sometimes she comes and sometimes she doesn't--we never
+know. But she says it is best just to go on regularly, and then we need
+not lose any time.'
+
+'I don't think I should like that way,' said Maia. 'Would you, Rollo? If
+father was coming to see us, I would like to know it quite settledly
+ever so long before, and plan all about it.'
+
+'But it isn't quite the same,' said Silva. 'Your father is far away. Our
+godmother is never very far away--it is just a nice feeling that she may
+come any time, like the sunshine or the wind.'
+
+'Well, perhaps it is,' said Maia. 'I dare say I shall understand when
+I've seen her. How very good this coffee is, Silva, and the little
+cakes! Did your godmother teach you to make them so nice?'
+
+'Not exactly,' said Silva; 'but she made me like doing things well. She
+made me see how pretty it is to do things rightly--_quite_ rightly, just
+as they should be.'
+
+'And do you always do things that way?' exclaimed Maia, very much
+impressed. '_I_ don't; I'm very often dreadfully untidy, and sometimes
+my exercise-books are full of blots and mistakes. I wish I had had your
+godmother to teach me, Silva.'
+
+'Well, you're going to have her now. She teaches without one knowing it.
+But _I'm_ not perfect, nor is Waldo! Indeed we're not--and if we thought
+we were it would show we weren't.'
+
+'Besides,' said Waldo, 'all the things we have to do are very simple and
+easy. We don't know anything about the world, and all we should have to
+do and learn if we lived there.'
+
+'Should you like to live there?' asked Maia. Both Waldo and Silva
+hesitated. Then both, with the grave expression in their eyes that came
+there sometimes, replied, 'I don't know;' but Waldo in a moment or two
+added, 'If it had to be, it would be right to like it.'
+
+'Yes,' said Silva quietly. But something in their tone made both Rollo
+and Maia feel puzzled.
+
+'I do believe you're both half fairies,' exclaimed Maia with a little
+impatience; 'I can't make you out at all.'
+
+Rollo felt the same, though, being more considerate than his little
+sister, he did not like to express his feelings so freely. But Waldo and
+Silva only laughed merrily.
+
+'No, no, indeed we're not,' they said more than once, but Maia did not
+seem convinced by any means, and she was going on to maintain that no
+children who _weren't_ half fairies could live like that by themselves
+and manage everything so beautifully, when a slight noise at the door
+and a sudden look of pleasure on Silva's face made her stop short and
+look round.
+
+'Here she is,' exclaimed Waldo and Silva together. 'Oh, godmother,
+darling, we are so glad. And they have come, Rollo and Maia have come,
+just as you said.'
+
+And thus saying they sprang forward. Their godmother stooped and kissed
+both on the forehead.
+
+'Dear children,' she said, and then she turned to the two strangers, who
+were gazing at her with all their eyes.
+
+'_Can_ it be she the silly people about call a witch?' Maia was saying
+to herself. 'It _might_ be, and yet I don't know. _Could_ any one call
+her a witch?'
+
+She was old--of that there was no doubt, at least so it seemed at the
+first glance. Her hair was perfectly white, her face was very pale. But
+her eyes were the most wonderful thing about her. Maia could not tell
+what colour they were. They seemed to change with every word she said,
+with every new look that came over her face. Old as she was they were
+very bright and beautiful, very soft and sweet too, though not the sort
+of eyes--Maia said afterwards to Rollo--'that I would like to look at me
+if I had been naughty.' Godmother was not tall; when she first came into
+the little kitchen she seemed to stoop a little, and did not look much
+bigger than Silva. And she was all covered over with a dark green cloak,
+almost the colour of the darkest of the foliage of the fir-trees.
+
+'One would hardly see her if she were walking about the woods,' thought
+Maia, 'except that her face and hair are so white, they would gleam out
+like snow.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE STORY OF A KING'S DAUGHTER.
+
+    'Gentle and sweet is she;
+    As the heart of a rose is her heart,
+    As soft and as fair and as sweet.'
+
+    _Liliput Lectures._
+
+
+Godmother turned to the little strangers. The two pairs of blue eyes
+were still fixed upon her. _Her_ eyes looked very kind and gentle, and
+yet very 'seeing', as she caught their gaze.
+
+'I believe,' thought Maia, 'that she can tell all we are thinking;' and
+Rollo had something of the same idea, yet neither of them felt the least
+afraid of her.
+
+'Rollo and Maia, dear children, too,' she said, 'we are so pleased to
+see you.'
+
+'And we are very pleased to be here,' said they; 'but----' and then they
+hesitated.
+
+'You are puzzled how it is I know your names, and all about you, are
+you not?' she said, smiling. 'I puzzle most children at first; but isn't
+it rather nice to be puzzled?'
+
+This was a new idea. Thinking it over, they began to find there was
+something in it.
+
+'I think it _is_,' both replied, smiling a little.
+
+'If you knew all about everything, and could see through everything,
+there wouldn't be much interest left. Nothing to find out or to fancy.
+Oh, what a dull world!'
+
+'Are we to find out or to fancy _you_?' asked Maia. She spoke seriously,
+but there was a little look of fun in her eyes which was at once
+reflected in godmother's.
+
+'Whichever you like,' she replied; 'but, first of all, you are to kiss
+me.'
+
+Rollo and Maia both kissed the soft white face. It was _so_ soft, and
+there seemed a sort of fresh, sweet scent about godmother, as if she had
+been in a room all filled with violets, only it was even nicer. She
+smiled, and from a little basket on her arm, which they had not noticed,
+she drew out several tiny bunches of spring flowers, tied with green and
+white ribbon--so pretty; oh, so very pretty!
+
+'So you scented my flowers,' she said. 'No wonder; you have never
+scented any quite like them before. They come from the other country.
+Here, dears, catch,' and she tossed them up in the air, all four
+children jumping and darting about to see who would get most. But at the
+end, when they counted their treasures, it was quite right, each had got
+three.
+
+'Oh, how sweet!' cried Maia. 'May we take them home with us, godmother?'
+It seemed to come quite naturally to call her that, and Maia did it
+without thinking.
+
+'Certainly,' godmother replied; 'but remember this, don't throw them
+away when they seem withered. They will not be really withered; that is
+to say, long afterwards, by putting them in the sunshine, they
+will--some of them, any way--come out quite fresh again. And even when
+dried up they will have a delicious scent; indeed, the scent has an
+added charm about it the older they are--so many think, and I agree with
+them.'
+
+Rollo and Maia looked at their flowers with a sort of awe.
+
+'Then they are _fairy_ flowers?' they half whispered. 'You said they
+came from the other country. Do you come from there too, godmother? Are
+you a fairy?'
+
+Godmother smiled.
+
+'Fancy me one if you like,' she said. 'Fancy me whatever you like best,
+you will not be far wrong; but fairyland is only one little part of that
+other country. You will find that out as you get older.'
+
+'Shall we go there some day, then?' exclaimed Maia. 'Will you take us,
+dear godmother? Have Waldo and Silva ever been?'
+
+'Oh, what a lot of questions all at once!' cried godmother. 'I can't
+answer so many. You must be content to find out some things for
+yourself, my little girl. The way to the other country for one. Shall
+you go there some day? Yes, indeed, many and many a time, I hope.'
+
+Maia clapped her hands with delight.
+
+'Oh, how nice!' she said. 'And when? May we go to-day? Oh, Silva, do ask
+godmother to let us go to-day,' she exclaimed, catching hold of Silva in
+her eagerness. But Silva only smiled, and looked at godmother; and
+somehow, when they smiled, the two faces--the young one with its bright
+rich colour, and the old one, white, so white, except for the wonderful,
+beautiful eyes, that it might have been made of snow--looked strangely
+alike.
+
+'Silva has learned to be patient,' said godmother, 'and so she gets to
+know more and more of the other country. You must follow her example,
+little Maia. Don't be discouraged. How do you know that you are not
+already on the way there? What do you think about it, my boy?' she went
+on, turning to Rollo, who was standing a little behind them listening,
+but saying nothing.
+
+Rollo looked up and smiled.
+
+'I'd like to find the way myself,' he replied.
+
+'That's right,' said godmother. And Maia felt more and more puzzled, as
+it seemed to her that Rollo understood the meaning of godmother's words
+better than she did.
+
+'Rollo,' she exclaimed, half reproachfully.
+
+Rollo turned to her with some surprise.
+
+'You understand and I don't,' she said, with a little pout on her pretty
+lips.
+
+'No,' said Rollo, 'I don't. But I like to think of understanding some
+day.'
+
+'That is right,' said godmother again. 'But this is dull talk for you,
+little people. What is it to be to-day, Silva? What is old godmother to
+do for you?'
+
+Silva glanced out of the window.
+
+'The day will soon be closing into evening,' she said,' and Rollo and
+Maia cannot stay after sunset. We have not very long, godmother--no
+time to go anywhere.'
+
+'Ah, I don't know about that,' godmother replied. 'But still--the first
+visit. What would you like, then, my child?'
+
+'Let us gather round the fire, for it is a little chilly,' said Silva,
+'and you, dear godmother, will tell us a story.'
+
+Maia's eyes and Rollo's, too, brightened at this. Godmother had no need
+to ask if they would like it. She drew the large chair nearer the
+fireplace, and the four children clustered round her in silence waiting
+for her to begin.
+
+'It is too warm with my cloak on,' she said, and she raised her hand to
+unfasten it at the neck and loosen it a little. It did not entirely fall
+off; the dark green hood still made a shade round her silvery hair and
+delicate face, but the cloak dropped away enough for Maia's sharp eyes
+to see that the dress underneath was of lovely crimson stuff, neither
+velvet nor satin, but richer and softer than either. It glimmered in the
+light of the fire with a sort of changing brilliance that was very
+tempting, and it almost seemed to Maia that she caught the sparkle of
+diamonds and other precious stones.
+
+'May I stroke your pretty dress, godmother?' she said softly. Godmother
+started; she did not seem to have noticed how much of the crimson was
+seen, and for a moment Maia felt a little afraid. But then godmother
+smiled again, and the child felt quite happy, and slipped her hand
+inside the folds of the cloak till it reached the soft stuff beneath.
+
+'Stroke it the right way,' said godmother.
+
+'Oh, _how_ soft!' said Maia in delight. 'What _is_ it made of? It isn't
+velvet, or even plush. Godmother,' she went on, puckering her forehead
+again in perplexity, 'it almost feels like _feathers_. Are you perhaps a
+_bird_ as well as a fairy?'
+
+At this godmother laughed. You never heard anything so pretty as her
+laugh. It was something like--no, I could never tell you what it was
+like--a very little like lots of tiny silver bells ringing, and soft
+breezes blowing, and larks trilling, all together and _very_ gently, and
+yet very clearly. The children could not help all laughing, too, to hear
+it.
+
+'Call me whatever you like,' said godmother. 'A bird, or a fairy, or a
+will-o'-the-wisp, or even a witch. Many people have called me a witch,
+and I don't mind. Only, dears,' and here her pretty, sweet voice grew
+grave, and even a little sad, 'never think of me except as loving you
+and wanting to make you happy and good. And never believe I have said or
+done anything to turn you from doing right and helping others to do it.
+That is the only thing that could grieve me. And the world is full of
+people who don't see things the right way, and blame others when it is
+their own fault all the while. So sometimes you will find it all rather
+difficult. But don't forget.'
+
+'No,' said Maia, 'we won't forget, even though we don't quite
+understand. We will some day, won't we?'
+
+'Yes, dears, that you will,' said godmother.
+
+'And just now,' said Silva, 'it doesn't matter. We needn't think about
+the difficult world, dear godmother, while we're _here_--ever so far
+away from it.'
+
+'No, we need not,' said godmother, with what sounded almost like a sigh,
+if one could have believed that godmother _could_ sigh! If it were one,
+it was gone in an instant, and with her very prettiest and happiest
+smile, godmother turned to the children.
+
+'And now, dears,' she said, 'now for the story.'
+
+The four figures drew still nearer, the four pair of eyes were fixed on
+the sweet white face, into which, as she spoke, a little soft pink
+colour began to come. Whether it was from the reflection of the fire or
+not, Maia could not decide, and godmother's clear voice went on.
+
+'Once----'
+
+'Once upon a time; do say "once upon a time,"' interrupted Silva.
+
+'Well, well, once upon a time,' repeated godmother, 'though, by the by,
+how do you know I was _not_ going to say it? Well, then, once upon a
+time, a long ago once upon a time, there lived a king's daughter.'
+
+'A princess,' interrupted another voice, Maia's this time. 'Why don't
+you say a princess, dear godmother?'
+
+'Never mind,' replied godmother. 'I like better to call her a king's
+daughter.'
+
+'And don't interrupt any more, please,' said Waldo and Rollo together,
+quite forgetting that they were actually interrupting themselves.
+
+'And,' continued godmother, without noticing this last interruption,
+'she was very beautiful and very sweet and good, even though she had
+everything in the world that even a king's daughter could want. Do you
+look surprised at my saying "even though," children? You need not; there
+is nothing more difficult than to remain unselfish, which is just
+another word for "sweet and good," if one never knows what it is to have
+a wish ungratified. But so it was with Aureole, for that was the name of
+the fair maiden. Though she had all her life been surrounded with luxury
+and indulgence, though she had never known even a crumpled rose-leaf in
+her path, her heart still remained tender, and she felt for the
+sufferings of others whenever she knew of them, as if they were her own.
+
+'"Who knows?" she would say softly to herself, "who knows but what some
+day sorrow may come to me, and then how glad I should be to find
+kindness and sympathy!"
+
+'And when she thought thus there used to come a look in her eyes which
+made her old nurse, who loved her dearly, tremble and cross herself.
+
+'"I have never seen that look," she would whisper, though not so that
+Aureole could hear it--"I have never seen that look save in the eyes of
+those who were born to sorrow."
+
+'But time went on, and no sorrows of her own had as yet come to Aureole.
+She grew to be tall and slender, with golden fair curls about her face,
+which gave her a childlike, innocent look, as if she were younger than
+her real age. And with her years her tenderness and sympathy for
+suffering seemed to grow deeper and stronger. It was the sure way to her
+heart. In a glade not far from the castle she had a favourite bower,
+where early every morning she used to go to feed and tend her pets, of
+which the best-loved was a delicate little fawn that she had found one
+day in the forest, deserted by its companions, as it had hurt its foot
+and could no longer keep pace with them. With difficulty Aureole and her
+nurse carried it home between them, and tended it till it grew well
+again and could once more run and spring as lightly as ever. And then
+one morning Aureole, with tears in her eyes, led it back to the forest
+where she had found it.
+
+'"Here, my fawn," she said, "you are free as air. I would not keep you a
+captive. Hasten to your friends, my fawn, but do not forget Aureole, and
+if you are in trouble come to her to help you."
+
+'But the fawn would not move. He rubbed himself softly against her, and
+looked up in her face with eyes that almost spoke. She could not but
+understand what he meant to say.
+
+'"I cannot leave you. Let me stay always beside you," was what he tried
+to express. So Aureole let him follow her home again, and from that
+day he had always lived in her bower, and was never so happy as when
+gambolling about her. She had other pets too--numbers of birds of
+various kinds, none of which she kept in cages, for all of them she had
+in some way or other saved and protected, and, like the fawn, they
+refused to leave her. The sweetest, perhaps, were a pair of wood-pigeons
+which she had one day released from a fowler's snare, where they had
+become entangled. It was the prettiest sight in the world to see Aureole
+in her bower every morning, the fawn rubbing his soft head against her
+white dress, and the wood-pigeons cooing to her, one perched on each
+shoulder, while round her head fluttered a crowd of birds of different
+kinds--all owing their life and happiness to her tender care. There was
+a thrush, which she had found half-fledged and gasping for breath,
+fallen from the nest; a maimed swallow, who had been left behind by his
+companions in the winter flight. And running about, though still lame of
+one leg, a tame rabbit which she had rescued from a dog, and ever so
+many other innocent creatures, all with histories of the same kind, and
+each vying with the other to express gratitude to their dear mistress as
+she stood there with the sunshine peeping through the boughs and
+lighting up her sweet face and bright hair.
+
+[Illustration: 'It was the prettiest sight in the world to see Aureole
+in her bower every morning.']
+
+'But summer and sunshine do not always last, and in time sorrow came to
+Aureole as to others.
+
+'Her mother had died when she was a little baby, and her father was
+already growing old. But he felt no anxiety about the future of his only
+child, for it had long been decided that she was to marry the next heir
+to his crown, the Prince Halbert, as by the laws of that country no
+woman could reign. Aureole had not seen Halbert for many years, when, as
+children, they had played together; but she remembered him with
+affection as a bright merry boy, and she looked forward without fear to
+being his wife.
+
+'"Why should I not love him?" she said to herself. "I have never yet
+known any one who was not kind and gentle, and Halbert will be still
+more so to me than any one else, for he will be my king and master."
+
+'And when the day came for the Prince to return to see her again, she
+waited for him quietly and without misgiving. And at first all seemed as
+she had pictured it. Halbert was manly and handsome, he had an open
+expression and winning manners, he was devoted to his gentle cousin. So
+the old King was delighted, and Aureole said to herself, "What have I
+done to deserve such happiness? How can I ever sufficiently show my
+gratitude?"
+
+'She was standing in her bower when she thought thus, surrounded as
+usual by her pets. Suddenly among the trees at some little distance she
+heard a sound of footsteps, and at the same time a harsh voice, which
+she scarcely recognised, speaking roughly and sharply.
+
+'"Out of my way, you cur," it said, and then came the sound of a blow,
+followed by a piteous whine.
+
+'Aureole darted forward, and in another instant came upon Halbert, his
+face dark and frowning, while a poor little dog lay bleeding at his
+feet.
+
+'"Halbert!" exclaimed Aureole. Her cousin started; he had not heard her
+come. "Did _you_ do this? Did _you_ strike the little dog?"
+
+'Halbert turned towards her; he had reddened with shame, but he tried to
+laugh it off.
+
+'"It is nothing," he said; "the creature will be all right again
+directly. Horrid little cur! it rushed out at me from that cottage there
+and yelped and barked just when I was eagerly hastening to your bower,
+Princess."
+
+'But Aureole hardly heard him, or his attempts at excusing himself. She
+was on her knees before the poor dog.
+
+'"Why, Fido," she said, "dear little Fido, do you not know me?" Fido
+feebly tried to wag his tail.
+
+'"Is it _your_ dog?" stammered Halbert. "I had no--not the slightest
+idea----"
+
+'But Aureole flashed back an answer which startled him. "_My_ dog," she
+said. "No. But what has that to do with it? Oh, you cruel man!"
+
+'Then she turned from him, the little dog all panting and bleeding in
+her arms. Halbert was startled by the look on her face.
+
+'"Forgive me, Aureole," he cried. "I did not mean to hurt the creature.
+I am hasty and quick-tempered, but you should not punish so severely an
+instant's thoughtlessness."
+
+'"It was not thoughtlessness. It was cowardly cruelty," replied Aureole
+slowly, turning her pale face towards him. "A man must have a cruel
+nature who, even under irritation, could do what you have done.
+Farewell," and she was moving away when he stopped her.
+
+'"What do you mean by farewell? You are not in earnest?" he exclaimed.
+But Aureole looked at him with indignation.
+
+'"Not in earnest?" she repeated. "Never was I more so in my life!
+Farewell, Halbert."
+
+'"And you will not see me again?" he exclaimed.
+
+'"I will never see you again," Aureole replied, "till you have learnt to
+feel for the sufferings of your fellow-creatures, instead of adding to
+them. And who can say if that day will ever come? Farewell again,
+Halbert."
+
+'The Prince stood thunderstruck, watching her slight figure as it
+disappeared among the trees. He felt like a man in a dream. Then, as he
+gradually became conscious that it was all true, his hot temper broke
+out in anger at Aureole, in mockery at her absurdity and exaggeration,
+and he tried to believe what he said, that no man could be happy with so
+fanciful and unreasonable a wife, and that he had nothing to regret. In
+his heart he was angry with himself, though to this he would not own,
+and conscious also that Aureole's instinct had judged him truly. He was
+selfish and utterly thoughtless for others, and far on the way therefore
+to becoming actually cruel. He had, like Aureole, been surrounded by
+luxury and indulgence all his life, but had not, like her, acquired the
+habit of feeling for others and looking upon his own blessings as to be
+shared with those who were without them.
