irl--at least, he says so. Come on, quick. We'd better carry it. The
barrow's so heavy, and it does interfere so!'

They carried the pot between them. It was very heavy, and they had to
put it down and rest several times. But at last they dumped it down in
the dark on the front-door step of the castle, and breathed deep breaths
of fatigue, relief, and excitement.

The door opened, and opened wide, and this time light streamed from
within.

'Welcome!' said Sir Christopher. 'Come in. Let me help to lift it. What
a beautiful tree!'

'It is rather decent, isn't it?' said Guy dispassionately.

Sir Christopher raised the pot, carried it in, and the door was shut.
The children found themselves in a small square hall. A winding
staircase of iron corkscrewed upwards in one corner. The hall was
lighted only by two candles.

The old gentleman led the way through a door on the right into a round
room with white walls.

'We're inside the tower now,' said Guy.

'Yes,' said their host, 'this is part of the tower.'

He hastily lighted a big lamp, and then a deep 'Oh!' broke from the
children. For the walls were not white, they were all of
mother-of-pearl, and here and there all over the walls round pearls
shone with a starry, milky radiance.

'How radishing!' said Mabel in a whisper. 'I always said he wasn't a
miser. He's a magician.'

'What a lovely, lovely room!' sighed Phyllis.

'What's it made of?' asked Guy downrightly.

'Oyster-shells,' said Sir Christopher, 'and pearl beads.'

And it was.

'Oh!' said Mabel gaily, 'then that's what you go prowling about in dirty
gutters for?'

'Don't be rude, Mab dear!' whispered Phyllis.

But the old gentleman did not seem to mind. He just said, 'Yes, that's
it,' in an absent sort of way. He seemed to be thinking about something
else. Then he said, 'The Christmas-tree.'

The children had forgotten all about the Christmas-tree.

When its seventy-two candles were lighted the pearly room shone and
glimmered like a fairy palace in a dream.

'It's many a year since my little girl had such a Christmas-tree,' he
said. 'I don't know how to thank you.'

'Seeing your pearly halls is worth all the time and money,' said Mabel
heartily.

And Phyllis added in polite haste:

'And you being pleased.'

'Would you like to see the black marble hall?' asked Sir Christopher.

And, of course, they said, 'Yes, awfully.'

So he led them into the room on the other side of the hall, and