en Ivy-seed is,' said Hilda,
with a piteous throb in her heart.

'I have no Golden Ivy-seed!' returned the King, with his deep laugh.
'Why don't you ask yourself where it is?'

At this poor Hilda's heart felt as if it were broken, and she sank
down on the ground and sobbed out:

'Oh! what shall I do to save my little brother?'

But hereupon the King of the Gnomes smiled upon her, and he said, in a
gentler voice than he had yet used:

'Put your hand to your heart, Hilda, and see what you find there.'

Hilda did not understand what he meant; but she had by this time got
so used to obeying him that she put her hand to her heart, and felt
something fall into the palm of her hand; and when in astonishment she
looked at it, behold, it was a tiny golden seed!

'Yes,' said the King kindly, 'you might have searched through all the
kingdoms of the earth and air, and yet never have found that precious
seed, had not your heart been broken like this field for love of your
brother Hector. Keep the Golden Ivy-seed in this hollow pearl; be
humble, patient, and gentle, and sooner or later Hector will be free.'

As he said these words he fastened the pearl to her girdle with a
jewelled clasp, and kissed her on the forehead and bade her farewell.
And as Hilda trudged back along the golden road and over the mountain
of amethyst she kept thinking that somewhere she had heard a voice
like this King's before; but where or when she could not tell.

In course of time she arrived at the alabaster pillars, and, passing
out between them, she found Tom the Cat awaiting her. He got up and
stretched himself as she approached; and when he saw the hollow pearl
at her girdle he said:

'So far all has gone well. But now we must see whether or not Harold
has kept the enchanted fire going. There is no time to be lost; so
jump on my back and hold fast, and let us be off.'

With that he curved his back; Hilda clasped her arms round his neck as
before, and away they went, through the gleaming caverns, and up the
sombre passages, and through the cold damp tunnels, until at last out
they popped beside the haystack in the field; and after they had come
out the little brown creature which had been sitting waiting at the
entrance threw a somersault into the great pit and disappeared. And
immediately the whole heap of earth which Tom had dug up fell back
into its place, and nothing was left but a small round crevice in the
ground, like a field-mouse's