+
+'Aureole kept to her word. She would not see Halbert again, though the
+King, her father, did his utmost to shake her resolution. She remained
+firm. It was better so for both of them, she repeated. It would kill her
+to be the wife of such a man, and do him no good. So in bitter and angry
+resentment, rather than sorrow, Prince Halbert went away, and Aureole's
+life returned to what it had been before his coming.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE STORY OF A KING'S DAUGHTER
+
+(_Continued_).
+
+    'I have been enchanted, and thou only canst set me free.'
+
+    GRIMM'S _Raven_.
+
+
+'It seemed so at least, but in reality it was very different. Aureole
+had received a shock which she felt deeply, and which she could not
+forget. It grieved her, too, to see her father's distress and
+disappointment, and sometimes she asked herself if perhaps she had done
+wrong in deciding so hastily. But the sight of the little dog Fido,
+which had recovered, though with the loss of one eye, always removed
+these misgivings. "A man who could be so cruel to a harmless little
+creature, would have quickly broken my heart," she said to herself and
+sometimes to her father. And as time went on, and news came that Prince
+Halbert was becoming more and more feared and disliked in his own home
+from the increasing violence of his temper, the old King learnt to be
+thankful that his dear Aureole was not to be at the mercy of such a man.
+
+'"But what will become of you, my darling, when I am gone?" he would
+say.
+
+'"Fear not for me," Aureole assured him. "I have no fear for myself,
+father, dear. Why, I could live safely in the woods with my dear
+animals. If I had a little hut, and Fido to guard me, and Lello my fawn,
+and the little rabbit, and all my pretty birds, I should be quite
+happy!"
+
+'For the forester to whom Fido belonged had begged Aureole to keep him,
+as even before its hurt the dog had learnt to love her and spring out to
+greet her, and wag his tail with pleasure when she passed his master's
+cottage, which lay on the way to her glade. But though Aureole was not
+afraid for herself, she was often very miserable when she thought of her
+country-people, above all the poor and defenceless ones, in the power of
+such a king as Halbert gave signs of being, after the long and gentle
+rule of her father. Yet there was nothing to be done, so she kept
+silence, fearing to cloud with more sorrow and anxiety the last days of
+the old King.
+
+'They were indeed his last days, for within a year of Halbert's
+unfortunate visit her father died, and the fair Aureole was left
+desolate.
+
+'Her grief was great, even though the King had been very old, and she
+had long known he could not be spared to her for many more years. But
+she had not much time to indulge in it, for already, before her father
+was laid in his grave, her sorrow was disturbed by the strange and
+unexpected events which came to pass.
+
+'These began by a curious dream which came to Aureole the very night of
+her father's death.
+
+'She dreamt that she was standing in her bower with her pets about her
+as usual. She felt bright and happy, and had altogether forgotten about
+her father's death. Suddenly a movement of terror made itself felt among
+her animals--the birds fluttered closer to her, the little rabbit crept
+beneath her skirt, the fawn and Fido looked up at her with startled
+eyes, and almost before she had time to look round their terror was
+explained. A frightful sound was heard approaching them, the terrible
+growl of a bear, and in another moment the monster was within a few
+yards. Even then, in her dream, Aureole's first thought was for her
+pets. She threw her arms round all that she could embrace, and stood
+there calmly, watching the creature with a faint hope that if she
+showed no terror he might pass them by. But he came nearer and nearer,
+till she almost felt his hot breath on her face, when suddenly, to her
+amazement, the monster was no longer there, but in his place the Prince
+Halbert, standing beside her and looking at her with an expression of
+the profoundest misery.
+
+'"I have brought it on myself," he said. "I deserve it; but pity me, oh,
+Aureole! Sweet Aureole, pity and forgive me!" Then a cry of
+irrepressible grief burst from his lips, and at this moment Aureole
+awoke, to find her eyes wet with tears, her heart throbbing fast with
+fear and distress.
+
+'"What can have made me dream of Halbert?" she said to herself. "It must
+have been seeing the messengers start yesterday," and then all came back
+to her memory, which at the first moment of waking had been confused,
+and she remembered her father's death and her own loneliness, and the
+scarcely-dried tears rushed afresh to her eyes.
+
+'"Has any news come from Prince Halbert?" she inquired of her attendants
+when they came at her summons. And when they told her "none," she felt a
+strange sensation of uneasiness. For the messengers had been despatched
+at once on the death of the old King, which had been sudden at the last,
+to summon his successor, and there had been time already for their
+return.
+
+'And as the day went on and nothing was heard of them, every one began
+to think there must be something wrong, till late at night these fears
+were confirmed by the return of the messengers with anxious faces.
+
+'"Has the Prince arrived?" was their first question, and when they were
+told that nothing had been seen of him, they explained the reason of
+their inquiry.
+
+'Halbert, already informed of the illness of the old King, had quickly
+prepared to set out with his own attendants and those who had come to
+summon him. They had ridden through the night, and had nothing untoward
+occurred, they would have ended their journey by daybreak. But the
+Prince had lost his temper with his horse, a nervous and restless
+animal, unfit for so irritable a person to manage.
+
+'"We became uneasy," said the messengers, "on seeing the Prince lashing
+and spurring furiously the poor animal, who, his sides streaming with
+blood, no longer understood what was required of him, and at last,
+driven mad with pain and terror, dashed off at a frantic pace which it
+was hopeless to overtake. We followed him as best we could, guided for
+some distance by the branches broken as they passed and the ploughed-up
+ground, which, thanks to a brilliant moonlight, we were able to
+distinguish. But at last, where the trees began to grow more
+thickly----" and here the speaker, who was giving this report to Aureole
+herself, hesitated--"at last these traces entirely disappeared. We
+sought on in every direction; when the moon went in we waited for the
+daylight, and resumed our search. But all to no purpose, and at last we
+resolved to ride on hither, hoping that the Prince might possibly have
+found his way before us."
+
+'"But this is terrible!" cried Aureole, forgetting all her indignation
+against Halbert in the thought of his lying perhaps crushed and helpless
+in some bypath of the forest which his followers had missed. "We must at
+once send out fresh horsemen in every direction to scour the country."
+
+'The captain who had had command of the little troop bowed, but said
+nothing, and seemed without much hope that any fresh efforts would
+succeed. Aureole was struck with his manner.
+
+'"You are concealing something from me," she said. "Why do you appear so
+hopeless? Even at the worst, even supposing the Prince is killed, he
+must be found."
+
+'"We searched too thoroughly," replied the officer. "Wherever it was
+_possible_ to get, we left not a square yard unvisited."
+
+'"Wherever it was _possible_," repeated Aureole; "what do you mean? You
+do not think----" and she too hesitated, and her pale face grew paler.
+
+'The captain glanced at her.
+
+'"I see that you have divined our fears, Princess," he said in a low
+voice. "Yes, we feel almost without a doubt that the unfortunate Prince
+has been carried into the enchanted forest, from whence, as you well
+know, none have ever been known to return. It is well that his parents
+have not lived to see this day, for, though he brought it on himself, it
+is impossible not to feel pity for such a fate."
+
+'Aureole seemed scarcely able to reply. But she gave orders,
+notwithstanding all she had heard, to send out fresh horsemen to search
+again in every direction.
+
+'"My poor father," she said to herself; "I am glad he was spared this
+new sorrow about Halbert." And as the remembrance of her strange dream
+returned to her, "Poor Halbert," she added, "what may he not be
+suffering?" and she shuddered at the thought.
+
+'For the enchanted forest was the terror of all that country. In reality
+nothing, or almost nothing, was known of it, and therefore the awe and
+horror about it were the greater. It lay in a lonely stretch of ground
+between two ranges of hills, and no one ever passed through it, for
+there was no pathway or entrance of any kind to be seen. But for longer
+than any one now living could remember, it had been spoken of as a place
+to be dreaded and avoided, and travellers in passing by used to tell how
+they had heard shrieks and screams and groans from among its dark
+shades. It was said that a magician lived in a castle in the very centre
+of the forest, and that he used all sorts of tricks to get people into
+his power, whence they could never again escape. For though several were
+known to have been tempted to enter the forest, none of them were ever
+heard of or seen again. And it was the common saying of the
+neighbourhood, that it would be far worse to lose a child by straying
+into the forest than by dying. No one had ever seen the magician, no one
+even was sure that he existed, but when any misfortune came over the
+neighbourhood, such as a bad harvest or unusual sickness, people were
+sure to say that the wizard of the forest was at the bottom of it. And
+Aureole, like every one else, had a great and mysterious terror of the
+place and its master.
+
+'"Poor Halbert!" she repeated to herself many times that day. "Would I
+could do anything for him!"
+
+'The bands of horsemen she had sent out returned one after the other
+with the same tidings,--nothing had been seen or heard of the Prince.
+But late in the day a woodman brought to the castle a fragment of cloth
+which was recognised as having been torn from the mantle of the Prince,
+and which he had found caught on the branch of a tree. When asked where,
+he hesitated, which of itself was answer enough.
+
+'"Close to the borders of the enchanted forest," he said at last,
+lowering his voice. But that was all he had to tell. And from this
+moment all lost hope. There was nothing more to be done.
+
+'"The Prince is as lost to us as is our good old King," were the words
+of every one on the day of the funeral of Aureole's father. "Far better
+for him were he too sleeping peacefully among his fathers than to be
+where he is."
+
+'It seemed as if it would have certainly been better for his people had
+it been so. It was impossible to receive the successor of Halbert as
+king till a certain time had elapsed, which would be considered as equal
+to proof of his death. And the next heir to the crown being but an
+infant living in a distant country, the delay gave opportunity for
+several rival claimants to begin to make difficulties, and not many
+months after the death of the old King the once happy and peaceful
+country was threatened with war and invasion on various sides. Then the
+heads of the nation consulted together, and decided on a bold step. They
+came to Aureole offering her the crown, declaring that they preferred to
+overthrow the laws of the country, though they had existed for many
+centuries, and to make her, at the point of the sword if necessary,
+their queen, rather than accept as sovereign any of those who had no
+right to it, or an infant who would but be a name and no reality.
+
+'Aureole was startled and bewildered, but firm in her refusal.
+
+'"A king's daughter am I, but no queen. I feel no fitness for the task
+of ruling," she replied, "and I could never rest satisfied that I was
+where I had a right to be."
+
+'But when the deputies entreated her to consider the matter, and when
+she thought of the misery in store for the people unless something were
+quickly done, she agreed to think it over till the next day.
+
+'The next day came, Aureole was ready, awaiting the deputies. Their
+hopes rose high as they saw her, for there was an expression on her face
+that had not been there the day before. She stood before them in her
+long mourning robe, but she had encircled her waist with a golden belt,
+and golden ornaments shone on her neck and arms.
+
+'"It is a good sign," the envoys whispered, as they remarked also the
+bright and hopeful light in her eyes, and they stood breathless, waiting
+for her reply. It was not what they had expected.
+
+'"I cannot as yet consent to what you wish," said Aureole; "but be
+patient. I set off to-day on a journey from which I hope to return with
+good news. Till then I entreat you to do your best to keep all peaceful
+and quiet. And I promise you that if I fail in what I am undertaking, I
+will return to be your queen."
+
+'This was all she would say. She was forbidden, she declared, to say
+more. And so resolute and decided did she appear, that the envoys,
+though not without murmuring, were obliged to consent to await her
+return, and withdrew with anxious and uneasy looks.
+
+'And Aureole immediately began to get ready for the mysterious journey
+of which she had spoken. Her preparations were strange. She took off,
+for the first time since her father's death, her black dress, and clad
+herself entirely in white. Then she kissed her old nurse and bade her
+farewell, at the same time telling her to keep up her courage and have
+no fear, to which the old dame could not reply without tears.
+
+'"I do not urge you to tell me the whole, Princess," she said, "as it
+was forbidden you to do so. But if I might but go with you." Aureole
+shook her head.
+
+'"No, dear nurse," she replied. "The voice in my dream said, 'Alone,
+save for thy dumb friends.' That is all I can tell you," and kissing
+again the poor nurse, Aureole set off, none knew whither, and she took
+care that none should follow her. Some of her attendants saw her going
+in the direction of her bower, and remarked her white dress. But they
+were so used to her going alone to see her pets that they thought no
+more of it. For no one knew the summons Aureole had received. The night
+before, after tossing about unable to sleep, so troubled was she by the
+request that had been made to her, she at last fell into a slumber, and
+again there came to her a strange dream. She thought she saw her cousin;
+he seemed pale and worn with distress and suffering.
+
+'"Aureole," he said, "you alone can rescue me. Have you courage? I ask
+it not only for myself, but for our people."
+
+'And when in her sleep she would have spoken, no words came, only she
+felt herself stretching out her arms to Halbert as if to reach and save
+him.
+
+'"Come, then," said his voice; "but come alone, save for thy dumb
+friends. Tell no one, but fear not." But even as he said the words he
+seemed to disappear, and again the dreadful, the panting roar she had
+heard in her former dream reached Aureole's ears, in another moment the
+terrible shape of the monster appeared, and shivering with horror she
+awoke. Yet she determined to respond to Halbert's appeal. She told no
+one except her old nurse, to whom she merely said that she had been
+summoned in a dream to go away, but that no harm would befall her. She
+clad herself in white, as a better omen of success, and when she reached
+her bower, all her creatures welcomed her joyfully. So, with Fido, Lello
+the fawn, and the little rabbit gambolling about her feet, the
+wood-pigeons on her shoulders, and all the strange company of birds
+fluttering about her, Aureole set off on her journey, she knew not
+whither.
+
+'But her pets knew. Whenever she felt at a loss Fido would give a little
+tug to her dress and then run on barking in front, or Lello would look
+up in her face with his pleading eyes and then turn his head in a
+certain direction, while the birds would sometimes disappear for a few
+moments and then, with a great chirping and fluttering, would be seen
+again a little way overhead, as if to assure her they had been to look
+if she was taking the right way. So that when night began to fall,
+Aureole, very tired, but not discouraged, found herself far from home in
+a part of the forest she had never seen before, though with trembling
+she said to herself that for all she knew she might already be in the
+enchanter's country.
+
+'"But what if it be so?" she reflected. "I must not be faint-hearted
+before my task is begun."
+
+'She was wondering how she should spend the night when a sharp bark from
+Fido made her look round. She followed to where it came from, and found
+the little dog at the door of a small hut cleverly concealed among the
+trees. Followed by her pets Aureole entered it, when immediately, as if
+pulled by an invisible hand, the door shut to. But she forgot to be
+frightened in her surprise at what she saw. The hut was beautifully made
+of the branches of trees woven together, and completely lined with moss.
+A small fire burned cheerfully in one corner, for the nights were still
+chilly; a little table was spread with a snow-white cloth, on which were
+laid out fruits and cakes and a jug of fresh milk; and a couch of the
+softest moss covered with a rug made of fur was evidently arranged for
+Aureole's bed. And at the other side of the hut sweet hay was strewn for
+the animals, and a sort of trellis work of branches was ready in one
+corner for the birds to roost on.
+
+'"How pleasant it is!" said Aureole, as she knelt down to warm herself
+before the fire. "If this is the enchanted forest I don't think it is at
+all a dreadful place, and the wizard must be very kind and hospitable."
+
+'And when she had had some supper and had seen that her pets had all
+they wanted, she lay down on the mossy couch feeling refreshed and
+hopeful, and soon fell fast asleep. She had slept for some hours when
+she suddenly awoke, though what had awakened her she could not tell. But
+glancing round the hut, by the flickering light of the fire, which was
+not yet quite out, she saw that all her pets were awake, and when she
+gently called "Fido, Fido," the little dog, followed by the fawn and the
+rabbit, crept across the hut to her, and when she touched them she felt
+that they were all shaking and trembling, while the birds seemed to be
+trying to hide themselves all huddled together in a corner. And almost
+before Aureole had time to ask herself what it could be, their fear was
+explained, for through the darkness outside came the sound she had twice
+heard in her dreams--the terrible panting roar of the monster! It came
+nearer and nearer. Aureole felt there was nothing to do. She threw her
+arms round the poor little trembling creatures determined to protect
+them to the last. Suddenly there came a great bang at the door, as if
+some heavy creature had thrown itself against it, and Aureole trembled
+still more, expecting the door to burst open. But the mysterious hand
+that had shut it had shut it well. It did not move. Only a low
+despairing growl was heard, and then all was silent till a few minutes
+after, when another growl came from some distance off, and then Aureole
+felt sure the danger was past: the beast had gone away, for, though she
+had not seen him, she was certain he was none other than the monster of
+her dreams. The poor animals cowered down again in their corner, and
+Aureole, surprised at the quickness with which her terror had passed,
+threw herself on her couch and fell into a sweet sleep. When she woke,
+the sun was already some way up in the sky; the door was half open, and
+a soft sweet breeze fluttered into the hut. All was in order; the little
+fire freshly lighted, the remains of last night's supper removed, and a
+tempting little breakfast arranged. Aureole could scarcely believe her
+eyes. "Some one must have come in while I was asleep," she said, and
+Fido seemed to understand what she meant. He jumped up, wagging his
+tail, and was delighted when Aureole sat down at the little table to eat
+what was provided. All her pets seemed as happy as possible, and had
+quite forgotten their fright. So, after breakfast, Aureole called them
+all about her and set off again on her rambles. Whither she was to go
+she knew not; she had obeyed the summons as well as she could, and now
+waited to see what more to do. The animals seemed to think they had got
+to the end of their journey, and gambolled and fluttered about in the
+best of spirits. And even Aureole herself felt it impossible to be sad
+or anxious. Never had she seen anything so beautiful as the forest, with
+its countless paths among the trees, each more tempting than the other,
+the sunshine peeping in through the branches, the lovely flowers of
+colours and forms she had never seen before, the beautiful birds
+warbling among the trees, the little squirrels and rabbits playing
+about, and the graceful deer one now and then caught sight of.
+
+'"Why," exclaimed Aureole, "_this_ the terrible enchanted forest! It is
+a perfect fairyland."
+
+'"You say true," said a voice beside her, which made her start. "To such
+as _you_ it is a fairyland of delight. But to _me_!" and before Aureole
+could recover herself from her surprise, there before her stood the
+Prince Halbert! But how changed! Scarcely had she recognised him when
+every feeling was lost in that of pity.
+
+'"Oh, poor Halbert," she cried, "so I have found you! Where have you
+been? What makes you look so miserable and ill?"
+
+'For Halbert seemed wasted to a shadow. His clothes, torn and tattered,
+hung loosely about him. His face was pale and thin, and his eyes sad and
+hopeless, though, as he saw the pitying look in her face, a gleam of
+brightness came into his.
+
+'"Oh, Aureole, how good of you to come! It is out of pity for _me_, who
+so little deserve it. But will you have strength to do all that is
+required to free me from this terrible bondage?"
+
+'"Explain yourself, Halbert," Aureole replied. "What is it you mean?
+What bondage? Remember I know nothing; not even if this is truly the
+enchanted forest."
+
+'Halbert glanced at the sun, now risen high in the heavens. "I have but
+a quarter of an hour," he said. "It is only one hour before noon that I
+am free."
+
+'And then he went on to relate as quickly as he could what had come over
+him. Fallen into the power of the invisible spirits of the enchanted
+land, whose wrath he had for long incurred by his cruelty to those
+beneath him, among whom were poor little Fido, and the unhappy horse who
+had dropped dead beneath him as soon as they entered the forest, his
+punishment had been pronounced to him by a voice in his dreams. It was a
+terrible one. For twenty-three hours of the twenty-four which make the
+day and night, he was condemned to roam the woods in the guise of a
+dreadful monster, bringing terror wherever he came. "I have to be in
+appearance what I was formerly in heart," he said bitterly. "You cannot
+imagine how fearful it is to see the tender innocent little animals
+fleeing from me in terror, though I would now die rather than injure one
+of them. And even you, Aureole, if you saw me you too would rush from me
+in horror."
+
+'"I have seen you," she replied. "I have twice seen you in my dreams,
+and now that I know all I shall not fear you."
