half her height, and she could hold it with ease as she walked. It led
her straight up the mountain.
The cause of her alarm was less frightful than she supposed. The cook's
great black cat, pursued by the housekeeper's terrier, had bounced
against her bedroom door, which had not been properly fastened, and
the
two had burst into her room together and commenced a battle royal.
How
the nurse came to sleep through it, was a mystery, but I suspect the old
lady had something to do with it.
It was a clear warm morning. The wind blew deliciously over the
mountain-side. Here and there she saw a late primrose, but she did not
stop to call on them. The sky was mottled with small clouds. The sun
was
not yet up, but some of their fluffy edges had caught his light and hung
out orange and gold-colored fringes upon the air. The dew lay in
round
drops upon the leaves, and hung like tiny diamonds from the blades of
grass about her path.
"How lovely that bit of gossamer is!" thought the princess, looking at a
Madhuri Noah
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