The Enchanted Castle

in her marble, "if I am really a statue co

ecision. "Cheer up, dear! you will soo

nger, or fallen down on the garden path, and rises up

thleen absen

e might find out a lot about this magic place, if

er; "at least, Ph?bus wasn't, he

he?" Mab

-he was," sa

, and the withered ferns and branches that had covered her long length and had been gathered closely upon her as she

at park was still as a painted picture; only the splash of the fountains and the far-off

ick, startled heads, as birds, surprised, might turn. There in the moonlight stood P

you!" said

cheerfully. "Who is your

abel," sai

owed, hesitated, a

osing it in marble fingers. "But I fail to unders

the hand that

ce you have that, why retain your mottled earthy appe

m," said Mab

me," said

cient in all athletic exercises. And you, child of the dark eyes

g ... you wish for things, and you never know how long they're going to last. It woul

ou give no limit of time, strange enchantments woven by Arithmos the outcast god of numbers will creep in and spoil the spell. Say thus: 'I wish that till the

Kathleen. "Do, Mabel! And if we're both sta

d Ph?bus. "Are we not brothers, we and the dinos

d I swim

nightly feast, eat of the food of the gods, drink their cup, listen t

Oh, Mabel, do! You would if

be real food

aid Ph?bus; "there is no other realne

en she looked at Kathleen

tockings. Marble boots look simply awful-especially the la

f shoes and stock

s approvingly. "Speak the spell, child, and

ere were two little live statues in the moo

he cried.

white feet in the grass! I thought it woul

immortals," laughed the Sun-god.

ey ran down the

d, and the water splashed up rou

wim!" breath

I," sa

. "Now three times round the lak

. And they swam most beautifully, with that perfect ease and absence of effort or tiredness which you must have noticed about your own swimming-in dreams. And it was the most lovely place to swim in; the water-lilies, whose long, snaky stalks are so inconvenient to ordinary s

as brought us yet," said Mabel, thro

id Ph?bus kindly; "now once mo

IDE THE T

and shrubs. But when, Ph?bus leading the way, they went into the shadow of these, they perceived that beyond the trees lay a light, much nearer to them than the other side of the island could possibly be. And almost at once they were t

and dark flames. And the enclosed space of water and marble and grass was lighted with a clear, white, radiant light, seven times stronger than the whitest moonlight, and in the still waters of the p

g to see seven moons there. But no, the old moo

aid Mabel blankly, and poi

"everything in our world is sev

n't seven of y

d. "You see, there's numbers, and there's quantity,

e," said

me," Ph?bus interrupted.

me were dipping their white feet among the gold and silver fish, and sending ripples across the faces of the seven moons. Some were pelting each other with roses-roses so sweet that the girls could sm

ed a shout of greeting a

nother: "Did one of your horses cast a shoe?" An

atues crowded round, stroking the girls' hair, patting

tallest and most splendid of the

ps, her round arms hung thick with rose-wr

ods and goddesses, is saying a good deal. The children remembered how at the raspberry v

ania, the dearest lady in the world, with a voice like mother's at t

Eros-Psyche-Hebe-Ganymede-all you

four slender forms disengaged themselves

ly nice boy, as the girls instantly

rms to a willow branch. She reached out her ha

her fingers to the willow branch and the fi

d Psyche, who was a darl

everything nice to eat and drink that any one could possibly want, and these were spread on the steps. It was a celestial picnic. Then everyone sat or lay down and the feast began. And oh! the taste of the food served on those dishes, the sweet wonder of the d

he juice of her third peach fell like tears on

at they're doin

CELESTI

moment they are wandering desolately near the home of the dinosaurus, having escaped from their home by a window, in search of

ushed the crumbs of ambr

ind of you to have us, and we've enjoyed ourselves

s obligingly, "it is the easiest thing in the worl

on of one of the seven moons, and gave it back. She clutched it. "Now," s

oys may be statues of living marble like Mabel and

on shoulders of young marble. You should have wished them here-and-but no matte

e of the reflected moons befor

it's washed clean rea

he queen, turning her great eyes on the children; "but

ring," sa

t inhospitable to ask questions I should ask, Ho

tale. After the feast the stor

inly quite at ease. They made their best bows to the goddesses and took their places as unembarrassed as though they had had Olympian suppers every night of their lives. Hebe had woven wreaths of roses rea

lied with everything they could possibly desire,

nd Kathleen said, "Oh yes; now

us unexpectedly, "will

id Kathleen

king, taking off his rose-wreath, which was a

Gerald; "besides, I d

me," sa

Mabel," she added yet more hastily, and went on with the tale-all the tale of the enchanted castle, or almost all, that you have read in these pages. The

een wished for the boys and the Lord H

on blossomed out round the end of the st

aside, as it grew thinner,

ell y

d how you know about the ring

lips only but all the white lips curled in laughter. "The span of your life, my

how you come alive," said Gerald;

e dearest lady in the world;

of leopard-skins that Dionysus had la

so choose. But statues that are placed in ugly cities do not choose. W

Gerald politely,

alive and walk in their marble about their temples, and through the woods and fields. But only on one night in all the year can any see them