+
+'"Do you indeed think so?" he exclaimed eagerly. "Your pity and courage
+are my only hope. For I am doomed to continue this awful life--for
+hundreds of years perhaps--till twelve dumb animals mount on my back and
+let me carry them out of this forest. In my despair, when I heard this
+sentence, I thought of you and your favourites, whom I used to mock at
+and ill-treat more than you knew. They love and trust you so much that
+it is possible you may make them do this. But I fear for your own
+courage."
+
+'"No," said Aureole, "that will not fail. And Fido is of a most
+forgiving nature. See here," she went on, calling to the little dog,
+"here is poor Halbert, who wants you to love him. Stroke him, Halbert,"
+and as the Prince gently did so, Fido looked up in his face with wistful
+eyes, and began timidly to wag his tail, while Lello and the rabbit drew
+near, and the birds fluttered, chirping above their heads. It was a
+pretty picture.
+
+'"See," said Aureole, raising her bright face from caressing the good
+little creatures, "see, Halbert, how loving and gentle they are! It will
+not be difficult. In many ways they are wiser than we. But I can never
+again believe that the spirits of the forest are evil or mischievous.
+Rather do I now think them good and benevolent. How happy seem all the
+creatures under their care!"
+
+'"I know no more than I have told you," said Halbert; "but I too believe
+they must be good, cruelly as they have punished me, for I deserved it.
+And doubtless all those who are said to have disappeared in the forest
+have been kept here for good purposes. And such as you, Aureole, have
+nothing to fear in any country or from any spirits. But I must go," he
+exclaimed. "I would not have you _yet_ see me in my other form. You must
+reflect over what I have said, and prepare yourself for it."
+
+'"And when, then, shall I see you again?" she asked.
+
+'"To-night, at sunset, at the door of your hut, you will see--alas, not
+_me_!" he whispered, and then in a moment he had disappeared.
+
+'At sunset that evening Aureole sat at the door of the little hut,
+surrounded by her animals. She had petted and caressed them even more
+than usual, so anxious was she to prepare them for their strange task.
+She had even talked of it to Fido and Lello with a sort of vague idea
+that they might understand a little, though their only answer was for
+Fido to wag his tail and Lello to rub his soft nose against her. But
+suddenly both pricked up their ears, and then clinging more closely to
+their mistress, began to tremble with fear, while the birds drew near in
+a frightened flock.
+
+'"Silly birds," said Aureole, trying to speak in her usual cheerful
+tone, "what have _you_ to fear? Bears don't eat little birds, and you
+can fly off in a moment. Not that I want you to fly away;" and she
+whistled and called to them, at the same time caressing and encouraging
+the animals, whose quick ears had caught sooner than she had done the
+dreadful baying roar which now came nearer and nearer. It was exactly
+the scene of her dreams, and notwithstanding all her determination,
+Aureole could not help shivering as the form of the monster came in
+sight. "Suppose it is not Halbert," she thought. "Suppose it is all a
+trick of the spirits of this enchanted country for my destruction!" And
+the idea nearly made her faint as the dreadful beast drew near. He
+was so hideous, and his roars made him seem still more so. His great red
+tongue hung out of his mouth, his eyes seemed glaring with rage. It was
+all Aureole could do to keep her pets round her, and she felt that her
+terror would take away all her power over them.
+
+[Illustration: Aureole could not help shivering as the form of the
+monster came in sight.]
+
+'"Oh, Halbert," she exclaimed, "_is_ it you? I know you cannot speak,
+but can you not make some sign to show me that it is you? I am so
+frightened." She had started up as if on the point of running away. The
+monster, who was close beside her, opened still wider his huge mouth,
+and gave a roar of despair. Then an idea seemed to strike him--he bent
+his clumsy knees, and rubbed his great head on the ground at her feet;
+Aureole's courage returned. She patted his head, and he gave a faint
+groan of relief. Then by degrees, with the greatest patience, she coaxed
+the animals to draw near, and at last placed Fido and Lello on the
+beast's immense back. But though they now seemed less frightened they
+would not stay there, but jumped off again, and pressed themselves close
+against her. It was no use; after hours, at least so it seemed to
+Aureole, spent in trying, she had to give it up.
+
+'"I cannot do it, Halbert," she said. A groan was his reply. Then
+another thought struck her.
+
+'"I will climb on your back myself," she exclaimed; "and then perhaps I
+can coax the animals to stay there."
+
+'The poor beast tried to stoop down still lower to make it easier for
+Aureole to get on. She managed it without much difficulty, and
+immediately Fido and Lello and the rabbit saw her mounted, up they
+jumped, for they had no idea of being left behind. The wood-pigeons came
+cooing down from the branch where they had taken refuge in their fright,
+and perched on her shoulders. Aureole looked up, and called and whistled
+to the other birds. Down they came as if bewitched, and settled round
+her, all the seven of them on the beast's furry back.
+
+'"Off, Halbert," cried Aureole, afraid to lose an instant, and off,
+nothing loth, the beast set. It was hard work to keep on. He plunged
+along so clumsily, and went so fast in his eagerness, that it was like
+riding on an earthquake. But when now and then he stopped, and gave a
+low pitiful roar, as if begging Aureole's pardon for shaking her so, she
+always found breath to say: "On, Halbert, on; think not of me."
+
+'And so at last, after hours of this terrible journey, many times during
+which Aureole's heart had been in her mouth at the least sign of
+impatience among the animals, they reached the borders of the enchanted
+country, and as the panting beast emerged from the forest with his
+strange burden, poor Aureole slipped fainting off his back. Her task was
+done.
+
+'When she came back to her senses and opened her eyes, her first thought
+was for the beast, but he had disappeared. Fido and Lello, and all the
+others were there, however; the dog licking her hands, the fawn nestling
+beside her, and at a little distance stood a figure she seemed to know,
+though no longer miserable and wretched as she had last seen him. It was
+Halbert, strong and handsome and happy again, but with a look in his
+eyes of gentleness and humility and gratitude that had never been there
+in the old days.
+
+'"Halbert," said Aureole, sitting up and holding out her hand to him,
+"is all then right?"
+
+'"All is right," he replied; "you can see for yourself. But, oh,
+Aureole, how can I thank you? My whole life would not be long enough to
+repay or----"
+
+'"Think not about thanking me," interrupted Aureole. "My best reward
+will be the delight of restoring to my dear country-people a king whose
+first object will _now_, I feel assured, be their happiness;" and her
+eyes sparkled with delight at the thought.
+
+'She was right. Nothing could exceed the joy of the nation at the return
+of Aureole, and thanks to her assurances of his changed character, they
+soon learned to trust their new king as he deserved.
+
+'No one ever knew the true history of his disappearance, but all admired
+and respected the noble and unselfish courage of Aureole in braving the
+dangers of the enchanted forest itself. Her pets all lived to a good old
+age, and had every comfort they could wish for. It was said that
+Halbert's only sorrow was that for long he could not persuade Aureole to
+fulfil her father's wishes by marrying him. But some years later a
+rumour came from the far-off country where these events happened,
+telling of the beautiful "king's daughter" having at last consented to
+become a king's wife as well, now that she knew Halbert to be worthy of
+her fullest affection.
+
+'And if this is true, I have no doubt it was for their happiness as well
+as for that of their subjects, among whom I include the twelve faithful
+animals.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+A WINDING STAIR AND A SCAMPER.
+
+    'But children, to whom all is play,
+      And something new each hour must bring,
+    Find everything so strange, that they
+      Are not surprised at anything.'
+
+    _The Fairies' Nest._
+
+
+Godmother's voice stopped. For a moment or two there was silence.
+
+'I hope it _was_ true,' said Maia, the first to find her tongue. 'Poor
+Halbert, I think he deserved to be happy at the end. I think Aureole was
+rather--rather--_cross_, don't you, Silva?'
+
+Silva considered. 'No,' she said. 'I can't bear people that are cruel to
+little animals. Oh!' and she clasped her hands, 'if only Rollo and Maia
+could see some of our friends in the wood! May they not, godmother?'
+
+'All in good time,' said godmother, rather mysteriously.
+
+Maia looked at her. 'Godmother,' she said, 'how funny you are! I believe
+you like puzzling people better than anything. There are such a lot of
+things I want to ask you about the story. Who was it lived in the
+forest? _Was_ it a wizard? I think that would be much nicer than
+invisible spirits, even though it is rather frightening. And who was it
+made Aureole's breakfast and shut the door, and all that? I am sure you
+know, godmother. I believe you've been in the enchanted forest yourself.
+_Have_ you?'
+
+Godmother smiled. 'Perhaps,' she said. But when Maia went on
+questioning, she would not say any more. 'Keep something to puzzle
+about,' she said. 'Remember that that is half the pleasure.'
+
+And then she took Maia up on her knee and gave her such a sweet kiss
+that the child could not grumble.
+
+'You are _very_ funny, godmother,' she repeated.
+
+Suddenly Rollo started.
+
+'Maia,' he exclaimed, 'I am afraid we are forgetting about going home
+and meeting Nanni and everything. It must be getting very late. It is so
+queer,' he added with a sigh, glancing round the dear little kitchen, 'I
+seemed to have forgotten that _this_ isn't our home, and yet we have
+only been here an hour or two, and----'
+
+'Yes,' said Maia, 'I feel just the same. Indeed Aureole and her pets
+seem far more real to me now than Lady Venelda and the white castle.'
+
+'And the old doctor and all the lessons you have to do,' said godmother;
+and somehow the children no longer felt surprised at her knowing all
+about everything. 'But you are right, my boy, good boy,' she went on,
+turning to Rollo. 'There is a time for all things, and now it is time to
+go back to your other life. Say good-bye to each other, my children,'
+and when they had done so--very reluctantly, you may be sure--she took
+Rollo by one hand and Maia by the other, Waldo and Silva standing at the
+cottage-door to see them off, and led them across the little clearing,
+away into the now darkening alleys of the wood.
+
+'Are you going with us to where Nanni is?' asked Maia.
+
+'Not to where you left her. I will take you by a short cut,' said
+godmother, who, since they had left the cottage, had seemed to grow into
+just an ordinary-looking old peasant woman, very bent and small, for any
+one at least who did not peep far enough inside her queer hood to see
+her wonderful eyes and gleaming hair, and whom no one would have
+suspected of the marvellous crimson dress under the long dark cloak.
+Maia kept peeping up at her with a strange look in her face.
+
+'What is it, my child?' said godmother.
+
+'I don't quite know,' Maia replied. 'I'm not quite sure, godmother, if
+I'm not a little--a very little--frightened of you. You change so. In
+the cottage you seemed a sort of a young fairy godmother--and now----'
+she hesitated.
+
+'And now do I seem very old?'
+
+'_Rather_,' said Maia.
+
+'Well, listen now. I'll tell you the real truth, strange as it may seem.
+I am _very_ old--older than you can even fancy, and yet I am and I
+always shall be young.'
+
+'In fairyland--in the other country, do you mean?' asked Rollo.
+
+Godmother turned her bright eyes full upon him. 'Not only there, my
+boy,' she said. 'Here, too--everywhere--I am both old and young.'
+
+Maia gave a little sigh.
+
+'You are very nice, godmother,' she said, 'but you are _very_ puzzling.'
+But she had no time to say more, for just then godmother stopped.
+
+'See, children,' she said, pointing down a little path among the trees,
+'I have brought you a short cut, as I said I would. At the end of that
+alley you will find your faithful Nanni. And that will not be the end of
+the short cut. Twenty paces straight on in the same direction you will
+come out of the wood. Cross the little bridge across the brook and you
+will only have to climb a tiny hill to find yourselves at the back
+entrance of the castle. All will be right--and now good-bye, my dears,
+till your next holiday. Have you your flowers?'
+
+'Oh, yes,' exclaimed both, holding up the pretty bunches as they spoke;
+'but how are we to----'
+
+'Don't trouble about how you are to see me again,' she interrupted,
+smiling. 'It will come--you will see,' and then before they had time to
+wonder any more, she turned from them, waving her hand in farewell, and
+disappeared.
+
+'Rollo,' said Maia, rubbing her eyes as if she had just awakened,
+'Rollo, is it all _real_? Don't you feel as if you had been dreaming?'
+
+'No,' said Rollo. 'I feel as if _it_'--and he nodded his head backwards
+in the direction of the cottage--'were all real, and the castle and our
+cousin and Nanni and all _not_ real. You said so too.'
+
+'Yes,' said Maia meditatively, 'while I was there with them, I felt
+like that. But now I don't. It seems not real, and I don't want to begin
+to forget them.'
+
+'Suppose you scent your flowers,' said Rollo; 'perhaps that's why
+godmother gave them to us.'
+
+Maia thought it a good idea.
+
+'Yes,' she said, poking her little nose as far as it would go in among
+the fragrant blossoms, 'yes, Rollo, it comes back to me when I scent the
+flowers. I think it is because godmother's red dress was scented the
+same way. Oh, yes!' shutting her eyes, 'I can _feel_ her soft dress now,
+and I can hear her voice, and I can see Waldo and Silva and the dear
+little kitchen. How glad I am you thought of the flowers, Rollo!'
+
+'But we must run on,' said Rollo, and so they did. But they had not run
+many steps before the substantial figure of Nanni appeared; she was
+looking very comfortable and contented.
+
+'You have not stayed very long, Master Rollo and Miss Maia,' she said,
+'but I suppose it is getting time to be turning home.'
+
+'And have you spent a pleasant afternoon, Nanni?' asked Rollo quietly.
+'How many stockings have you knitted?'
+
+'How many!' repeated Nanni; 'come, Master Rollo, you're joking. You've
+not been gone more than an hour at the most, but it is queer--it must be
+the smell of the fir-trees--as soon as ever I sit down in this wood, off
+I go to sleep! I hadn't done more than two rounds when my head began
+nodding, so I had to put my knitting away for fear of running the
+needles into my eyes. And I had such pleasant dreams.'
+
+'About the beautiful lady again?' asked Maia.
+
+'I think so, but I can't be sure,' said Nanni. 'It was about all sorts
+of pretty things mixed up together. Flowers and birds, and I don't know
+what. And the flowers smelt, for all the world, just like the roses
+round the windows of my mother's little cottage at home. I could have
+believed I was there.'
+
+Rollo and Maia looked at each other. It was all godmother's doing, they
+felt sure. How clever of her to know just what Nanni would like to dream
+of.
+
+By this time they were out of the wood. The light was brighter than
+among the trees, but still it was easy to see that more than Nanni's
+'hour' must have passed since they left her.
+
+'Dear me,' she exclaimed, growing rather frightened, 'it looks later
+than I thought! And we've a long way to go yet,' she went on, looking
+round; 'indeed,' and her rosy face grew pale, 'I don't seem to know
+exactly where we are. We must have come another way out of the wood--oh,
+dear, dear----'
+
+'Don't get into such a fright, Nanni,' said Rollo; 'follow me.'
+
+He sprang up the hilly path that godmother had told them of, Maia and
+Nanni following. It turned and twisted about a little, but when they got
+to the top, there, close before them, gleamed the white walls of the
+castle, and a few steps more brought them to a back entrance to the
+terrace by which they often came out and in.
+
+'Well, to be sure!' exclaimed Nanni, 'you are a clever boy, Master
+Rollo. Who ever would have guessed there was such a short cut, and
+indeed I can't make it out at all which way we've come back. But so long
+as we're here all in good time, and no fear of a scolding, I'm sure I'm
+only too pleased, however we've got here.'
+
+As they were passing along the terrace the old doctor met them.
+
+'Have you had a pleasant holiday?' he asked.
+
+'Oh, _very_,' answered both Rollo and Maia, looking up in his face,
+where, as they expected, they saw the half-mysterious, half-playful
+expression they had learnt to know, and which seemed to tell that their
+old friend understood much more than he chose to say.
+
+'Did you find any pretty flowers?' he asked, with a smile, 'though it is
+rather early in the year yet--especially for scented ones--is it not?'
+
+'But we _have_ got some,' said Maia quickly, and glancing round to see
+if Nanni were still by them. She had gone on, so Maia drew out her
+bunch, and held them up. '_Aren't_ they sweet?' she said.
+
+The old man pressed them to his face almost as lovingly as Maia herself.
+'Ah, how _very_ sweet!' he murmured. 'How much they bring back! Cherish
+them, my child. You know how?'
+
+'Yes, _she_ told us,' said Maia. 'You know whom I mean, don't you, Mr.
+Doctor?'
+
+The old doctor smiled again. Maia drew two or three flowers out of her
+bunch, and Rollo did the same. Then they put them together and offered
+them to their old friend.
+
+'Thank you, my children,' he said; 'I shall add the thought of you to
+many others, when I perceive their sweet scent.'
+
+'And even when they're withered and dried up, Mr. Doctor, you know,'
+said Maia eagerly, 'the scent, _she_ says, is even sweeter.'
+
+'I know,' said the doctor, nodding his head. 'Sweeter, I truly think,
+but bringing sadness with it too; very often, alas!' he added in a lower
+voice, so low that the children could not clearly catch the words.
+
+'We must go in, Maia,' said Rollo; 'it must be nearly supper-time.'
+
+'Yes,' said Maia; 'but first, Mr. Doctor, I want to know when are we to
+have another holiday? Lady Venelda will do any way you tell her, you
+know.'
+
+'All in good time,' replied the doctor, at which Maia pouted a little.
+
+'I don't like all in good time,' she said.
+
+'But you have never known me to forget,' said the old doctor.
+
+'No, indeed,' said Rollo eagerly, and then Maia looked a little ashamed
+of herself, and ran off smiling and waving her hand to the doctor.
+
+Lady Venelda asked them no questions, and made no remarks beyond saying
+she was glad they had had so fine a day for their ramble in the woods.
+She seemed quite pleased so long as the children were well and sat up
+straight in their chairs without speaking at meal-times, and there were
+no complaints from their teachers. That was the way _she_ had been
+brought up, and she thought it had answered very well in her case. But
+she was really kind, and the children no longer felt so lonely or dull,
+now that they had the visits to the wood to look forward to. Indeed,
+they had brought back with them a fund of amusement, for now their
+favourite play was to act the story which godmother had told them, and
+as they had no other pets, they managed to make friends with the castle
+cat, a very dignified person, who had to play the parts of Fido and
+Lello and the rabbit all in one; while the birds were represented by
+bunches of feathers they picked up in the poultry-yard, and the great
+furry rug with which they had travelled turned Rollo into the unhappy
+monster. It was very amusing, but after a few days they began to wish
+for other companions.
+
+'If Silva and Waldo were here,' said Rollo, 'what fun we could have! I
+wonder what they do all day, Maia.'
+
+'They work pretty hard, I fancy,' said Maia. 'Waldo goes to cut down
+trees in the forest a good way off, I know, and Silva has all the house
+to take care of, and everything to cook and wash, and all that. But _I_
+should call that play-work, not like lessons.'
+
+'And _I_ should think cutting down trees the best fun in the world,'
+said Rollo. 'That kind of work can't be as tiring as lessons.'
+
+'Lessons, lessons! What is all this talk about lessons? Are you so
+terribly overworked, my poor children? What should you say to a ramble
+in the woods with me for a change?' said a voice beside them, which made
+the children start.
+
+It was the doctor. He had come round the corner of the wall without
+their seeing him, for they were playing on the terrace for half an hour
+between their French lesson with Mademoiselle and their history with the
+chaplain.
+
+'A walk with you, Mr. Doctor!' exclaimed Maia. 'Oh, yes, it _would_ be
+nice. But it isn't a holiday, and----'
+
+'How do _you_ know it isn't a holiday, my dear young lady,' interrupted
+the doctor. 'How do you know that I have not represented to your
+respected cousin that her young charges had been working very hard of
+late, and would be the better for a ramble? If you cannot believe me,
+run in and ask Lady Venelda herself; if you are satisfied without doing
+so, why then, let us start at once!'
+
+'Of course we are satisfied,' exclaimed Rollo and Maia together; 'but
+we must go in to get our thick boots and jackets, and our nicer hats,'
+added Maia, preparing to start off.
+
+'Not a bit of it,' said the doctor, stopping her. 'You are quite right
+as you are. Come along;' and without giving the children time for even
+another 'but,' off he strode.
