mermaids met the visitors in the hall of the main palace
and told Merla the queen had instructed them to show the guests to
their rooms as soon as they arrived. So Trot followed two of them
through several passages, after which they swam upward and entered a
circular opening. There were no stairs here, because there was no
need of them, and the little girl soon found herself in an upper
room that was very beautiful indeed.

All the walls were covered with iridescent shells, polished till
they resembled mother-of-pearl, and upon the glass ceiling were
clusters of the brilliant electric jellyfish, rendering the room
bright and cheerful with their radiance. In one corner stood a couch
of white coral, with gossamer draperies hanging around it from the
four high posts. Upon examining it, the child found the couch was
covered with soft, amber sponges, which rendered it very comfortable
to lie upon. In a wardrobe she found several beautiful gossamer
gowns richly embroidered in colored seaweeds, and these Mayre was
told she might wear while she remained the guest of the mermaids.
She also found a toilet table with brushes, combs and other
conveniences, all of which were made of polished tortoise-shell.

Really, the room was more dainty and comfortable than one might
suppose possible in a palace far beneath the surface of the sea, and
Trot was greatly delighted with her new quarters. The mermaid
attendants assisted the child to dress herself in one of the
prettiest robes, which she found to be quite dry and fitted her
comfortably. Then the sea-maids brushed and dressed her hair, and
tied it with ribbons of cherry-red seaweed. Finally they placed
around her neck a string of pearls that would have been priceless
upon the earth, and now the little girl announced she was ready for
supper and had a good appetite.

Cap'n Bill had been given a similar room near Trot, but the old
sailor refused to change his clothes for any others offered him, for
which reason he was ready for supper long before his comrade. "What
bothers me, mate," he said to the little girl as the y swam toward
the great banquet hall where Queen Aquareine awaited them, "is why
ain't we crushed by the pressin' of the water agin us, bein' as
we're down here in the deep sea."

"How's that, Cap'n? Why should we be crushed?" she asked.

"Why, ev'r'body knows that the deeper you go in the sea, the more
the water presses agin you," he explained. "Even the divers in the