Gerald asked, agai

fect light on to the altar in certain temples. One of these temples is in Hellas, buried under the fall of

come up to that temple on that night, we could see

y question asked by a mortal we a

night i

nd laughed. "Wouldn'

wned, stroked his long beard, and said: "

tuned the white strings of a sort of marble harp that

knees of one Demeter-Kathleen and Psyche sat holding hands. Gerald and Jimmy lay at full length, chins on elbows, gazing at the Sun-god; and even as he held the lyre, before ever his f

thoughts that sometimes hover near, but not so near that you can catch them, now came home as to their nests in the hearts of those who listened. And those who listened forgot time and

broken chord, followed by an instant of silence; then he spra

wood that cracked and rustled as they went, and the children heard them splash in the water beyond. They heard,

ly than one swims, to hover above them for one m

om now, at the Templ

ret of the ring

aid Hermes. "Ask at the moonrise on the

w, the birds stirred and twittered, and the marble slipped away from the children like a skin that shrivels in fire, and they were statues no more, but flesh and blood children as they used to be

with chattering teeth. "We can't swim now we'r

they coul

without trying. For instance, you know perfectly that you ca

r and the outlook mor

boat, I suppose

the lake; there's one in the boat-hou

I can't,"

k of anything?" Ger

es round," said Jimmy hopefully, "in case we've fallen in and sunk t

l be nice," was Gera

with a tone so strangely cheerful tha

got to wish ourselves home with it. Ph?bus w

Gerald in accents of perfect good te

" Mabel remi

en tones, "but I gave it to Psyche to loo

be angry with Kathlee

," said Gerald, "I suppose you can find

statue is. I've never seen it. It may be in Hellas

that nobody said anything. And now it was grey daylight, and

leen seemed to find it impossible not to cling together,

a caught breath

s no good at all. No, I'm not a pig. It's for your own good. Lets make a tour of

there be?"

left it there, I su

they have got o

of course," said

dreamed of islands, how often wished to be stranded on one! Well, now they were. Reality is sometimes quite different from dreams, and not half so nice. I

assy path that wound in and out among the trees, and this they followed, dejected and mournful. Every moment made it less possible for them to hope to get back to the school

shout when we see a gardener or a keeper on the mainland. But

d everyone

n him. "We shall get out of this scrape all right, as we've got out of others; you k

everyone, in tones

fact that he was not looking where he was going, as Jimmy did not fail to point out later, was enough to account for what now happened to Gerald, who was leading the melancholy little procession. He stumbled, clutched at a tree-trunk

called down the st

ossly, for he was hurt, rather severel

ays is," s

e water and comes out at the Temple of Flora. Even the gard

do think you might have said so,

ast-- And I suppose it goes past the place

en positively, "not in the d

h interlacing brambles. "No one asked you to go in the dark. We'll leave you here if you like

where lamps are always kept in fairy stor

s not to break our shins over bits o

he bicycle lamp, "I don't know what the rest of you are going to do, but I'm going down these st

"you know jolly well you can't get out of tha

ike; "there's a secret spring inside that door most like

I do hate it's under-g

as diplomacy. "You're brave, Mabel. Don't I know it!

held," said Jimmy, of

le Cathy! Nice brother Jerry

iserable to read his mood, as she mostly did. "Oh, thank you, Jerry dear," she said gratefully; "you are a dear, and

of dawn gave place to the small dogged lighting of the bicycle lamp. The steps did indeed lead to a passage, the beginnings of it choked with the drifted dead leaves of many old autumns. But presently the passage took a turn, there were more st

ed to find it possible to be so muc

out into the sunlight to light a bonfire, or explode a train of gunpowder, or what not. Because now, with feelings mixed indeed, of wonder, and interest, and awe, but no fear, the children found themselves in a grea

her brother, and Mabel caught the hand of Jimmy and whispered, "I must hold

f you don't know what these are, ask your uncle who collects brasses, and he will explain, or perhaps Mr. Millar will draw the different kinds of arches for you.) And through these arches one could see many things-oh! but many things. Through one appeared an olive garden, and in it two lovers who held each other's hands, under an Italian moon; through another a wild sea, and a ship to whom the wild, racing sea was slave. A third showed a king on his throne, his courti

ire and flower-the best that the soul of man could ask or man's destiny grant. And the really good hotel had

I am!" Kathleen murmured, and

l'seye, held by Jimmy, very crooked indeed, showi

one place, and in that place stood the one statue that Mabel "did not know where to find"-the statue of Psyche. They went on, s

iment, his knee on the pedestal. He stood up, dark and

g off very gently. Then, as he dropped to the ground,

y to come to life again as Gerald held it in front of him, to be the pioneer in the dark p

hat pressed close against the little light of the bicycle lamp,

with not extr

ow that we've been out to-night, and I wish we were safe in

se, Mabel's own bed was at Yalding Towers, and to this day Mabel's drab-haired aunt cannot understand how Mabel, who was staying the night with that child in the town she was so taken up with, hadn't come home at eleven, when the aunt locked up, and yet she was in her bed in the morning. For though