+
+To their amazement, however, he turned towards the house, which he
+entered by a side door that the children had never before noticed, and
+which he opened with a small key.
+
+'Doctor,' began Maia, but he only shook his head without speaking, and
+stalked on, Rollo and his sister following. He led them some way along a
+rather narrow passage, where they had never been before, then, opening a
+door, signed to them to pass in in front of him, and when they had done
+so, he too came in, and shut the door behind him. It was a queer little
+room--the doctor's study evidently, for one end was completely filled
+with books, and at one side, through the glass doors of high cupboards
+in the wall, all kinds of mysterious instruments, chemical tubes and
+globes, high bottles filled with different-coloured liquids, and ever so
+many things the children had but time to glance at, were to be
+perceived. But the doctor had evidently not brought them there to pay
+him a visit. He touched a spring at the side of the book-shelves, and a
+small door opened.
+
+'Come, children,' he said, speaking at last, 'this is another short cut.
+Have no fear, but follow me.'
+
+Full of curiosity, Rollo and Maia pressed forward. The doctor had
+already disappeared--all but his head, that is to say--for a winding
+staircase led downwards from the little door, and Rollo first, then
+Maia, were soon following their old friend step by step, holding by one
+hand to a thick cord which supplied the place of a handrail. It was
+almost quite dark, but they were not frightened. They had perfect trust
+in the old doctor, and all they had seen and heard since they came to
+the white castle had increased their love of adventure, without
+lessening their courage.
+
+'Dear me,' said Maia, after a while, for it was never easy for her to
+keep silent for very long together, 'it isn't a _very_ short cut! We
+seem to have been going down and down for a good while. My head is
+beginning to feel rather turning with going round and round so often.
+How much farther are we to go before we come out, Mr. Doctor?'
+
+But there was no answer, only a slight exclamation from Rollo just in
+front of her, and then all of a sudden a rush of light into the
+darkness made Maia blink her eyes and for a moment shut them to escape
+the dazzling rays.
+
+'Good-bye,' said a voice which she knew to be the doctor's; 'I hope you
+will enjoy yourselves.'
+
+Maia opened her eyes. She had felt Rollo take her hand and draw her
+forwards a little. She opened her eyes, but half shut them again in
+astonishment.
+
+'_Rollo!_' she exclaimed.
+
+'And you said it was not much of a short cut,' replied Rollo, laughing.
+
+No wonder Maia was astonished. They were standing a few paces from the
+cottage door! The sun was shining brightly on the little garden and
+peeping through the trees, just in front of which the children found
+themselves.
+
+'Where have we come from?' said Maia, looking round her confusedly.
+
+'Out of here, I think,' said Rollo, tapping the trunk of a great tree
+close beside him. 'I think we must have come out of a door hidden in
+this tree.'
+
+'But we kept coming _down_,' said Maia.
+
+'At first; but the last part of the time it seemed to me we were going
+up; we must have come down the inside of the hill and then climbed up a
+little way into the tree.'
+
+'Oh, I am sure we weren't going _up_,' said Maia. 'I certainly was
+getting quite giddy with going round and round, but I'm _sure_ I could
+have told if we'd been going up.'
+
+'Well, never mind. If godmother is a witch, I fancy the doctor's a
+wizard. But any way we're here, and that's the principal thing. Come on,
+quick, Maia, aren't you in a hurry to know if Waldo and Silva are at
+home?'
+
+He ran on to the cottage and Maia after him. The door was shut. Rollo
+knocked, but there was no answer.
+
+'Oh, what a pity it will be if they are not in!' said Maia. 'Knock
+again, Rollo, louder.'
+
+Rollo did so. Still there was no answer.
+
+'What shall we do?' said the children to each other. 'It would be too
+horrid to have to go home and miss our chance of a holiday.'
+
+'We might stay in the woods by ourselves,' suggested Rollo.
+
+'It would be very dull,' said Maia disconsolately. 'I don't think the
+old doctor should have brought us without knowing if they would be here.
+If he knows so much he might have found that out.'
+
+Suddenly Rollo gave an exclamation. He had been standing fumbling at the
+latch.
+
+'What do you say?' asked Maia.
+
+'The door isn't locked. Suppose we go in? It would be no harm. They
+weren't a bit vexed with us for having gone in and drunk the milk the
+first time.'
+
+'Of course not,' said Maia; 'they wouldn't be the least vexed. I quite
+thought the door was locked all this time. Open it, Rollo. I can't reach
+so high or I would have found out long ago it wasn't locked.'
+
+With a little difficulty Rollo opened the door.
+
+Everything in the tiny kitchen looked as they had last seen it, only, if
+that were possible, still neater and cleaner. Maia stared round as if
+half expecting to see Waldo or Silva jump out from under the chairs or
+behind the cupboard, but suddenly she darted forward. A white object on
+the table had caught her attention. It was a sheet of paper, on which
+was written in round clear letters:
+
+'Godmother will be here in a quarter of an hour.'
+
+'See, Rollo,' exclaimed Maia triumphantly, 'this must be meant for _us_.
+What a good thing we came in! I don't mind waiting a quarter of an
+hour.'
+
+'But that paper may have been here all day. It may have been sent for
+Waldo and Silva,' said Rollo. 'You know they told us godmother only
+comes sometimes to see them.'
+
+'I don't care,' said Maia, seating herself on one of the high-backed
+chairs. 'I'm going to wait a quarter of an hour, and just _see_.
+Godmother doesn't do things like other people, and I'm sure this message
+is for us.'
+
+Rollo said no more, but followed Maia's example. There they sat, like
+two little statues, the only distraction being the tick-tack of the
+clock, and watching the long hand creep slowly down the three divisions
+of its broad face which showed a quarter of an hour. It seemed a very
+long quarter of an hour. Maia was so little used to sitting still,
+except when she was busy with lessons, to which she was obliged to give
+her attention, that after a few minutes her head began to nod and at
+last gave such a jerk that she woke up with a start.
+
+'Dear me, isn't it a quarter of an hour _yet_?' she exclaimed.
+
+'No, it's hardly five minutes,' said Rollo, rather grumpily, for he
+thought this was a very dull way of spending a holiday, and he would
+rather have gone out into the woods than sit there waiting. Maia leant
+her head again on the back of her chair.
+
+'Suppose we count ten times up to sixty,' she said. 'That would be ten
+minutes if we go by the ticks of the clock, and if she isn't here then,
+I won't ask you to wait any longer.'
+
+'We can see the time,' said Rollo; 'I don't see the use of counting it
+loud out.'
+
+Maia said nothing more. Whether she took another little nap; whether
+Rollo himself did not do so also I cannot say. All I know is that just
+exactly as the hand of the clock had got to fourteen minutes from the
+time they had begun watching it, both children started to their feet and
+looked at each other.
+
+'Do you hear?' said Maia.
+
+'It's a carriage,' exclaimed Rollo.
+
+'How could a carriage come through the wood? There's no path wide
+enough.'
+
+'But it _is_ a carriage;' and to settle the point both ran to the door
+to see.
+
+It came swiftly along, in and out among the trees without difficulty, so
+small was it. The two tiny piebald ponies that drew it shook their wavy
+manes as they danced along, the little bells on their necks ringing
+softly. A funny idea struck Maia as she watched it. It looked just like
+a toy meant for some giant's child which had dropped off one of the
+huge Christmas-trees, waiting there to be decked for Santa Claus's
+festival! But the queerest part of the sight for them was when the
+carriage came near enough for them to see that godmother herself was
+driving it. She did look so comical, perched up on the little seat and
+chirrupping and wo-wohing to her steeds, and she seemed to have grown so
+small, oh, so small! Otherwise how could she ever have got into a
+carriage really not much too large for a baby of two years old?
+
+On she drove, and drew up in grand style just in front of where the
+children were standing.
+
+'Jump in,' she said, nodding off-handedly, but without any other
+greeting.
+
+'But how----?' began Maia. 'How can Rollo and I possibly get into that
+tiny carriage?' were the words on her lips, but somehow before she began
+to say them, they melted away, and almost without knowing how, she found
+herself getting into the back seat of the little phaeton, with Rollo
+beside her, and in another moment--crack! went godmother's whip, and off
+they set.
+
+They went so fast, oh, so fast! There did not seem time to consider
+whether they were comfortable or not, or how it was they fitted so well
+into the carriage, small as it was, or anything but just the delicious
+feeling of flying along, which shows that they must have been very
+comfortable, does it not? In and out among the great looming pine-trees
+their strange coachman made her way, without once hesitating or
+wavering, so that the children felt no fear of striking against the
+massive trunks, even though it grew darker and gloomier and the
+Christmas-trees had certainly never looked anything like so enormous.
+
+'Or _can_ it be that we have really grown smaller?' thought Maia; but
+her thoughts were quickly interrupted by a merry cry from godmother,
+'Hold fast, children, we're going to have a leap.'
+
+Godmother was certainly in a very comical humour. But for her voice and
+her bright eyes when they peeped out from under her hood the children
+would scarcely have known her. She was like a little mischievous old
+sprite instead of the soft, tender, mysterious being who had petted them
+so sweetly and told them the quiet story of gentle Aureole the other
+day. In a different kind of way Maia felt again almost a _very_ little
+bit afraid of her, but Rollo's spirits rose with the fun, his cheeks
+grew rosier and his eyes brighter, though he was very kind to Maia too,
+and put his arm round her to keep her steady in preparation for
+godmother's flying leap, over they knew not what. But it was
+beautifully managed; not only the ponies, but the carriage too, seemed
+to acquire wings for the occasion, and there was not the slightest jar
+or shock, only a strange lifting feeling, and then softly down again,
+and on, on, through trees and brushwood, faster and faster, as surely no
+ponies ever galloped before.
+
+'Are you frightened, Rollo?' whispered Maia.
+
+'Not a bit. Why should I be? Godmother can take care of us, and even if
+she wasn't there, one couldn't be frightened flying along with those
+splendid little ponies.'
+
+'What was it we jumped over?' asked Maia.
+
+Godmother heard her and turned round.
+
+'We jumped over the brook,' she said. 'Don't you remember the little
+brook that runs through the wood?'
+
+'The brook that Rollo and I go over by the stepping stones? It's a very
+little brook, godmother. I should think the carriage might have driven
+over without jumping.'
+
+'Hush!' said godmother, 'we're getting into the middle of the wood and I
+must drive carefully.'
+
+But she did not go any more slowly; it got darker and darker as the
+trees grew more closely together. The children saw, as they looked
+round, that they had never been so far in the forest before.
+
+'I wonder when we shall see Silva and Waldo,' thought Maia, and somehow
+the thought seemed to bring its answer, for just as it passed through
+her mind, a clear bright voice called out from among the trees:
+
+'Godmother, godmother, don't drive too far. Here we are waiting for
+you.'
+
+'Waldo and Silva!' exclaimed the children. The ponies suddenly stopped,
+and out jumped or tumbled into the arms of their friends Rollo and Maia.
+
+'Oh, Waldo! oh, Silva!' they exclaimed. 'We've had _such_ a drive!
+Godmother has brought us along like the wind.'
+
+Silva nodded her head. 'I know,' she said, smiling. 'There is no one so
+funny as godmother when she is in a wild humour. You may be glad you are
+here all right. She would have thought nothing of driving on to----'
+Silva stopped, at a loss what place to name.
+
+'To where?' said the children.
+
+'Oh, to the moon, or the stars, or down to the bottom of the sea, or
+anywhere that came into her head!' said Silva, laughing. 'For, you know,
+she can go _anywhere_.'
+
+'_Can_ she?' exclaimed Maia. 'Oh, what wonderful stories we can make her
+tell us, then! Godmother, godmother, do you hear what Silva says?' she
+went on, turning round to where she thought the carriage and ponies and
+godmother were standing. But----
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE SQUIRREL FAMILY.
+
+    'How extremely pretty!
+    Won't you jump again?'
+
+    _Child-World._
+
+
+----Godmother was no longer there. She and the carriage and the ponies
+had completely disappeared. Maia opened her eyes and mouth with
+amazement, and stood staring. Waldo and Silva and Rollo too could not
+help bursting out laughing; she looked so funny. Maia felt a little
+offended.
+
+'I don't see what there is to laugh at,' she said; 'especially for
+_you_, Rollo. Aren't you astonished too?'
+
+'I don't think I should ever be astonished at anything about godmother,'
+said Rollo. 'Besides, I saw her drive off while you were kissing Silva.
+She certainly went like the wind.'
+
+'And where are we?' asked Maia, looking round her for the first time;
+'and what are we going to do, Silva?'
+
+'We are going to pay a visit,' said Silva. 'Waldo and I had already
+promised we would when we got the message that you were coming, so
+godmother said she would go back and fetch you.'
+
+'But who brought you a message that we were coming?' asked Maia.
+
+'One of godmother's carrier-pigeons. Ah, I forgot, you haven't seen them
+yet!'
+
+'And _where_ are we going?'
+
+'To spend the afternoon with the squirrel family. It's close to here,
+but we must be quick. They will have been expecting us for some time.
+You show us the way, Waldo; you know it best.'
+
+It was dark in the wood, but not so dark as it had been when they were
+driving with godmother, for a few steps brought them out into a little
+clearing, something like the one where the cottage stood, but smaller.
+The mossy grass here was particularly beautiful, so bright and green and
+soft that Maia stooped down to feel it with her hand.
+
+'I suppose no one ever comes this way?' she said. 'Is it because no one
+ever tramples on it that the moss is so lovely?'
+
+'Nobody but us and the squirrels,' said Silva. 'Sometimes we play with
+them out here, but to-day we are going to see them in their house.
+Sometimes they have parties, when they invite their cousins from the
+other side of the wood. But I don't think any of them are coming
+to-day.'
+
+Silva spoke so simply that Maia could not think she was making fun of
+her, and yet it was very odd to speak of squirrels as if they were
+_people_. Maia could not, however, ask any more, for suddenly Waldo
+called out:
+
+'Here we are! Silva, you are going too far.'
+
+Rollo and Maia looked round, but they saw nothing except the trees.
+Waldo was standing just in front of one, and as the others came up to
+him he tapped gently on the trunk.
+
+'Three times,' said Silva.
+
+'I know,' he replied. Then he tapped twice again, Rollo and Maia looking
+on with all their eyes. But it was their ears that first gave them
+notice of an answer to Waldo's summons. A quick pattering sound, like
+the rush of many little feet, was heard inside the trunk, then with a
+kind of squeak, as if the hinges were somewhat rusty, a door, so
+cleverly made that no one could have guessed it was there, for it was
+covered with bark like the rest of the trunk, slowly opened from the
+inside, showing a dark hollow about large enough for one child at a time
+to creep into on hands and knees.
+
+'Who will go first?' said Waldo, lifting his little red cap as he looked
+at Maia.
+
+'What nice manners he has,' she thought to herself. 'I think you had
+better go first, please,' she said aloud. For though she would not own
+it, the appearance of the dark hole rather alarmed her.
+
+'But we can't _all_ get in there,' said Rollo.
+
+'Oh, yes,' replied Waldo. 'I'll go first, and when I call out "all
+right," one of you can come after me. The passage gets wider directly,
+or--any way there's lots of room--you'll see,' and, ducking down, he
+crept very cleverly into the hollow, and after a moment his voice was
+heard, though in rather muffled tones, calling out 'all right.' Rollo,
+not liking to seem backward, went next, and Maia, who was secretly
+trembling, was much comforted by hearing him exclaim, 'Oh, how
+beautiful!' and when Silva asked her to go next, saying 'Maia might like
+to know she was behind her,' she plunged valiantly into the dark hole.
+She groped with her hands for a moment or two, till the boys' voices a
+little way above her led her to a short flight of steps, which she
+easily climbed up, and then a soft light broke on her eyes, and she
+understood why Rollo had called out, 'Oh, how beautiful!'
+
+They stood at the entrance of a long passage, quite wide enough for two
+to walk abreast comfortably. It was entirely lined and carpeted with
+moss, and the light came from the roof, though _how_ one could not tell,
+for it too was trellised over with another kind of creeping plant,
+growing too thickly for one to see between. The moss had a sweet fresh
+fragrance that reminded the children of the scent of their other world
+flowers, and it was, besides, deliciously soft and yet springy to walk
+upon.
+
+Waldo and Rollo came running back to meet the little girls, for Silva
+had quickly followed Maia.
+
+'Isn't this a nice place?' said Rollo, jumping up and down as he spoke.
+'We might run races here all the afternoon.'
+
+'Yes; but we must hasten on,' said Silva. 'They're expecting us, you
+know. But we can run races all the same, for we've a good way along here
+to go. You and Waldo start first, and then Maia and I.'
+
+So they did, and never was there a race pleasanter to run. They felt as
+if they had wings on their feet, they went so fast and were so untired.
+The moss gallery resounded with their laughter and merry cries, though
+their footfalls made no sound on the floor.
+
+'What was the pattering we heard after Waldo knocked?' asked Maia
+suddenly.
+
+'It was the squirrels overhead. They all have to run together to pull
+open the door,' said Silva. 'The rope goes up to their hall. But you
+will see it all for yourself now. This is the end of the gallery.'
+
+'This' was a circular room, moss-lined like the passage, with a wide
+round hole in the roof, from which, as the children stood waiting,
+descended a basket, fitted with moss cushions, and big enough to hold
+all of them at once. In they got, and immediately the basket rose up
+again and stopped at what, in a proper house, one would call the next
+floor. And even before it stopped a whole mass of brown heads were to be
+seen eagerly watching for it, and numbers of little brown paws were
+extended to help the visitors to step out.
+
+'Good-day, good-day,' squeaked a multitude of shrill voices; 'welcome to
+Squirrel-Land. We have been watching for you ever so long, since the
+pigeon brought the news. And the supper is all ready. The acorn cakes
+smelling so good and the chestnut pasties done to a turn.'
+
+'Thank you, thank you, Mrs. Bushy!' said Silva. 'I am sure they will be
+excellent. But first, I must introduce our friends and you to each
+other. Maia and Rollo, this is Mrs. Bushy,' and as she said so the
+fattest and fussiest of the squirrels made a duck with its head and a
+flourish with its tail, which were meant for the most graceful of
+curtsies. 'Mr. Bushy----' she stopped and looked round.
+
+'Alas! my dear husband is very lame with his gout to-day,' said Mrs.
+Bushy. 'He took too much exercise yesterday. I'm sure if he went once to
+the top of the tree he went twenty times--he is _so_ active, you know;
+so he's resting in the supper-room; but you'll see him presently. And
+here are my dear children, Miss Silva. Stand forward, my dears, you have
+nothing to be ashamed of. _Do_ look at their tails--though I say it that
+shouldn't, _did_ you ever see such tails?' and Mrs. Bushy's bright eyes
+sparkled with maternal pride. 'There they are, all nine of them: Nibble,
+Scramble, Bunchy, Friskit, and Whiff, my dear boys; and Clamberina,
+Fluffy, Tossie, and sweet little Curletta, my no less beloved
+daughters.'
+
+Whereupon each one of the nine, who had collected in a row, made the
+same duck with its head and flourish with its tail as Mrs. Bushy,
+though, of course, with somewhat less perfection of style and finish
+than their dear mamma.
+
+'Such manners, such sweet manners!' she murmured confidentially to Silva
+and Maia.
+
+Maia was by this time nearly choking with laughter--'Though I say it
+that shouldn't say it, I am sure you young ladies must be pleased with
+their sweet manners.'
+
+'Very pleased, dear Mrs. Bushy,' said Silva; 'I'm sure they've learned
+to duck their heads and wave their tails beautifully.'
+
+'Beautifully,' said Maia, at which Mrs. Bushy looked much gratified.
+
+'And shall we proceed to supper, then?' she said. 'I am sure you must be
+hungry.'
+
+'Yes, I think we are,' said Waldo; 'and I know your chestnut cakes are
+very good, Mrs. Bushy.'
+
+Rollo and Maia looked at each other. _Chestnuts_ were very nice, but
+what would chestnut cakes be like? Besides, it wasn't the season for
+chestnuts; they must be very old and stale.
+
+'How can you have chestnuts now?' asked Maia. Mrs. Bushy looked at her
+patronisingly.
