oudly lamenting.

"Must I--the very loveliest doll in all the world--perish miserably in
the very flower of my youth?' cried Miss Clara.

"'Oh! was it for this,' wept Gertrude, 'that I have taken such pains to
_conserver_ myself all these years? Must I be shot here in my own
drawing-room after all?"

"On this, they fell into each other's arms, and howled so terribly that
you could hear them above all the din of the battle. For you have no
idea of the hurly-burly that went on now, dear auditor! It went
prr-prr-poof, piff-schnetterdeng--schnetterdeng--boom-booroom--boom-
booroom--boom all confusedly and higgledy-piggledy; and the
mouse-king and the mice squeaked and screamed; and then again
Nutcracker's powerful voice was heard shouting words of command, and
issuing important orders, and he was seen striding along amongst his
battalions in the thick of the fire.

'Pantaloon had made several most brilliant cavalry charges, and covered
himself with glory. But Fritz's hussars were subjected--by the mice--to
a heavy fire of very evil-smelling shot, which made horrid spots on
their red tunics; this caused them to hesitate, and hang rather back
for a time. Pantaloon made them take ground to the left, in _echelon_,
and, in the excitement of the moment, he, with his dragoons and
cuirassiers, executed a somewhat analogous movement. That is to say,
they brought up the right shoulder, wheeled to the left, and marched
home to their quarters. This had the effect of bringing the battery of
artillery on the footstool into imminent danger, and it was not long
before a large body of exceedingly ugly mice delivered such a vigorous
assault on this position that the whole of the footstool, with the guns
and gunners, fell into the enemy's hands. Nutcracker seemed much
disconcerted, and ordered his right wing to commence a retrograde
movement. A soldier of your experience, my dear Fritz, knows well that
such a movement is almost tantamount to a regular retreat, and you
grieve, with me, in anticipation, for the disaster which threatens the
army of Marie's beloved little Nutcracker. But turn your glance in the
other direction, and look at this left wing of Nutcracker's, where all
is still going well, and you will see that there is yet much hope for
the commander-in-chief and his cause.

"During the hottest part of the engagement masses of mouse-cavalry had
been quietly debouching from under the chest of drawers, and had
subsequently made a