of before. Nay, from a certain oriel window he
discovered stars, so many and so beautiful that he trembled with
delight.

And, all the time, there were other children from other villages
rambling, like Randal, through the chambers of the fairy mansion. They
moved gently about from room to room, taking one another's hands, and
holding their breaths in astonishment. And only one subdued murmur
filled the air of "Oh, how lovely, how fine! Ah, how strange!" For,
besides all these things, there were exquisite flowers to be seen, and
animals of every shape and size, and pearls and corals, precious stones
and sparkling gems, and pretty contrivances for the children to play
with.

And the very best of it all was, that Randal possessed the key which he
himself had made. He was as much the lord of the "wonderful palace" now
as any one!

The villagers were indeed astonished when Randal went home, and related
to them what he had seen. And they all _respected_ the little locksmith,
who, by his own honest toil, had gotten what they called, "The Key to
the Treasures of Fairyland."

ROMANCE IN HISTORY.

HOW CICELY DANCED BEFORE THE KING.

BY THOMAS ARCHER.

The old manor-house of Sir Christopher Burroughs of Stolham, Norfolk,
lay shining in the last rays of the setting sun, on the eve of May Day
1646. The long range of windows along the front of the building between
the two buttresses flashed with crimson and gold; for the house faced
the south-west, and the brilliant light that shone from the rim of the
blood-red cloud behind which the sun was sinking, glowed deep on the
diamond panes. But the house was lighted within as well as without. In
the large low-ceilinged dining-hall wax candles burned in great silver
sconces, and the cloth was laid for supper. In the upper room the gleams
that came through the spaces between the heavy curtains showed that
there was company there. If any one had gone close to the porch and
listened, he could have heard the sound of voices talking loudly, and
now and then a laugh, or could have seen the shadows of servants passing
to and fro in the buttery just within the great hall; nay, any one going
round the corner of the house where there was an angle of the wall of
the garden, could have heard from an upper window the sound of a lute
playing a slow and stately measure, and if his ears had been very sharp
indeed, he would have detected the light footfalls of dancers on the
polished