+
+'Ah, to be sure,' she said, 'the young lady does not know all about our
+magic preserving cupboards, and all the newest improvements. To be sure,
+it is her first visit to Squirrel-Land,' she added encouragingly; 'we
+can make allowance. Now, lead the way, my dears, lead the way,' she said
+to her nine treasures, who thereupon set off with a rush, jumping and
+frisking and scuttering along, till Maia could hardly help bursting out
+laughing again, while she and Silva and Rollo and Waldo followed them
+into the supper-room, where, at the end of a long narrow table, covered
+with all sorts of queer-looking dishes, decorated with fern leaves, Papa
+Bushy, in a moss arm-chair, his tail comfortably waving over him like an
+umbrella, was already installed.
+
+'I beg your pardon, my dear young friends,' he began, in a rather
+deeper, though still squeaky voice, 'for receiving you like this. Mrs.
+Bushy will have made my apologies. This unfortunate attack of gout! I
+am, I fear, too actively inclined, and have knocked myself up!'
+
+'Ah, yes,' said Mrs. Bushy, shaking her head; 'I'm sure if Mr. Bushy
+goes once a day to the top of the tree, he goes twenty times.'
+
+'But what does he go for if it makes him ill?' exclaimed Maia.
+
+Mrs. Bushy looked at her and gasped, Mr. Bushy shut his eyes and waved
+his paws about as if to say, 'We must excuse her, she knows no better,'
+and all the young Bushys ducked their heads and squeaked
+faintly,--evidently Maia had said something very startling. At last,
+when she had to some extent recovered her self-control, Mrs. Bushy said
+faintly, looking round her for sympathy:
+
+'Poor child! Such deplorable ignorance; but we must excuse it. Imagine
+her not knowing--imagine _any one_ not knowing what would happen if Mr.
+Bushy did not go to the top of the tree!'
+
+'What _would_ happen?' said Maia, not sure if she felt snubbed or not,
+but not inclined to give in all at once.
+
+'My poor child,' said Mrs. Bushy, in the most solemn tone her squeaky
+voice was capable of, '_the world would stop_!'
+
+Maia stared at her, but what she was going to say I cannot tell you, for
+Silva managed to give her a little pinch, as a sign that she had better
+make no more remarks, and Mrs. Bushy, feeling that she had done her
+duty, requested everybody to take their places at table. The dishes
+placed before them were so comical-looking that Rollo and Maia did not
+know what to reply when asked what they would have.
+
+'An apple, if you please!' said Maia, catching sight at last of
+something she knew the name of. But when Mrs. Bushy pressed her to try a
+chestnut cake she did not like to refuse, and seeing that Waldo and
+Silva were careful to eat like the squirrels, holding up both hands
+together like paws to their mouths, she and Rollo did the same, which
+evidently gave the Bushy family a better opinion of the way in which
+they had been brought up. The chestnut cakes were rather nice, but poor
+Rollo, having ventured on some fried acorns which smelt good, could not
+help pulling a very wry face. Supper, however, was soon over, and then
+Waldo and Silva asked leave very politely to go 'up the tree,' which in
+squirrel language was much the same as if they had asked to go out to
+the garden, and Mrs. Bushy, with many excuses for not accompanying them
+on account of her household cares, and Mr. Bushy, pleading his gout,
+told her nine darlings to escort the visitors upstairs.
+
+Now began the real fun of the afternoon. A short flight of steps, like a
+little ladder, led them to the outside of the tree. The nine Bushys
+scampered and rushed along, squeaking and chattering with the greatest
+good-nature, followed more slowly by the four children. For a moment or
+two, when Rollo and Maia found themselves standing on a branch very near
+the top of the tree, though, strange to say, they found it wide enough
+to hold them quite comfortably, they felt rather giddy and frightened.
+
+'How dreadfully high up we seem!' said Maia. 'Rollo, I'm _sure_ we must
+have grown smaller. The trees never looked so big as this before. It
+makes me giddy to look either up or down.'
+
+'You'll get used to it in a minute,' said Waldo. 'Silva and I don't mind
+it the least now. Look at the Bushys, Maia, isn't it fun to see them?'
+
+And Maia forgot her fears in watching the nine young squirrels. Had Mrs.
+Bushy been with them, her maternal vanity would have been gratified by
+the admiration their exploits drew forth. It really was the funniest
+and prettiest sight in the world to see them at their gambols. No
+dancers on the tight-rope were ever half so clever. They swung
+themselves up by the branches to the very top of the tree, and then in an
+instant--flash!--there they were ever so far below where the children
+were standing. And in another instant, like a brown streak, up they
+were again, darting hither, there, and everywhere, so that one felt as
+if the whole tree were alive. When they had a little worked off their
+spirits they squeaked to the children to join them; Waldo and Silva did
+so at once, for they were used to these eccentric gymnastics, and to
+Rollo and Maia they looked nearly as clever as the squirrels themselves,
+as, holding on by their companions' paws and tails, they jumped and
+clambered and slid up and down. So in a little while the new-comers too
+took courage and found the performances, like many other things, not
+half so hard as they looked. And oh, how they all laughed and screamed,
+and how the squirrels squeaked with enjoyment! I don't think ever
+children before had such fun. Fancy the pleasure of swaying in a branch
+ever so far overhead quite safe, for there were the nine in a circle
+ready to catch you if you slipped, and then hand in hand, or rather hand
+in paw, dancing round the trunk by hopping two and two from branch to
+branch, nine squirrels and four children--a merry baker's dozen. Then
+the sliding down the tree, like a climber on a May-pole, was great fun
+too, for the Bushys had a way of twisting themselves round it so as to
+avoid the sticking-out branches that was really very clever. So that
+when suddenly, in the middle of it all, a little silvery tinkling bell
+was heard to ring, and they all stood still looking at each other, Rollo
+and Maia felt quite vexed at the interruption.
+
+[Illustration: I don't think ever children before had such fun.]
+
+'Go on,' said Maia, 'what are you all stopping for?'
+
+'The summons,' said Waldo and Silva together. 'We must go. Good-night,
+all of you,' to the squirrels. Had their mother been there, I fancy they
+would have addressed Clamberina and her brothers and sisters more
+ceremoniously. 'Good-bye, and thank you for all the fun.'
+
+'Good-bye, and thank you,' said Rollo and Maia, rather at a loss as to
+whether they should offer to shake paws, or if that was not squirrel
+fashion. But before they had time to consider, 'Quick,' said a voice
+behind them, which they were not slow to recognise, 'slide down the
+tree,' and down they slid, all four, though, giving one glance upwards,
+they caught sight of the nine squirrels all seated in a row on a branch,
+each with their pocket-handkerchief at their eyes, weeping copiously.
+
+'Poor things,' said Maia, 'how tender-hearted they are!'
+
+'They always do that when we come away,' said Waldo; 'it's part of
+their manners. But they are very good-natured.'
+
+'And where's godmother,' said Maia, when they found themselves on
+terra-firma again. 'Wasn't it her voice that spoke to us up on the tree,
+and told us to come down?'
+
+'Yes,' said Silva; 'but she called up through a speaking-trumpet. I
+don't know where she is herself. She may be a good way off. But that
+doesn't matter. We can tell what to do. Lay your ear to the ground,
+Waldo.'
+
+Waldo did so.
+
+'Are they coming,' asked Silva.
+
+'Yes,' said Waldo, getting up; 'they'll be here directly;' and almost
+before he had left off speaking the pretty sound of tinkling bells was
+heard approaching, nearer and nearer every second, till the children, to
+their delight, caught sight of the little carriage and the tiny piebald
+ponies, which came dancing up to them all of themselves, and stood
+waiting for them to get in.
+
+'But where's godmother?' exclaimed Maia; 'how can we get home without
+her?'
+
+'All right,' said Waldo; 'she often lends Silva and me her ponies. I can
+drive you home quite safely, you'll see. Get in, Maia and Silva
+behind--Rollo and I will go in front.'
+
+And off they set. It was not quite such a harum-scarum drive as it had
+been coming. Waldo did not take any flying leaps--indeed, I think nobody
+but godmother herself could have managed that! but it was very
+delightful all the same.
+
+'Oh, Silva,' exclaimed Maia, 'I do so wish we need not go back to the
+white castle and Lady Venelda and our lessons! I do so wish we might
+live in the cottage with you and Waldo, _always_.'
+
+Silva looked a little sorry when Maia spoke thus.
+
+'Don't say that, Maia,' she said. 'Godmother wouldn't like it. We want
+to make you happy while you're here--not to make you impatient. If you
+and Rollo were always at the cottage, you wouldn't like it half so much
+as you do now, coming sometimes. You would soon get tired of it, unless
+you worked hard like Waldo and me.'
+
+'Do you work hard?' said Maia, with some surprise.
+
+'Yes, of course we do. You only see us at our play-time. Waldo goes off
+to the forester's at the other side of the wood every morning at six,
+and I take him his dinner every day, and then I stay there and work in
+the dairy till we come home together in the evening.'
+
+'But you sometimes have holidays,' said Maia.
+
+'Yes, of course we do,' said Silva, smiling. 'Godmother sees to that.'
+
+'How?' asked Maia. 'Does she know the forester and his wife? Does she go
+and ask them to give you a holiday?'
+
+'Not exactly,' said Silva, smiling. 'I can't tell you how she does it.
+She has her own ways for doing everything. How does she get you _your_
+holidays?'
+
+'Does _she_ get us them?' said Maia, astonished. 'Why, Lady Venelda
+never speaks of her. Do you think she knows her?'
+
+'I can't tell you,' said Silva, again smiling in the same rather strange
+way as before, and somehow when she smiled like that she reminded Maia
+of godmother herself; 'but she does know _somebody_ at the white castle,
+and somebody there knows her.'
+
+'The old doctor!' exclaimed Maia, clapping her hands. 'I'm _sure_ you
+mean the old doctor. Ah! that's how it is, is it? Godmother sends to the
+old doctor or writes to him, or--or--I don't know what--and then he
+finds out we need a holiday, and--oh, he manages it somehow, I suppose!'
+
+'Yes,' said Silva; 'but as long as you get your holiday it's all right.
+When godmother tells us of anything we're to do, or that she has
+settled for us, we're quite pleased without asking her all the little
+bits about it.'
+
+'I see,' said Maia; 'but then, Silva, you're different from me.'
+
+'Of course I am,' said Silva; 'but it wouldn't be at all nice if
+everybody was the same. That's one of the things godmother always says.'
+
+'Yes, like what she says about how stupid it would be if we knew
+everything, and if there was nothing more to puzzle and wonder about. It
+_is_ nice to wonder and puzzle sometimes, but not always. Just now I
+don't mind about anything except about the fun of going so fast, with
+those dear little ponies' bells tinkling all the way. I shall be so
+sorry to get to the cottage, for we shan't have time to go in, Silva. We
+shall have to hurry home not to be too late for supper.'
+
+Just as she spoke Waldo pulled up sharply.
+
+'What's the matter?' called out Maia. She had been talking so much to
+Silva that she had not noticed the way they were going. Now she looked
+about her, and it seemed to her that she recognised the look of the
+trees, which were much less close and thick than in the middle of the
+forest. But before she had time to think more about it a voice close at
+hand made both her and Rollo start.
+
+'Well, young people,' it said, 'you have had, I hope, a pleasant day?
+You, too, Waldo and Silva? It is some time since I have seen you, my
+children.'
+
+It was, of course, the voice of the doctor. All the four jumped out of
+the little carriage and ran forward to their old friend, for to Rollo's
+and Maia's surprise, the two forest children seemed to know him quite as
+well as they did themselves.
+
+He seemed delighted to see them all, and his kind old face shone with
+pleasure as he patted the curly heads of the boys and Maia, and stroked
+gently Silva's pretty, smooth hair.
+
+'But you must go home,' he said to Waldo and Silva. 'Good-night, my
+children;' and quickly bidding their little friends farewell, the
+brother and sister sprang up again into the tiny carriage, and in
+another moment the more and more faintly-tinkling bells were all left of
+them, as Rollo and Maia stood a little sadly, gazing in the direction in
+which they had disappeared.
+
+'And you have been happy?' said the old doctor.
+
+'_Very_ happy,' both replied together. 'We have had such fun.' But
+before they had time to tell their old friend anything more he
+interrupted them.
+
+'You, too, must hurry home,' he said. 'You see where you are? Up the
+path to the right and you will come out at the usual place just behind
+the castle wall at the back.'
+
+Rollo and Maia hastened to obey him.
+
+'How queer he is!' said Maia. 'He doesn't seem to care to hear what
+we've been doing--he never asks anything but if we've been happy.'
+
+'Well, what does it matter?' said Rollo. 'I like only to talk to
+ourselves of the queer things we see when we're with Waldo and Silva. I
+wonder what they will show us or where they will take us the next time?'
+
+'So do I,' said Maia.
+
+'Waldo said something about the eagles that live up in the high rocks at
+the edge of the forest,' said Rollo. 'He did not exactly say so, but he
+spoke as if he had been there. Wouldn't you like to see an eagles' nest,
+Maia?'
+
+'I should think so, indeed!' replied Maia eagerly. 'But I don't think
+that's what they call it, Rollo; there's another name.'
+
+'Yes, I think there is, but I can't remember it,' he answered. 'But
+never mind, Maia, here we are at the gate. We must run in and get ready
+for supper.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+A COMMITTEE OF BIRDS.
+
+               'Then a sound is heard,
+    A sudden rushing sound of many wings.'
+
+
+Nothing was asked of the children as to where or how they had spent
+their day. Lady Venelda looked at them kindly as they took their places
+at the supper-table, and she kissed them when they said good-night as if
+she were quite pleased with them. They were not sorry to go to bed; for
+however delightful squirrel gymnastics are, they are somewhat fatiguing,
+especially to those who are not accustomed to them, and I can assure you
+that Rollo and Maia slept soundly that night; thanks to which, no doubt,
+they woke next morning as fresh as larks.
+
+Their lessons were all done to the satisfaction of their teachers, so
+that in the afternoon, when, as they were setting off with Nanni for
+their usual walk, they met the old doctor on the terrace, he nodded at
+them good-humouredly.
+
+'That's right,' he said; 'holidays do you no harm, I see.'
+
+'And we may have another before very long, then, mayn't we?' said Maia,
+whose little tongue was always the readiest.
+
+'All in good time,' said the old man, and as they had found his memory
+so good hitherto, the children felt that they might trust him for the
+future.
+
+They did not go in the direction of the cottage to-day. Though they had
+not exactly been told so, they had come to understand that when
+godmother wanted them, or had arranged some pleasure for them and her
+forest children, she would find some means of letting them know, and the
+sort of desire to please and obey her which they felt seemed even
+stronger than if her wishes had been put down in plain rules. And when
+Nanni was with them they now took care not to speak of the cottage or
+their friends there, for she could not have understood about them, and
+she would only have been troubled and frightened. But yet the thought of
+Waldo and Silva and godmother and the cottage, and all the pleasure and
+fun they had had, seemed never quite away. It hovered about them like
+the impression of a happy dream, which seems to make the whole day
+brighter, though we can scarcely tell how.
+
+The spring was now coming on fast; and what _can_ be more delightful
+than spring-time in the woods? With the increasing warmth and sunshine
+the scent of the pines seemed to waft out into the air, the primroses
+and violets opened their eyes, and the birds overhead twittered and
+trilled in their perfect happiness.
+
+'How can any one be so cruel as to shoot them?' said Maia one afternoon
+about a week after the visit to the squirrels.
+
+'I don't think any one would shoot these tiny birds,' said Rollo.
+
+'I am afraid they do in some countries,' said Maia. 'Not here; I don't
+think godmother would let them. I think nobody can do anything in these
+woods against her wishes,' she went on in a lower tone, glancing in
+Nanni's direction. But that young woman was knitting away calmly, with
+an expression of complete content on her rosy face.
+
+'Rollo,' Maia continued, 'come close to me. I want to speak in a
+whisper;' and Rollo, who, like his sister, was stretched at full length
+on the ground, thickly carpeted with the tiny dry-brown spikes which
+had fallen from the fir-trees during the winter, edged himself along by
+his elbows without getting up, till he was near enough to hear Maia's
+lowest murmur.
+
+'Lazy boy,' she said, laughing. 'Is it too much trouble to move?'
+
+'It's too much trouble to stand up any way,' replied Rollo. 'What is it
+you want to say, Maia? I do think there's something in these woods that
+puts one to sleep, as Nanni says.'
+
+'So do I,' said Maia, and her voice had a half sleepy sound as she
+spoke. 'I don't quite know what I wanted to say, Rollo. It was only
+something about _them_, you know.'
+
+'You needn't be the least afraid--Nanni can't hear,' said Rollo, without
+moving.
+
+'Well, I only wanted to talk a little about them. Just to wonder, you
+know, if they won't soon be sending for us--making some new treat. It
+seems such a long time since we saw them.'
+
+'Only a week,' said Rollo, sleepily.
+
+'Well, a week's a good while,' pursued Maia; 'and I'm sure we've done
+our lessons _very_ well all this time, and nobody's had to scold us for
+anything. _Rollo_----'
+
+'Oh, I do wish you'd let me take a little sleep,' said poor Rollo.
+
+'Oh, very well, then! I won't talk if you want to go to sleep,' said
+Maia, in a slightly offended tone; 'though I must say I think it is very
+stupid of you when we've been shut up at our lessons all the morning,
+and we have only an hour to stay out, to want to spend it all in
+sleeping.'
+
+But she said no more, for by this time Rollo was quite asleep, and the
+click-click of Nanni's knitting-needles grew fainter and fainter, till
+Maia, looking round to see why she was stopping, discovered that Nanni
+too had given in to the influence of the woods. She was asleep, and
+doubtless dreaming pleasantly, for there was a broad smile on her
+good-natured face.
+
+'Stupid things!' thought Maia to herself. And then she began wondering
+what amusement she could find till it was time to go home again. 'For
+_I'm_ not sleepy,' she said; 'it is only the twinkling way the sunshine
+comes through the trees that makes my eyes feel rather dazzled. I may as
+well shut them a little, and as I have no one to talk to I will try to
+say over my French poetry, so that I shall know it _quite_ well for
+Mademoiselle Delphine to-morrow morning.'
+
+The French poetry was long and dull. The complaint of a shepherdess for
+the loss of her sheep was the name of it, and Maia had not found it easy
+to learn, for, like many things it was then the custom to teach
+children, it was neither interesting nor instructive. But if it did her
+good in no other way, it was a lesson of patience, and Maia had worked
+hard at it. She now began to say it over to herself from the beginning
+in a low monotonous voice, her eyes closed as she half lay, half sat,
+leaning her head on the trunk of one of the great trees. It seemed to
+her that her poetry went wonderfully well. Never before had it sounded
+to her so musical. She really felt quite a pleasure in softly murmuring
+the lines, and quite unconsciously they seemed to set themselves to an
+air she had often been sung to sleep to by her nurse when a very little
+girl, till to her surprise Maia found herself singing in a low but
+exquisitely sweet voice.
+
+'I _never_ knew I could sing so beautifully,' she thought to herself; 'I
+must tell Rollo about it.' But she did not feel inclined to wake him up
+to listen to it. She had indeed forgotten all about him being asleep at
+her side--she had forgotten everything but the beauty of her song and
+the pleasure of her newly-discovered talent. And on and on she sang,
+like the bewitched Princess, though what she was singing about she could
+not by this time have told, till all of a sudden she became aware that
+she was not singing alone--or, at least, not without an accompaniment.
+For all through her singing, sometimes rising above it, sometimes gently
+sinking below, was a sweet trilling warble, purer and clearer than the
+sound of a running brook, softer and mellower than the music of any
+instrument Maia had ever heard.
+
+'What can it be?' thought Maia. She half determined to open her eyes to
+look, but she refrained from a vague fear that if she did so it might
+perhaps scare the music away. But unconsciously she had stopped singing,
+and just then a new sound as of innumerable wings close to her made her
+forget all in her curiosity to see what it was. She opened her eyes in
+time to see fluttering downwards an immense flock of birds--birds of
+every shape and colour, though none of them were very big, the largest
+being about the size of a parrot. There lay Rollo, fast asleep, in the
+midst of the crowd of feathered creatures, and something--an instinct
+she could not explain--made Maia quickly shut her eyes again. She was
+not afraid, but she felt sure the birds would not have come so near had
+they not thought her asleep too. So she remained perfectly still,
+leaning her head against the trunk of the tree and covering her face
+with her hand, so that she could peep out between the fingers while yet
+seeming to be asleep.
