bout for a
minute or two timidly, she came out. She was very beautiful indeed, with
her dark hair hanging in curls upon her neck and shoulders. Her dress
was very simple, and yet it was very rich and beautiful.'

'What did she have on?' asked Malleville.

'Why, I don't know that I can describe it very well,' said Beechnut. 'I
am not much accustomed to describe ladies' dresses. It was, however, the
dress of a child. She had in her hand a very long feather, like a
peacock's feather, only, instead of being of many colours, it was white,
like silver, and had the lustre of silver. I verily believe it must have
been made of silver.'

'I don't believe it would be possible,' said Phonny, 'to make a feather
of silver.'

'Why not?' asked Beechnut, 'as well as to make a tassel of glass?
However, it _looked_ like silver, and it was extremely graceful and
brilliant as she held it in her hands waving in the moonbeams.

'After looking about for a minute or two, and seeing nobody, she began
to dance down the little path to the brink of the basin, and when she
reached it she began to speak. "Now," said she, "I'll freeze the
fountain, and then I'll have a dance."

'As she said this, she stood upon the pebbles of the shore, and began
gently to draw the tip of her long feather over the surface of the
water, and I saw, to my amazement, that wherever the feather passed it
changed the surface of the water into ice. Long feathery crystals began
to shoot in every direction over the basin wherever Agnes moved her
wand.'

'Was her name Agnes?' asked Malleville.

'Yes,' said Beechnut.

'How do you know?' asked Malleville.

'Oh, she told me afterwards,' replied Beechnut. 'You will hear how
presently. When she had got the surface of the water frozen, she stepped
cautiously upon it to see if it would bear.'

'Would it?' asked Malleville.

'Yes,' replied Beechnut, 'it bore her perfectly. She advanced to the
middle of it, springing up and down upon her feet to try the strength of
the ice as she proceeded. She found that it was very strong.

'"Now," said she, "for the cascade."

'So saying, she began to draw her silver feather down the cascade, and
immediately the same effect was produced which I had observed upon the
water. The noise of the waterfall was immediately hushed. Beautiful
stalactites and icicles were formed in the place of the pouring and
foaming water. I should have thought that the cascade had been wholly
congealed were