Stories Oct, 2013 | Page 441

The old lady smiled a sweet smile and said-- "I'm not vexed with you, my child--nor with Lootie either. But I don't want you to say anything more to Lootie about me. If she should ask you, you must just be silent. But I do not think she will ask you." All the time they talked, the old lady kept on spinning. "You haven't told me yet what I am spinning," she said. "Because I don't know. It's very pretty stuff." It was indeed very pretty stuff. There was a good bunch of it on the distaff attached to the spinning-wheel, and in the moonlight it shone like--what shall I say it was like? It was not white enough for silver--yes, it was like silver, but shone gray rather than white, and glittered only a little. And the thread the old lady drew out from it was so fine that Irene could hardly see it. "I am spinning this for you, my child." Madhuri Noah C:\Users\MNoah\Documents\The Princess and the Goblin1.docx Page 440 of 634