ming?" he asked.

Cinderella reassured him promptly. "We are not dreaming," she said.
"I have seen other places as beautiful. The ballroom where I
danced--it might have been in this very castle. Yet how strange it is
to find them all asleep!" And she gazed about the room with amused
wonder.

"And the way the forest opened as we climbed the hill," added
Everychild, "just as if we were expected. Did anything like it ever
happen before?"

The Masked Lady remarked almost dreamily: "When Everychild seeks the
place where the Sleeping Beauty lies, forests always open and the
steepest paths are easy to climb."

Everychild caught at the name. "The Sleeping Beauty--I have heard of
her," he said. And he added, "Is she here?"

The Masked Lady did not reply in words, but the obscure smile on her
lips was very significant.

It was Cinderella who clasped her hands in sudden ecstacy and cried,
"She must be here. A place so lovely--it couldn't have been meant for
any one else!" She spoke with such elation that all the other children
looked at her with beaming eyes.

Everychild asked in perplexity--"But if she be here . . . ?"

"You haven't forgotten, have you?" asked Cinderella. "She was doomed
to sleep a hundred years, until the prince came to waken her with a
kiss."

"And is she still waiting?" asked Everychild.

"I haven't a doubt in the world that she is still waiting."

"She is always waiting," said the dreamy voice of the Masked Lady.

"But not--not here?" asked Everychild.

"There's never any telling where you'll find things," replied
Cinderella. "We might look at least."

No one had observed that the Masked Lady had straightened up with a
very dramatic gesture. _The sand in the glass she held had all fallen_!

No sooner had she spoken than Cinderella advanced to the alcove hidden
by the damask curtain. The other children watched her intently. She
barely touched the curtain--yet it was drawn aside. And everything
within the alcove became visible.

There was a perfectly beautiful bed, all trimmed with gold and silver
lace, so it is said. And on it reposed a slight, queen-like young
lady, fully dressed, yet sound asleep. Her cheeks were delicately
tinted, indicating perfect health. Her lips were slightly parted; her
bosom rose and fell tranquilly. A naked little Cupid knelt on her
pillow, his wings aloft, his eyes intently inspecting her closed
eyelids.

Everychild seemed really to lose con