She had been gazing at the lovely lamp for some minutes fixedly:
turning
her eyes, she found the wall had vanished, for she was looking out on
the dark cloudy night. But though she heard the wind blowing, none of
it
blew upon her. In a moment more, the clouds themselves parted, or
rather
vanished like the wall, and she looked straight into the starry herds,
flashing gloriously in the dark blue. It was but for a moment. The
clouds gathered again and shut out the stars; the wall gathered again
and shut out the clouds; and there stood the lady beside her with the
loveliest smile on her face, and a shimmering ball in her hand, about
the size of a pigeon's egg.
"There, Irene; there is my work for you!" she said, holding out the ball
to the princess.
She took it in her hand, and looked at it all over. It sparkled a
little, and shone here and shone there, but not much. It was of a sort
of gray whiteness, something like spun glass.
"Is this _all_ your spinning, grandmother?" she asked.
Madhuri Noah
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