+
+The flutter gradually ceased, and the great flock of birds settled
+softly on the ground. Then began a clear chirping which, to Maia's
+delight, as she listened with all her ears, gradually seemed to shape
+itself into words which she could understand.
+
+'Do you think they liked our music?' piped a bird, or several birds
+together--it was impossible to say which.
+
+'I think so,' answered some other; '_he_'--and Maia understood that they
+were speaking of Rollo--'has heard it but dimly--he is farther away. But
+_she_ was nearer us and will not forget it.'
+
+'They seem good children,' said in a more squeaky tone a black and white
+bird, hopping forward a little by himself. He appeared to Maia to be
+some kind of crow or raven, but she disliked his rather patronising
+tone.
+
+'Good children,' she said to herself. 'What business has an old crow to
+talk of us as good children!'
+
+'Ah, yes!' replied a little brown bird which had established itself on
+a twig just above Rollo's head. 'If they had not been so, you may be
+sure _she_ would have had nothing to do with them, instead of making
+them as happy as she can, and giving orders all through the forest that
+they are to be entertained. I hear they amused themselves very well at
+the squirrels' the other day.'
+
+'Ah, indeed! A party?'
+
+'Oh, no--just a simple gambolade. Had it been a party, of course _our_
+services would have been retained for the music.'
+
+'Naturally,' replied the little brown bird. 'Of course no musical
+entertainment would be complete without _you_, Mr. Crow.'
+
+The old black bird giggled. He seemed quite flattered, and was evidently
+on the point of replying to his small brown friend by some amiable
+speech, when a soft cooing voice interrupted him. It was that of a
+wood-pigeon, who, with two or three companions, came hopping up to them.
+
+'What are we to do?' she said. 'Shall we warble a slumber-song for them?
+They are sleeping still.'
+
+The old crow glanced at the children.
+
+'I fancy they have had enough music for to-day,' he said. 'I think we
+should consult together seriously about what we can do for their
+entertainment. It won't do to let the squirrels be the only ones to show
+them attention. Besides, children who come to our woods and amuse
+themselves without ever robbing a nest, catching a butterfly, or causing
+the slightest alarm to even a hare--such children _deserve_ to be
+rewarded.'
+
+'What can we do for them?' chirruped a brisk little robin. 'We have
+given them a concert, which has had the effect'--and he made a
+patronising little bow in the direction of Rollo and Maia--'the
+effect--of sending them to sleep.'
+
+'I beg your pardon,' said a sparrow pertly. 'They were asleep before our
+serenade began. It was _intended_ to lull their slumbers. That was _her_
+desire.'
+
+'Doubtless,' said the crow snappishly. 'Mr. Sparrow is always the best
+informed as to matters in the highest quarters. And, of
+course--considering his world-wide fame as a songster----'
+
+'No sparring--no satirical remarks, gentlemen,' put in a bird who had
+not yet spoken. It was a blackbird, and all listened to him with
+respect. 'We should give example of nothing but peace and unity to
+these unfeathered visitors of ours, otherwise they might carry away a
+most mistaken idea of our habits and principles and of the happiness in
+which we live.'
+
+'Certainly--certainly,' agreed the crow. 'It was but a little amiable
+repartee, Mr. Blackbird. My young friend Sparrow has not quite thrown
+off the--the slight--sharpness of tone acquired, almost unconsciously,
+by a long residence in cities.'
+
+'And you, my respected friend,' observed the sparrow, 'are
+naturally--but we can all make allowance for each other--not altogether
+indisposed to croak. But these are trifling matters in no way
+interfering with the genuine brotherliness and good feeling in which we
+all live together in this favoured land.'
+
+A gentle but general buzz, or twitter rather, of applause greeted this
+speech.
+
+'And now to business,' said the robin. 'What are we to arrange for the
+amusement of our young friends?'
+
+'A remark reached my ears--I may explain, in passing, that some members
+of my family have a little nest just under the eaves of the castle,
+and--and--I now and then hear snatches of conversation--not, of course,
+that we are given to _eavesdropping_--of course, none of my family could
+be suspected of such a thing--but, as I was saying, a remark reached my
+ears that our young friends would like to visit what, in human language,
+would be called our king's palace--that is to say, the eyrie of the
+great eagle at the summit of the forest,' said a swallow, posing his
+awkward body ungracefully on one leg and looking round for approval.
+
+'Nothing easier,' replied the robin. 'We are much obliged to you for the
+suggestion, Mr. Swallow. If it meets with approval in the highest
+quarters, I vote that we should carry it out.'
+
+Another twitter of approval greeted this speech.
+
+'And when shall the visit take place?' asked the wood-pigeon softly,
+'and how shall it be accomplished?'
+
+'As to _when_, that is not for us to decide,' said the robin. 'As to
+_how_, I should certainly think a voyage through the air would be far
+the greatest novelty and amusement. And this, by laying our wings all
+together, we can easily arrange. The first thing we have to do is to
+submit the idea for approval, and then we can all meet together again
+and fix the details. But now I think we should be on the wing to regain
+our nests. Besides, our young friends will be awaking soon. It would not
+do for them to see us here assembled in such numbers. It might alarm
+them.'
+
+'That is true,' said the crow. 'Their education in some respects has
+been neglected. They have not enjoyed the unusual advantages of Waldo
+and Silva. But still--they are very good children, in their way.'
+
+This last speech made Maia so angry that, forgetting all pretence of
+being asleep, she started up to give the old crow a bit of her mind.
+
+'You impertinent old croaker,' she began to say, but to her amazement
+there was neither crow nor bird of any kind to be seen! Maia rubbed her
+eyes--was she, or had she been dreaming? No, it was impossible. But yet,
+how had all the birds got away so quickly, without the least flutter or
+bustle, and in less than half a second? She turned to Rollo and gave him
+a shake.
+
+'Rollo,' she said, 'do wake up, you lazy boy. Where have they all gone
+to?'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+A SAIL IN THE AIR.
+
+    'Bright are the regions of the air,
+    And among the winds and beams
+    It were delight to wander there.'
+
+    SHELLEY.
+
+
+'What are you talking about?' said Rollo, sitting up, and in his turn
+rubbing his eyes. 'Where have "who" gone to?'
+
+'The birds, of course,' replied Maia. 'You can't be so stupid, Rollo, as
+not to have seen them.'
+
+'I've been asleep,' said the poor boy, looking rather ashamed of
+himself. 'What birds were they? Did you see them? I have a queer sort of
+feeling,' and he hesitated, looking at Maia as if she could explain it,
+'as if I had dreamt something about them--as if I heard some sort of
+music through my sleep. What did _you_ see, Maia? do tell me.'
+
+Maia described it all to him, and he listened with the greatest
+interest. But at the end he made an observation which roused her
+indignation.
+
+'I believe you were dreaming too,' he said. 'Nobody ever heard of birds
+speaking like that.'
+
+'And yet you say you heard something of it through your sleep? Is it
+likely we both dreamt the same thing all of ourselves?'
+
+'But I didn't dream that birds were talking,' objected Rollo. 'They
+can't talk.'
+
+Maia glanced at him with supreme contempt.
+
+'Can squirrels talk?' she said. 'Would anybody believe all the things we
+have seen and done since we have been in this Christmas-tree land? Think
+of our drives in godmother's carriage; think of our finding our way
+through a tree's trunk; think of godmother herself, with her wonderful
+ways and her beautiful dress, and yet that she can look like a poor old
+woman! Would anybody believe all that, do you think? And we know it's
+all true; and yet you can't believe birds can talk! Oh, you are too
+stupid.'
+
+Rollo smiled; he did not seem vexed.
+
+'I don't see that all that prevents it being possible that you were
+dreaming all the same,' he said. 'But dreams are true sometimes.'
+
+'Are they?' said Maia, looking puzzled in her turn. 'Well, what was the
+use of going on so about birds never talking, then? Never mind, now;
+just wait and see if what I've told you doesn't come true. _I_ shall go,
+Rollo; if the birds come to fetch us to go to see the eagle, _I_ shall
+go.'
+
+'So shall I,' said Rollo coolly. 'I never had the slightest intention of
+not going. But we must go home now, Maia; it's getting late, and you
+know we were not to stay long to-day.'
+
+'Where's Nanni?' said Maia.
+
+'Perhaps the birds have flown off with her,' said Rollo mischievously.
+But for a moment or two neither he nor Maia could help feeling a little
+uneasy, for no Nanni was to be seen! They called her and shouted to her,
+and at last a sort of grunt came in reply, which guided them to where,
+quite hidden by a little nest of brushwood, Nanni lay at full length,
+blinking her eyes as if she had not the slightest idea where she was.
+
+As soon as she saw them, up she jumped.
+
+'Oh, I am so ashamed,' she cried. 'What could have come over me to fall
+asleep like that, just when I thought I should have got such a great
+piece of Master Rollo's stockings done! And you have been looking for
+me, lazy girl that I am! But I can assure you, Miss Maia, when I first
+sat down I was not here--I was sitting over there,' and she pointed to
+another tree-stump a little way off, 'not asleep at all, and knitting so
+fast. There are fairies in the wood, Miss Maia,' she added in a lower
+voice. 'I've thought it many a time, and I'm more sure than ever of it
+now. I don't think we should come into the woods at all, I really
+don't.'
+
+'We shouldn't have anywhere to walk in, then,' said Rollo. 'I don't see
+why you should be afraid of fairies, Nanni, even supposing there are
+any. They've never done us any harm. Now, have they?'
+
+But though she could not say they had, Nanni did not look happy. She was
+one of those people that did not like anything she did not understand.
+Maia gave Rollo's sleeve a little pull as a sign to him that he had
+better not say any more, and then they set off quickly walking back to
+the castle.
+
+For some days things went on as usual, though every morning when she got
+up and every evening when she went to bed Maia wondered if the summons
+would not come soon. She went all round the castle, peeping up into the
+eaves to see if she could find the swallows' nest; but she did not
+succeed, and it was no wonder, for the solitary nest was hidden away in
+a corner where even Maia's sharp eyes could not penetrate, and the
+swallows flew out and in through a hole in the parapet round the roof
+which no one suspected.
+
+'I know there _are_ swallows here,' she said to Rollo, 'for I've seen
+them. But I can't fancy where they live.'
+
+'Nanni would say they were fairies,' said Rollo, smiling. He was more
+patient than his sister, and he was quite sure that godmother would not
+forget them. And by degrees Maia began to follow his example, especially
+after Rollo happened to remark one day that he had noticed that it was
+always when they had been working the most steadily at their lessons,
+and thinking the least of holidays and treats that the holidays and
+treats came. This counsel Maia took to heart, and worked so well for
+some days that Mademoiselle Delphine and the old chaplain had none but
+excellent reports to give of both children, and Lady Venelda smiled on
+them so graciously that they felt sure her next letter to their father
+would be a most satisfactory one.
+
+One evening--it was the evening of a most lovely spring day--when Rollo
+and Maia had said good-night in the usual ceremonious way to Lady
+Venelda, they were coming slowly along the great corridor, white like
+the rest of the castle, which led to their own rooms, when a sound at
+one of the windows they were passing made them stop.
+
+'What was that?' said Maia. 'It sounded like a great flutter of wings.'
+
+Rollo glanced out of the window. It was nearly dark, but his eyes were
+quick.
+
+'It was wings,' he said. 'Quite a flight of birds have just flown off
+from under the roof.'
+
+'Ah,' said Maia, nodding her head mysteriously, 'I thought so. Well,
+Rollo, _I_ don't intend to go to sleep to-night, whether you do or not.'
+
+Rollo shook his head.
+
+'I shall wake if there's anything to wake for,' he said. 'I'm much more
+sure of doing that than you can be of keeping awake.'
+
+'Why, I couldn't _go_ to sleep if I thought there was going to be
+anything to wake for,' said Maia.
+
+Before long they were both in bed. Rollo laid his head on the pillow
+without troubling himself about keeping awake or going to sleep. Maia,
+on the contrary, kept her eyes as wide open as she could. It was a
+moonlight night; the objects in the room stood out in sharp black
+shadow against the bright radiance, seeming to take queer fantastic
+forms which made her every minute start up, feeling sure that she saw
+some one or something beside her bedside. And every time that she found
+it a mistake she felt freshly disappointed. At last, quite tired with
+expecting she knew not what, she turned her face to the wall and shut
+her eyes.
+
+'Stupid things that they all are!' she said to herself. 'Godmother, and
+the birds, and Waldo, and Silva, and the old doctor, and everybody.
+They've no business to promise us treats, and then never do anything
+about them. I shan't think any more about it, that I won't. I believe
+it's all a pretence.'
+
+Which you will, I am sure, agree with me in thinking not very reasonable
+on Maia's part!
+
+She fell asleep at last, and, as might have been expected, much more
+soundly than usual. When she woke, it was from a deep, dreamless
+slumber, but with the feeling that for some time some one had been
+calling her, and that she had been slow of rousing herself.
+
+'What is it?' she called out, sitting up in bed, and trying to wink the
+sleep out of her eyes. 'Who is there?'
+
+'Maia!' a voice replied. A voice that seemed to come from a great
+distance, and yet to reach her as clearly as any sound she had ever
+heard in her life. 'Maia, are you ready?'
+
+Up sprang Maia.
+
+'Godmother, is it you calling me?' she said. 'Oh, yes, it must be you!
+I'll be ready in a moment, godmother. If I could but find my shoes and
+stockings! Oh, dear! oh, dear! and I meant to keep awake all night. I've
+been expecting you such a long time.'
+
+'I know,' said the voice, quite close beside her this time; 'you have
+been expecting me too much,' and, glancing round, Maia saw in the
+moonlight--right _in_ the moonlight, looking indeed almost as if the
+bright rays came from her--a shadowy silvery figure, quite different
+from godmother as she had hitherto known her, but which, nevertheless,
+she knew in a moment could be no one else. Maia flung her arms round her
+and kissed her.
+
+'Yes,' she said, 'now I'm _quite_ sure it's you and not a dream. No
+dream has cheeks so soft as yours, godmother, and no one else kisses
+like you. Your kisses are just like violets. But what am I to do? Must I
+get dressed at once?'
+
+Godmother passed her hands softly round the child. She seemed to stroke
+her.
+
+'You are dressed,' she said. 'The clothes you wear generally would be
+too heavy, so I brought some with me. You do not need shoes and
+stockings.'
+
+But Maia was looking at herself with too much surprise almost to hear
+what she said. 'Dressed,' yes, indeed! She was dressed as never before
+in her life, and though she turned herself about, and stroked herself
+like a little bird proud of its plumage, she could not find out of what
+her dress was made, nor what exactly was its colour. Was it velvet, or
+satin, or plush? Was it green or blue?
+
+'I know,' she cried at last joyously; 'it's the same stuff your red
+dress is made of, godmother! Oh, how nice, and soft, and warm, and light
+all together it is! I feel as if I could jump up to the sky.'
+
+'And not be seen when you got there,' said godmother. 'The colour of
+your dress _is_ sky colour, Maia. But when you have finished admiring
+yourself we must go--the others have been ready ever so long. They had
+not been expecting me _too_ much, like you, and so they were ready all
+the quicker.'
+
+'Do you mean Rollo?' said Maia. 'Rollo, and Silva, and Waldo?'
+
+Godmother nodded her head.
+
+'I'm ready now, any way,' said Maia.
+
+'Give me your hand,' said godmother, and taking it she held it firm, and
+led Maia to the window. To the little girl's surprise it was wide open.
+Godmother, still holding her hand, softly whistled--once, twice, three
+times. Then stood quietly waiting.
+
+A gentle, rustling, wafting sound became gradually audible. Maia
+remained perfectly still--holding her breath in her curiosity to see
+what was coming next. The sound grew nearer and louder, if one can use
+the word loud to so soft and delicate a murmur. Maia stretched out her
+head.
+
+'Here they are,' said godmother, and as she spoke, a large object,
+looking something like a ship with two great sails swimming through the
+air instead of on the sea, came in sight, and, as if steered by an
+invisible hand, came slowly up to the window and there stopped.
+
+'What is it?' cried Maia, not quite sure, in spite of godmother's firm
+clasp, whether she was not a little frightened, for even godmother
+herself looked strangely shadowy and unreal in the moonlight, and the
+great air-boat was like nothing Maia had ever seen or dreamt of.
+Suddenly she gave a joyful spring, for she caught sight of what took
+away all her fear. There in the centre of the huge sails, seated in a
+sort of car, and joyfully waving their hands to her, were Rollo, and
+Silva, and Waldo.
+
+'Come, Maia,' they called out; 'the birds have come to fetch us, you
+see. There's a snug seat for you among the cushions. Come, quick.'
+
+How was she to come, Maia was on the point of asking, when she felt
+godmother draw her quickly forward.
+
+'Spring, my child, and don't be afraid,' she said, and Maia sprang
+almost without knowing it, for before she had time to ask or think
+anything about it, she found herself being kissed by Silva, and
+comfortably settled in her place by the boys.
+
+'All right--we're off now,' Waldo called out, and at once, with a steady
+swing, the queer ship rose into the air.
+
+'But godmother,' exclaimed Maia, 'where is she? Isn't she coming with
+us?'
+
+'I am with you, my child,' answered godmother's clear, well-known voice.
+But where it came from Maia could not tell.
+
+'Godmother is steering us,' said Silva softly, 'but we can't see her.
+She doesn't want us to see her. But she'll take care of us.'
+
+'But where are we?' asked Maia bewildered. 'What is this queer ship or
+balloon that we are in? What makes it go?'
+
+'Look closer, and you'll see,' said Silva. 'Look at the sails.'
+
+And Maia looking, saw by the bright moonlight something stranger than
+any of the strange things she had yet seen in Christmas-tree land. The
+sails were made of an immense collection of birds all somehow or other
+holding together. Afterwards Silva explained to her that they were all
+clinging by their claws to a great frame, round which they were arranged
+in order according to their size, and all flapping their wings in
+perfect time, so as to have much the same effect in propelling the
+vessel through the air as the regular motion of several pairs of oars in
+rowing a boat over the sea. And gradually, as Maia watched and
+understood, a soft murmur reached her ears--it was the waft of the many
+pairs of wings as they all together clove the air.
+
+'Oh, the dear, sweet birds!' she exclaimed. 'They have planned it all
+themselves, I am sure. Oh, Silva, isn't it lovely? Have you ever had a
+sail in the air like this before?'
+
+'Not exactly like this,' said Silva.
+
+'We've had _rides_ in the air,' said Waldo mysteriously.
+
+'_Have_ you?' said Maia eagerly. 'Oh, do tell us about them!'
+
+But Rollo laid his hand on her arm.
+
+'Hush!' he said softly; 'the birds are going to sing,' and before Maia
+had time to ask him how he knew, the song began.
+
+'Shut your eyes,' said Waldo; 'let's all shut our eyes. It sounds ever
+so much prettier.'
+
+The others followed his advice. You can imagine nothing more delicious
+than the feeling of floating--for it felt more like quick floating than
+anything else--swiftly through the air, with the sweet warbling voices
+all keeping perfect time together, so that even the queer sounds which
+now and then broke through the others--a croak from the crow, who was
+quite satisfied that he alone conducted the bass voices, or a sudden
+screech from an owl, who had difficulty in subduing his tones--did not
+seem to mar the effect of the whole. The children did not speak; they
+did not feel as if they cared to do so. They held each others' hands,
+and Maia leant her head on Silva's shoulder in perfect content. It was
+like a beautiful dream.
+
+Gradually the music ceased, and just as it did so godmother's well-known
+voice came clearly through the air. It seemed to come from above, and
+yet it sounded so near.
+
+'Children,' she said, 'we are going higher. It will be colder for a
+while, for we must hasten, to be in good time for the dawn. Wrap
+yourselves up well!'
