emed to know what the pictures were,--and they were only reflections
of the children's pure souls that shone out of their eyes.

"How beautiful!" she thought.

But the Piper was singing to them now; and as she drew nearer him she
saw he had two little tots in his arms, and was putting them to sleep
on his breast.

So the children were still while the Piper sang his lullaby, and
presently the two little ones began to nod; and the Piper did not move,
but held them to his kind heart until they were fast asleep. Then he
rose and carried them away and laid them down somewhere. Doris could
not see where, but it must have been far enough away to be out of the
sound of their voices; for when he came back he did not lower his
tones, but spoke up quite naturally and laughed gayly as he said,--

"Well, what now, Children? Shall we show the new friend our
manufactory?"

And they were all so anxious to do whatever he proposed that in a
moment they had formed quite a bodyguard about the Pied Piper, and were
following and leading him down the vast hall.

"What is the manufactory?" asked Doris of a boy who happened to be
beside her.

"Wait and thou shalt see!" he replied. "We always are patient until
the Herr Piper is ready to tell us what he wishes; then we listen and
attend."

Doris would have felt that the boy was snubbing her if his eyes had not
been so kind and his voice so sweet. As it was she took it all
pleasantly, and determined to ask no more questions, but to content
herself with as much information as the Piper was willing to bestow
upon her.

But now they had passed out of the first great hall and into another
that seemed even more vast. At first it seemed quite empty to Doris,
but as soon as her eyes grew accustomed to the strange light, she saw
its walls were flanked by any number of wee spinning-wheels; and above
them on shelves lay stacks of something that looked like golden flax,
and shimmered and glittered in a wonderful way. The floor was carpeted
with something very soft and of a tender, fresh green, and Doris's feet
seemed to sink into it at every step; and then a sweet perfume seemed
to rise up like that one smells on an early spring-day when one goes
into the country and is the first to lay foot on the fresh young grass.
The ceiling was so high that at first Doris thought it was no ceiling
at all, but just the sky itself, and it was a deep, clear blue.

"This is our Spring-room, little Doris,