+
+And as she spoke down dropped on their heads a great soft fleecy shawl
+or mantle. Softer and fleecier and lighter than any eider-down or lambs'
+wool that ever was seen or felt, and warmer too, for the children had
+but to give it the tiniest pull or pat in any direction and there it
+settled itself in the most comfortable way, creeping round them like the
+gentle hand of a mother covering up the little ones at night.
+
+'It must be godmother who is tucking us up, though we can't see her,'
+said Rollo.
+
+'Dear godmother,' said Maia, and a sort of little echo was murmured all
+round, even the birds seeming to join in it, of 'dear godmother.'
+
+It did get colder, much colder; but the well-protected children,
+nestling in the cushions of their air-boat, did not feel it, except when
+inquisitive Maia poked up her sharp little nose, very quickly to
+withdraw it again.
+
+'Oh, it _is_ so freezy,' she said. 'My nose feels as if it would drop
+off. Do rub it for me, Silva.'
+
+'I told you it would be cold,' said godmother's voice again. 'Stay where
+you are, Maia; indeed, I think I don't need to warn you now. A burnt
+child dreads the fire. I will tell you all when the time comes for you
+to peep out.'
+
+Maia felt a very little ashamed of her restlessness, and for the rest of
+the journey she was perfectly quiet. Especially when in a few moments
+the birds began to sing again--still more softly and sweetly this time,
+so that it seemed a kind of cradle song. Whether the children slept or
+not I cannot tell. I don't think they could have told themselves; but in
+any case they were very still for a good long while after the serenade
+had ceased.
+
+And then once more--clearer and more ringing than before--sounded
+godmother's voice.
+
+'Children, look out! The dawn is breaking.'
+
+And as the strange air-boat slowly relaxed its speed, floating downwards
+in the direction of some great cliffs almost exactly underneath where it
+was, the four children sat up, throwing off the fairy mantle which had
+so well protected them, and gazed with all their eyes, as well they
+might, at the wonderful beauty of the sight before them.
+
+For they had sailed up to the eagles' eyrie in time to see the sun
+rise!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE EAGLES' EYRIE.
+
+    'Where, yonder, in the upper air
+    The solemn eagles watch the sun.'
+
+
+Did you ever see the sun rise? I hope so; but still I am sure you never
+saw it from such a point as that whereon their winged conductors gently
+deposited the castle and the forest children that early summer morning.
+
+'Jump out,' said the voice they had all learnt to obey, when the
+air-boat came to a stand-still a few feet above the rock. And the
+children, who as yet had noticed nothing of the ground above which they
+were hovering, for their eyes were fixed on the pink and azure and
+emerald and gold, spreading out like a fairy kaleidoscope on the sky
+before them, joined hands and sprang fearlessly on to they knew not
+what. And as they did so, with a murmuring warble of farewell, the birds
+flapped their wings, and the air-boat rose swiftly into the air and
+disappeared from view.
+
+The four looked at each other.
+
+'Has godmother sailed away in it? I thought she was going to stay with
+us,' exclaimed Maia in a disappointed tone.
+
+'Oh, Maia,' said Silva, 'you don't yet understand godmother a bit. But
+we must not stand here. You know the way, Waldo?'
+
+'Here,' where they were standing, was, as I said, a rock, ragged and
+bare, though lower down, its sides were clothed with short thymy grass.
+And stretching behind them the children saw a beautiful expanse of hilly
+ground, beautiful though treeless, for the heather and bracken and gorse
+that covered it looked soft and mellow in the distance, more especially
+with the lovely light and colour just now reflected from the sky.
+
+But Waldo turned in the other direction. He walked a little way across
+the hard, bare rock, which he seemed to be attentively examining, till
+suddenly he stopped short, and tapped on the ground with a little stick
+he had in his hand.
+
+'It must be about here,' he said. The other three children came close
+round him.
+
+'Here,' exclaimed Silva, and she pointed to a small white cross cut in
+the stone at their feet.
+
+Waldo knelt down, and pressed the spot exactly in the centre of the
+cross. Immediately a large slab of rock, forming a sort of door, but
+fitting so closely when shut that no one would have suspected its
+existence, opened inwards, disclosing a flight of steps. Waldo looked
+round.
+
+'This is the short cut to the face of the cliff,' he said. 'Shall I go
+down first?'
+
+'Yes, and I next,' said Rollo, eagerly springing forward.
+
+Then followed Silva and Maia. The flight of steps was a short one. In a
+few moments they found themselves in a rocky passage, wide enough for
+them to walk along comfortably, one by one, and not dark, as light came
+in from little shafts cut at intervals in the roof. The passage twisted
+and turned about a good deal, but suddenly Waldo stopped, calling out:
+
+'Here we are! Is not this worth coming to see?'
+
+The passage had changed into a gallery, with the rock on one side only,
+on the other a railing, to protect those walking along it from a
+possible fall; for they were right on the face of an enormous cliff,
+far down at the bottom of which they could distinguish the tops of
+their old friends the firs. And far as the eye could reach stretched
+away into the distance, miles and miles and miles, here rising, there
+again sweeping downwards, the everlasting Christmas-trees!
+
+The passage stopped suddenly. It ended in a sort of little shelf in the
+rock, and higher up in the wall, at the back of this shelf as it were,
+the children saw two large round holes cut in the rock: they were the
+windows of the eagles' eyrie.
+
+Waldo went forward, and with his little stick tapped three times on the
+smooth, shining rock-wall. But the others, intently watching though they
+were, could not see how a door opened--whether it drew back inwards or
+rolled in sidewards. All they saw was that just before them, where a
+moment before there had been the rock-surface, a great arched doorway
+now invited them to enter.
+
+Waldo glanced round, though without speaking. The other three
+understood, and followed him through the doorway, which, in the same
+mysterious way in which it had opened, was now closed up behind them.
+But that it was so they hardly noticed, so delighted were they with what
+they saw before them. It was the prettiest room, or hall, you could
+imagine--the roof rising very high, and the light coming in through the
+two round windows of which I told you. And the whole--roof, walls,
+floor--was completely lined with what, at first sight, the children took
+for some most beautifully-embroidered kind of velvet. But velvet it was
+not. No embroidery ever showed the exquisite delicacy of tints, fading
+into each other like the softest tones of music, from the purest white
+through every silvery shade to the richest purple, or from deep glowing
+scarlet to pink paler than the first blush of the peach-blossom, while
+here and there rainbow wreaths shone out like stars on a glowing sky. It
+was these wreaths that told the secret.
+
+'Why,' exclaimed Maia, 'it is all _feathers_!'
+
+'Yes,' said Silva, 'I had forgotten. I never was here before, but
+godmother told me about it.'
+
+'And where----?' Maia was going on, but a sound interrupted her. It was
+that of a flutter of wings over their heads, and looking up the children
+perceived two enormous birds slowly flying downwards to where they
+stood, though whence they had come could not be seen.
+
+They alighted and stood together--their great wings folded, while their
+piercing eyes surveyed their guests.
+
+'We make you welcome,' they said at last, in a low soft tone which
+surprised the children, whose heads were full of the idea that eagles
+were fierce and their only voice a scream. 'We have been looking for
+your visit, of which our birds gave us notice. We have ordered a
+collation to be prepared for you, and we trust you will enjoy the view.'
+
+Waldo, who seemed to be master of the ceremonies to-day, stepped forward
+a little in front of the others.
+
+'We thank you,' he said quietly, making his best bow as he spoke.
+
+The eagle queen raised her great wing--the left wing--and with it
+pointed to a spot among the feather hangings where, though they had not
+noticed it, the children now saw gleaming a silver knob.
+
+'Up that stair leads to the balcony overhanging the cliff,' she said.
+'There you will find our respected attendants, the falcon and the hawk,
+who have purveyed for your wants. And before you leave, the king and I
+hope to show you something of this part of our domains. _Au
+revoir!_--the sun awaits us to bid him good-morning.'
+
+And with a slow, majestic movement the two strange birds spread their
+wings and rose upwards, where, though the children's eyes followed them
+closely, they disappeared they knew not how or where.
+
+Then Waldo turned the silver knob and opened a door, through which, as
+the eagle queen had said, they saw a staircase mounting straight
+upwards. It led out on to a balcony cut in the rock, but carefully
+carpeted with moss, and with rustic seats and a rustic table, on which
+were laid out four covers evidently intended for the four children. Two
+birds, large, but very much smaller than the eagles, stood at the side,
+each with a table-napkin over one wing, which so amused the children
+that it was with difficulty they returned the exceedingly dignified
+'reverence' with which the hawk and the falcon greeted them. And they
+were rather glad when the two attendants spread their wings and flew
+over the edge of the balcony, evidently going to fetch the dishes.
+
+'What will they give us to eat, I wonder?' said Maia. 'I hope it won't
+be pieces of poor little lambs, all raw, you know. That's what they
+always tell you eagles eat in the natural history books.'
+
+'Not the eagles of _this_ country,' said Silva. 'I am sure you never
+read about them in your books. _Our_ eagles are not cruel and fierce;
+they would never eat little lambs.'
+
+'But they must kill lots of little birds, whether they eat them or not,'
+said Maia, 'to get all those quantities and quantities of feathers.'
+
+'Kill the little birds!' cried Silva and Waldo both at once. 'Kill their
+own birds! Maia, what are you thinking of? As if any creature that lives
+in Christmas-tree Land would kill any other! Why, the feathers are the
+birds' presents to the king and queen. They keep all that drop off and
+bring them once a year, and that's been done for years and years, till
+the whole of the nest is lined with them.'
+
+'How nice!' replied Maia. 'I'm very glad the eagles are so kind. But
+they're not so _funny_ as the squirrels. They look so very solemn.'
+
+'They must be solemn,' said Waldo. 'They're not like the squirrels, who
+have nothing to do but jump about.'
+
+'I beg your pardon,' said Rollo. 'Have you forgotten that the world
+would stop if Mr. Bushy didn't climb to the top of the tree?'
+
+'And what would happen if the eagles left off watching the sun?' said
+Waldo.
+
+'I don't know,' said Maia eagerly. 'Do tell us, Waldo.'
+
+Waldo looked at her.
+
+'I don't know either,' he said. 'Perhaps the sun would go to sleep, and
+then there would be a nice confusion.'
+
+'You're laughing at me,' said Maia, in rather an offended tone. 'I don't
+see how I'm to be expected to know everything; if the squirrels and the
+eagles and all the creatures here are different from everywhere else,
+how could I tell?'
+
+'Here's the collation!' exclaimed Rollo, and looking up, the others saw
+the falcon and the hawk flying back again, carrying between them a large
+basket, from which, when they had set it down beside the table, they
+cleverly managed, with beaks and claws, to take all sorts of mysterious
+things, which they arranged upon the table. There was no lamb, either
+raw or roasted, for all the repast consisted of fruits. Fruits of every
+kind the children had ever heard of, and a great many of which they did
+not even know the names, but which were more delicious than you, who
+have never tasted them, can imagine.
+
+'You see the eagle king and queen have no need to kill poor little
+lambs,' said Silva. And Maia agreed with her that no one who could get
+such fruits to eat, need ever wish for any other food. While she was
+speaking, the same soft rustle which they had heard before sounded
+overhead, and again the two great majestic birds alighted beside them.
+The four children started to their feet.
+
+'Thank you so much for the delicious fruit, eagle king and eagle queen,'
+said Maia, who was seldom backward at making speeches.
+
+'We are glad you found it to your taste,' said the king. 'It has come
+from many a far-away land--lands you have perhaps scarcely even dreamt
+of, but which to us seem not so strange or distant.'
+
+'Do you fly away so very far?' asked Maia, but the eagles only gleamed
+at her with their wonderful eyes, and shook their heads.
+
+'It is not for us to tell what you could not understand,' said the king.
+'They who can gaze undazzled on the sun must see many things.'
+
+Maia drew back a little.
+
+'They frighten me rather,' she whispered to the others. 'They are so
+solemn and mysterious.'
+
+'But that needn't frighten you,' said Silva. 'Rollo isn't frightened.'
+
+'Rollo's a boy,' replied Maia, as if that settled the matter.
+
+Waldo now pointed out some steps in the rock leading up still higher.
+
+'The eagles want us to go up there,' he said. 'We shall see right over
+the forest and ever so far.'
+
+And so they did, for the steps led up a long way till they ended on
+another rock-shelf right on the face of the cliff. From here the great
+fir-forests looked but like dark patches far below, while away, away in
+the distance stretched on one side the great plain across which the
+children had journeyed on their first coming to the white castle; and on
+the other the distant forms of mountain ranges, gray-blue, shading
+fainter and fainter till the clouds themselves looked more real.
+
+It was cold, very cold, up here on the edge of the great bare rocks. The
+beauty of the sunrise had sobered down into the chilly freshness of an
+early summer morning; the world seemed still asleep, and the children
+shivered a little.
+
+'I don't think I should like to live always as high up as this,' said
+Maia. 'It's very lonely and very cold.'
+
+'You would need to be dressed in feathers like the eagles if you did,'
+replied Silva; 'and if one had eyes like theirs, I dare say one would
+never feel lonely. One would see so much.'
+
+'I wonder,' said Maia--and then she stopped.
+
+'What were you going to say?' asked Rollo.
+
+Maia's eyes looked far over the plain as if, like the eagles, they would
+pierce the distance.
+
+'It was from there we came,' she said. 'I wonder if it will be from
+there that father will come to take us away. Do you think that the
+eagles will know when he is coming? do you think they will see him from
+very far off?'
+
+Silva looked over the plain without speaking, and into her dark eyes
+there crept something that was not in Maia's blue ones.
+
+'Maia,' exclaimed Rollo reproachfully, 'Silva is crying. She doesn't
+like you to talk of us going away.'
+
+In an instant Maia's arms were round Silva's neck.
+
+'Don't cry, Silva--you mustn't,' she said. 'When we go away you and
+Waldo shall come too--we will ask our father, won't we, Rollo?'
+
+'And godmother?' said Silva, smiling again. 'What would she say? We are
+her children, Maia, and the children of the forest. We should not be fit
+to live as you do in the great world of men out away there. No; we can
+always love each other, and perhaps you and Rollo will come away out of
+the world sometimes to see us--but we must stay in our own country.'
+
+'Never mind--don't talk about it just now,' said Maia. 'I wish I hadn't
+said anything about father coming. I dare say he won't come for a very
+long while, and when we can see you and Waldo we are never dull. It's
+only at the castle when they give us such lots of lessons and everybody
+is so prim and so cross if we're the least bit late. Oh, dear!--I was
+forgetting--shan't we be late for breakfast this morning? Is godmother
+coming to fetch us?'
+
+'We are going home now,' said Waldo. 'But first we must say good-bye to
+the eagles. Here they are,' for as he spoke the two royal birds came
+circling down from overhead and settled themselves on the very edge of
+the cliff, whose dizzy height they calmly overlooked--their gaze fixed
+far beyond.
+
+'That is where they always stay watching,' said Waldo, in a low voice,
+and then the children went forward till they were but a few steps behind
+the pair. Farther it would not have been safe to go.
+
+'Good-bye, king and queen,' they said all together, and the eagles,
+slowly turning round, though without moving from their places, answered
+in their grave voices:
+
+'Farewell, children. We will watch you, though you may not know it.
+Farewell.'
+
+Then Waldo led the others down the rock stair by which they had come
+up--down past the balcony where they had had their collation of fruit,
+till they found themselves in the feather-lined hall.
+
+'There is something rather sad about the eagles,' said Maia. 'Do you
+think it is watching so much that makes them sad?'
+
+'Perhaps,' said Silva. 'Come and sit down here in this snug corner.
+Look, there is a feather arm-chair for each of us--it is a little
+chilly, don't you think?'
+
+'Yes, perhaps it is. But tell me if you know why the eagles are sad.'
+
+'I think they are more grave than sad,' replied Silva. 'I dare say
+watching so much does make them so.'
+
+'Why? Do they see so far? Do they see all sorts of things?' asked Maia
+in a rather awe-struck tone. 'Are they like fairies, Silva?'
+
+'I don't know exactly,' said Silva. 'But I think they are very wise, and
+I expect they know a great deal.'
+
+'But they can't know as much as godmother, and she isn't sad,' said
+Maia.
+
+'Sometimes she is,' said Silva. 'Besides, she has more to do than the
+eagles. They have only to watch--she puts things right. You'll
+understand better some day,' she added, seeing that Maia looked puzzled.
+'But isn't it cold? Oh, see there--that's to wrap ourselves up in,' for
+just at this moment there flapped down on them, from no one could tell
+where, the great soft fluffy cloak or rug which had kept them so
+beautifully warm during their air-journey.
+
+'Come under the shawl,' cried Maia to the two boys, and all the children
+drew their seats close together and wrapped the wonderful cloak well
+round them.
+
+'But aren't we going home soon?' said Maia. 'I'm so afraid of being
+late.'
+
+'Godmother knows all about it,' said Waldo. 'She's sent us this cloak on
+purpose. There's nothing to do but sit still--till she tells us what
+we're to do. I don't mind, for somehow I'm rather sleepy.'
+
+'I think I am too,' said Rollo, and though Silva and Maia were less
+ready to allow it, I think they must have felt the same, for somehow or
+other two minutes later all the four were taking a comfortable nap, and
+knew nothing more till a soft clear voice whispered in their ears:
+
+'Children, it is time to wake up.'
+
+'Time to go home! Are the birds coming for us again?' said Maia, rubbing
+her eyes and staring about her. A voice softly laughing replied to her:
+
+'Birds--what birds are you talking about? You're not awake yet, Maia,
+and I've been telling you to wake ever so long.'
+
+It was Rollo.
+
+'You, why I thought it was godmother,' said Maia; 'I heard her say,
+"Children, it is time to wake up," and I thought we were all in the
+feather-hall still. How did we get back, Rollo?'
+
+For 'back' they were. Maia in her own little bed in the white castle,
+and Rollo standing beside her in his ordinary dress. Where were Waldo
+and Silva--where the feather-hall--where the wonderful dresses in which
+godmother had clothed them for the air-journey? Maia looked up at Rollo
+as she spoke, with disappointment in her eyes.
+
+'We _are_ back,' he said, 'and that's all there is to say about it, as
+far as I can see. But come, Maia, don't look so unhappy. We've had great
+fun, and we must be very good after it to please godmother. It's a
+lovely day, and after we've finished our lessons we can have some nice
+runs in the fields. Jump up--you're not a bit tired, are you? I'm not.'
+
+'Nor am I,' said Maia, slowly bestirring herself. 'But I'm rather dull.
+I'm afraid we shan't see them again for a good while, Rollo.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+A VISION OF CHRISTMAS TREES.
+
+    'The angels are abroad to-night.'
+
+    _At Christmas-tide._
+
+
+It was early summer when _we_ saw them last. It is
+mid-winter--December--now. And winter comes in good earnest in the
+country where I have shown you the white castle, and told you of the
+doings and adventures of its two little guests. Many more could I tell
+you of--many a joyous summer day had they spent with their forest
+friends, many a wonderful dance had godmother led them, till they had
+got to know nearly as much as Waldo and Silva themselves of the strange
+happy creatures that lived in this marvellous Christmas-tree Land, and
+in other lands too. For as the days shortened again, and grew too cold
+for air-journeys and cave explorings and visits to many other denizens
+of the forest than I have space to tell you about, then began the
+season of godmother's story-tellings, which I think the children found
+as delightful as any other of her treats. Oh, the wonderful tales that
+were told round the bright little fire in Silva's dainty kitchen! Oh,
+the wood-fairies, and water-sprites, and dwarfs, and gnomes that they
+learnt about! Oh, the lovely songs that godmother sang in that witching
+voice of hers--that voice like none other that the children had ever
+heard! It was a true fairyland into which she led them--a fairyland
+where entered nothing ugly or cruel or mean or false, though the
+dwellers in it were of strange and fantastic shape and speech, children
+of the rainbow and the mist, unreal and yet real, like the cloud-castles
+that build themselves for us in the sky, or the music that weaves itself
+in the voice of the murmuring stream.
+
+But even to these happy times there came an end--and the beginning of
+this end began to be felt when the first snow fell and Christmas-tree
+Land was covered with the thick white mantle it always wore till the
+spring's soft breath blew it off again.
+
+'A storm is coming--a heavy storm is on its way, my darlings,' said
+godmother one afternoon, when she had been spinning some lovely stories
+for them with her invisible wheel. She had left the fireside and was
+standing by the open doorway, looking out at the white landscape, and as
+she turned round, it seemed to the children that her own face was whiter
+than usual--her _hair_ certainly was so. It had lost the golden tinge it
+sometimes took, which seemed to make a gleam all over her features--so
+that at such times it was impossible to believe that godmother was
+old--and now she seemed a very tiny little old woman, as small and
+fragile as if she herself was made out of a snowflake, and her face
+looked anxious and almost sad. 'A storm is on its way,' she repeated;
+'you must hasten home.'
+
+'But why do you look so sad, godmother dear?' said Maia. 'We can get
+home quite safely. _You_ can see to that. Nothing will ever hurt us when
+_you_ are taking care of us.'
+
+'But there are some things I cannot do,' said godmother, smiling, 'or
+rather that I would not do if I could. Times and seasons pass away and
+come to an end, and it is best so. Still, it may make even me sad
+sometimes.'
+
+All the four pairs of eyes looked up in quick alarm. They felt that
+there was something--though what, they did not know--that godmother was
+thinking of in particular, and the first idea that came into their
+minds was not far from the truth.
+
+'Godmother! oh, godmother!' exclaimed all the voices together, so that
+they sounded like one, 'you don't mean that we're not to see each other
+any more?'
+
+'Not yet, dears, not yet,' said godmother. 'But happy times pass and sad
+times pass. It must be so. And, after all, why should one fret? Those
+who love each other meet again as surely as the bees fly to the
+flowers.'
+
+'In Heaven, godmother? Do you mean in Heaven?' asked Maia, in a low
+voice and with a look in her eyes telling that the tears were not far
+off.
+
+Godmother smiled again.
+
+'Sooner than that sometimes. Do not look so distressed, my pretty Maia.
+But come now. I must get you home before the storm breaks. Kiss each
+other, my darlings, but it is not good-bye yet. You will soon be
+together again--sooner than you think.'
+
+No one ever thought of not doing--and at once--what godmother told them.
+Rollo and Maia said good-bye even more lovingly than usual to their dear
+Waldo and Silva, and then godmother, holding a hand of each, set out on
+their homeward journey.
+
+It was as she had said--the storm-spirits were in the air. Above the
+wind and the cracking of the branches, brittle with the frost, and the
+far-off cries of birds and other creatures on their way to shelter in
+their nests or lairs, came another sound which the children had heard of
+but never before caught with their own ears--a strange, indescribable
+sound, neither like the murmuring of the distant sea nor the growl of
+thunder nor the shriek of the hurricane, yet recalling all of these.
+
+''Tis the voice of the storm,' said godmother softly. 'Pray to the good
+God, my darlings, for those that travel by land or sea. And now,
+farewell!--that beaten path between the trees will bring you out at the
+castle gate, and no harm will come to you. Good-bye!'
+
+She lingered a little over the last word, and this encouraged Maia to
+ask a question.
+
+'When shall we see you again, dear godmother? And will you not tell us
+more about why you are sad?'
+
+'It will pass with the storm, for all is for the best,' said godmother
+dreamily. 'When one joy passes, another comes. Remember that. And no
+true joy is ever past. Keep well within shelter, my children, till the
+storm has had its way, and then----' she stopped again.
+
+'Then? What then? Oh, _do_ tell us,' persisted Maia. 'You know, dear
+godmother, it is _very_ dull in the white castle when we mayn't go out.
+Lady Venelda makes them give us many more lessons to keep us out of
+mischief, she says, and we really don't much mind. It's better to do
+lessons than nothing. Oh, godmother, we would have been _so_ miserable
+here if we hadn't had you and Waldo and Silva!'
+
+Godmother stroked Maia's sunny head and smiled down into her eyes. And
+something just then--was it a last ray of the setting sun hurrying off
+to calmer skies till the storm should have passed?--lighted up
+godmother's own face and hair with a wonderful glow. She looked like a
+beautiful young girl.
+
+'Oh, how pretty you are!' said the children under their breath. But they
+were too used to these strange changes in godmother's appearance to be
+as astonished as many would have been.
+
+'Three nights from now will be the day before Christmas Eve,' said
+godmother. 'When you go to bed look out in the snow and you will see my
+messenger. And remember, remember, if one joy goes, another comes. And
+no true joys are ever lost.'
+
+And as they listened to her words, she was gone! So hand-in-hand,
+wondering what it all might mean, the children turned to the path in the
+snow she had shown them, which in a few minutes brought them safely
+home.
+
+Though none too soon--scarcely were they within shelter when the tempest
+began. The wind howled, the sleet and hail dashed down, even the
+growling of distant thunder, or what sounded like it, was heard--the
+storm-spirits had it all their own way for that night and the day
+following; and when the second night came, and the turmoil seemed to
+have ceased, it had but changed its form, for the snow again began to
+fall, ever more and more heavily, till it lay so deep that one could
+hardly believe the world would ever again burst forth from its silent
+cold embrace.
+
+And the white castle looked white no longer. Amid the surrounding purity
+it seemed gray and soiled and grimly ashamed of itself.
+
+Three days had passed; the third night was coming.
+
+'The snow has left off falling, and seems hardening,' Lady Venelda had
+said that afternoon. 'If it continues so, the children can go out
+to-morrow. It is not good for young people to be so long deprived of
+fresh air and exercise. But it is a hard winter. I only hope we shall
+have no more of these terrible storms before----,' but then she stopped
+suddenly, for she was speaking to the old doctor, and had not noticed
+that Rollo and Maia were standing near.
+
+The children had seen with satisfaction that the snow had left off
+falling, for, though they had faith in godmother's being able to do what
+no one else could, they did not quite see how she was to send them a
+message if the fearful weather had continued.
+
+'We might have looked out the whole of last night without seeing
+anything,' said Maia, 'the snow was driving so. And if godmother means
+to take us anywhere, Rollo, it _is_ a good thing it's so fine to-night.
+She was afraid of our being out in the storm the other day, you
+remember.'
+
+'Because there was no need for it,' said Rollo. 'It was already time for
+us to be home. I'm sure she could prevent any storm hurting us if she
+really wanted to take us anywhere. There's Nanni coming, Maia--as soon
+as she's gone call me, and we'll look out together.'
+
+Maia managed to persuade Nanni that she--Nanni, not Maia--was extra
+sleepy that evening, and had better go to bed without waiting to
+undress her. I am not quite sure that Nanni _did_ go at once to bed, for
+the servants were already amusing themselves with Christmas games and
+merriment down in the great kitchen, where the fireplace itself was as
+large as a small room, and she naturally liked to join the fun. But all
+Maia cared about was to be left alone with Rollo. She called to him, and
+then in great excitement the two children drew back the window-curtains,
+and extinguishing their candles, stood hand-in-hand looking out to see
+what was going to happen. There was no moon visible, but it must have
+been shining all the same, faintly veiled perhaps behind a thin cloud,
+for a soft light, increased by the reflection of the spotless snow,
+gleamed over all. But there was nothing to be seen save the smooth white
+expanse, bounded at a little distance from the house by the trees which
+clothed the castle hill, whose forms looked strangely fantastic, half
+shrouded as they were by their white garment.
+
+'There is no one--nothing there,' said Maia in a tone of disappointment.
+'She must have forgotten.'
+
+'_Forgotten_--never!' said Rollo reproachfully. 'When has godmother ever
+forgotten us? Wait a little, Maia; you are so impatient.'
+
+They stood for some minutes in perfect silence. Suddenly a slight, very
+slight crackling was heard among the branches--so slight was it, that,
+had everything been less absolutely silent, it could not have been
+heard--and the children looked at each other in eager expectation.
+
+'Is it Silva--or Waldo?' said Maia in a whisper. 'She said her
+_messenger_.'
+
+'Hush!' said Rollo, warningly.
+
+A dainty little figure hopped into view from the shade of some low
+bushes skirting the lawn. It was a robin-redbreast. He stood still in
+the middle of the snow-covered lawn, his head on one side, as if in deep
+consideration. Suddenly a soft, low, but very peculiar whistle was
+heard, and the little fellow seemed to start, as if it were a signal he
+had been listening for, and then hopped forward unhesitatingly in the
+children's direction.
+
+'Did _you_ whistle, Rollo?' said Maia in a whisper.
+
+'No, certainly not. I was just going to ask if _you_ did,' answered
+Rollo.
+
+But now the robin attracted all their attention. He came to a stand just
+in front of their window, and then looked up at them with the most
+unmistakable air of invitation.
+
+'We're to go with him, I'm sure we are,' said Maia, beginning to dance
+with excitement; 'but _how_ can we get to him? All the doors downstairs
+will be closed, and it's far too high to jump.'
+
+Rollo, who had been leaning out of the window the better to see the
+robin, suddenly drew his head in again with a puzzled expression.
+
+'It's _very_ strange,' he said. 'I'm _sure_ it wasn't there this
+morning. Look, Maia, do you see the top of a ladder just a tiny bit at
+this side of the window? I could get on to it quite easily.'
+
+'So could I,' said Maia, after peeping out. 'It's all right, Rollo.
+_She's_ had it put there for us. Look at the robin--he knows all about
+it. You go first, and when you get down call to me and tell me how to
+manage.'
+
+Two minutes after, Rollo's voice called up that it was all right. Maia
+would find it quite easy if she came rather slowly, which she did, and
+to her great delight soon found herself beside her brother.
+
+'Dear me, we've forgotten our hats and jackets,' she exclaimed. 'But
+it's not cold--how is that?'
+
+'_You_ haven't forgotten your--what is it you've got on?' said Rollo,
+looking at her.
+
+'And you--what have you got on?' said Maia in turn. 'Why, we've _both_
+got cloaks on, something like the shawl we had for the air-journey, only
+they're quite, _quite_ white.'
+
+'Like the snow--we can't be seen. They're as good as invisible cloaks,'
+said Rollo, laughing in glee.
+
+'And they fit so neatly--they seem to have grown on to us,' said Maia,
+stroking herself. But in another moment, 'Oh, Rollo!' she exclaimed,
+half delighted and half frightened, 'they _are_ growing, or we're
+growing, or something's growing. Up on your shoulders there are little
+_wings_ coming, real little white wings--they're getting bigger and
+bigger every minute.'
+
+'And they're growing on you too,' exclaimed Rollo. 'Why, in a minute or
+two we'll be able to fly. Indeed, I think I can fly a little already,'
+and Rollo began flopping about his white wings like a newly-fledged and
+rather awkward cygnet. But in a minute or two Maia and he found--thanks
+perhaps to the example of the robin, who all this time was hovering just
+overhead, backwards and forwards, as if to say, 'do like me'--to their
+great joy that they could manage quite well; never, I am sure, did two
+little birds ever learn to fly so quickly!
+
+All was plain-sailing now--no difficulty in following their faithful
+little guide, who flew on before, now and then cocking back his dear
+little head to see if the two queer white birds under his charge were
+coming on satisfactorily. I wonder in what tribe or genus the learned
+men of that country, had there been any to see the two strange creatures
+careering through the cold wintry air, would have classed them!
+
+But little would they have cared. Never--oh, never, if I talked about it
+for a hundred years--could I give you an idea of the delightfulness of
+being able to fly! All the children's former pleasures seemed as nothing
+to it. The drive in godmother's pony-carriage, the gymnastics with the
+squirrels, the sail in the air--all seemed nothing in comparison with
+it. It was so perfectly enchanting that Maia did not even feel inclined
+to talk about it. And on, and on, and on they flew, till the robin
+stopped, wheeled round, and looking at them, began slowly to fly
+downwards. Rollo and Maia followed him. They touched the ground almost
+before they knew it; it seemed as if for a moment they melted into the
+snow which was surrounding them here, too, on all sides, and then as if
+they woke up again to find themselves wingless, but still with their
+warm white garments, standing at the foot of an immensely high
+tree--for they were, it was evident, at the borders of a great forest.
+
+The robin had disappeared. For an instant or two they remained standing
+still in bewilderment; perhaps, to tell the truth, a _very_ little
+frightened, for it was much darker down here than it had been up in the
+air; indeed, it appeared to them that but for the gleaming snow, which
+seemed to have a light of its own, it would have been quite, _quite_
+dark.
+
+'Rollo,' said Maia tremulously, 'hold my hand tight; don't let it go.
+What----' 'Are we to do?' she would have added, but a sound breaking on
+the silence made her stop short.
+
+A soft, far-away sound it was at first, though gradually growing clearer
+and nearer. It was that of children's voices singing a sweet and
+well-known Christmas carol, and somehow in the refrain at the end of
+each verse it seemed to Rollo and Maia that they heard their own names.
+'Come, come,' were the words that sounded the most distinctly. They
+hesitated no longer; off they ran, diving into the dark forest
+fearlessly, and though it was so dark they found no difficulty. As if by
+magic, they avoided every trunk and stump which might have hurt them,
+till, half out of breath, but with a strange brightness in their hearts,
+they felt themselves caught round the necks and heartily kissed, while a
+burst of merry laughter replaced the singing, which had gradually melted
+away. It was Waldo and Silva of course!
+
+'Keep your eyes shut,' they cried. 'Still a moment, and then you may
+open them.'
+
+'But they're _not_ shut,' objected the children.
+
+'Ah, aren't they? Feel them,' said Waldo; and Rollo and Maia, lifting
+their hands to feel, found it was true. Their eyes were not only shut,
+but a slight, very fine gossamer thread seemed drawn across them.
+
+'We could not open them if we would,' they said; but I don't think they
+minded, and they let Waldo and Silva draw them on still a little
+farther, till--
+
+'Now,' they cried, and snap went the gossamer thread, and the two
+children stood with eyes well open, gazing on the wonderful scene around
+them.
+
+They seemed to be standing in the centre of a round valley, from which
+the ground on every side sloped gradually upwards. And all about them,
+arranged in the most orderly manner, were rows and rows--tiers, perhaps,
+I should say--of Christmas trees--real, genuine Christmas trees of every
+kind and size. Some loaded with toys of the most magnificent kind, some
+simpler, some with but a few gifts, and those of little value. But one
+and all brilliantly lighted up with their many-coloured tapers--one and
+all with its Christmas angel at the top. And nothing in fairy-doll shape
+that Rollo and Maia had ever seen was so beautiful as these angels with
+their gleaming wings and sweet, joyous loving faces. I think, when they
+had a little recovered from their first astonishment, that the beauty of
+the tree-angels was what struck them most.
+
+'Yes,' said a voice beside them, in answer to their unspoken thought;
+'yes, each tree has _always_ its angel. Not always to be seen in its
+true beauty--sometimes you might think it only a poor, coarsely-painted
+little doll. But _the_ angel is there all the same. Though it is only in
+Santa Claus' own garden that they are to be seen to perfection.'
+
+'Are we in Santa Claus' garden now, dear godmother?' asked Maia softly.
+
+'Yes, dears. He is a very old friend of mine--one of my oldest friends,
+I may say. And he allowed me to show you this sight. No other children
+have ever been so favoured. By this time to-morrow night--long before
+then, indeed--these thousands of trees will be scattered far and wide,
+and round each will be a group of the happy little faces my old friend
+loves so well.'
+
+'But, godmother,' said Maia practically, 'won't the tapers be burning
+down? Isn't it a pity to keep them lighted just for us? And, oh, dear
+me! however can Santa Claus get them packed and sent off in time? I
+_hope_ he hasn't kept them too late to please us?'
+
+Godmother smiled.
+
+'Don't trouble your little head about that,' she said. 'But come, have
+you no curiosity to know which is your own Christmas-tree? Among all
+these innumerable ones, is there not one for you too?'
+
+Maia and Rollo looked up in godmother's eyes--they were smiling, but
+something in their expression they could not quite understand. Suddenly
+a kind of darkness fell over everything--darkness almost complete in
+comparison with the intense light of the million tapers that had gleamed
+but an instant before--though gradually, as their eyes grew used to it,
+there gleamed out the same soft faint light as of veiled moonbeams, that
+they had remarked before.
+
+'You can see now,' said godmother. 'Go straight on--quite straight
+through the trees'--for they were still in the midst of the
+forest--'till you come to what is waiting for you. But first kiss me, my
+darlings--a long kiss, for it is good-bye--and kiss, too, your little
+friends, Waldo and Silva, for in this world one may _hope_, but one can
+never be as _sure_ as one would fain be, that good-byes are not for
+long.'
+
+Too overawed by her tone to burst into tears, as they were yet ready to
+do, the children threw themselves into each other's arms.
+
+'We _must_ see each other again, we must; oh, godmother, say we shall!'
+cried all the four voices. And godmother, as she held them all together
+in her arms seemed to whisper--
+
+'I hope it. Yes, I hope and think you will.' And then, almost without
+having felt that Waldo and Silva were gently but irresistibly drawn from
+them, Rollo and Maia found themselves again alone, hand-in-hand in the
+midst of the forest, as they had so often stood before. Without giving
+themselves time to realise that they had said good-bye to their dear
+little friends, off they set, as godmother had told them, running
+straight on through the trees, where it almost seemed by the clear
+though soft light that a little path opened before them as they went.
+Till, suddenly, for a moment the light seemed to fade and disappear,
+leaving them almost in darkness, which again was as unexpectedly
+dispersed by a wonderful brilliance, spreading and increasing, so that
+at first they were too dazzled to distinguish whence it came. But not
+for long.
+
+'See, Rollo,' cried Maia; 'see, there is _our_ Christmas tree.'
+
+[Illustration: 'See, Rollo,' cried Maia; 'see, there is _our_ Christmas
+tree.']
+
+And there it was--the most beautiful they had yet seen--all radiant with
+light and glistening with every pretty present child-heart could desire.
+
+'We are only to _look_ at it, you know,' said Maia; 'it has to be packed
+up and sent us, of course, like the others. But,' she stopped short,
+'who is that, Rollo,' she went on, 'standing just by the tree? Can it be
+Santa Claus himself come to see if it is all right?'
+
+'Santa Claus,' exclaimed a well-known voice, 'Santa Claus, indeed! Is
+that your new name for me, my Maia?'
+
+Then came a cry of joy--a cry from two little loving hearts--a cry which
+rang merry echoes through the forest, and at which, though it woke up
+lots of little birds snugly hidden away in the warmest corners they
+could find, no one thought of grumbling, except, I think, an old owl,
+who greatly objected to any disturbance of his nightly promenades and
+meditations.
+
+'Papa, papa, dear papa!' was the cry. 'Papa, you have come back to us.
+_That_ was what godmother meant,' they said together. And their father,
+well pleased, held them in his arms as if he would never again let them
+go.
+
+'So you have learnt to know what godmother means--that is well,' he
+said. 'But kiss me once more only, just now, my darlings, and then you
+must go home and sleep till the morning. And keep it a secret that you
+have seen me to-night.'
+
+He kissed them again, and before their soft childish lips had left his
+face, a strange dreamy feeling overpowered them. Neither Rollo nor Maia
+knew or thought anything more of where they were or how they had come
+there for many hours.
+
+And then they were awakened--Rollo first, then Maia--by the sound of
+Nanni's delighted voice at their bedside.
+
+'Wake up, wake up,' she said, 'for the most beautiful surprise has come
+to you for this happy Christmas Eve.'
+
+And even without her telling them, they knew what it was--they knew who
+was waiting for them downstairs, nor could all their awe of Lady Venelda
+prevent them rushing at their father and hugging him till he was nearly
+choked. But Lady Venelda, I must confess, was too happy herself to see
+her kinsman again to be at all vexed with them. And her pleasure, as
+well as that of the kind old doctor, was increased by the thanks they
+received for all their care of the children, whom their father declared
+he had never seen so bright or blooming.
+
+And, a few days afterwards, they went back with him to their own happy
+home; and what then?--did they ever see godmother and Waldo and Silva
+again? I can only answer, like godmother herself, 'I hope so; yes, I
+hope so, and think so.' But as to how or where--ah, that I cannot say!
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Christmas Tree Land, by Mary Louisa Molesworth
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