than children, with their
sharp observation and fatal habit of repetition, they might meet every
day on the blue water without his obtaining more than a saucy glance or a
few commonplace words, which he would try and put as much meaning into as
he could.

CHAPTER XX.

THE PRINCE PHILANDER.

A division of souls may take place without a word being exchanged. One
reminded of those mists that rise into a cool stratum of air soon to
redescend in flakes of snow....
--Human Sadness.

The day that the Misses Palmer were to spend at Lyndon's Landing turned
to rain in the afternoon. The children had a half-holiday, and so the
weather was a double misfortune; and after "What shall we do?" had been
asked in every minor key of querulous despondency, they eventually
grouped themselves, some sitting, some lying on buffalo robes scattered
on the floor, and demanded stories from the elder girls. From the
darkness of the sky, twilight had come earlier, and Freddy had closed the
curtains, to give greater mystery to the fairy lore they were invoking.

Previous to this they had had a grand dressing up and a fancy ball.
Crickey retained the turban and Indian table-cloth which had been her
"make-up" as an "Eastern Princess." Freddy was a wild beast; and Lola, by
dint of a long pair of military boots, seal-skin gloves, and "pretending
very much," was "Puss in Boots." The old nurse's cap and spectacles were,
with a peaked hat, the salient points of a "Mother Hubbard." But they
were tired of it now, and no sound was heard except the sullen moan of
the storm on the lake, and the voice of Bluebell, half-inventing and
half-relating from memory.

"And so the Princess remained in the strong tower of the Giant Jealousy;
for though the doors were all open, and you would suppose she had nothing
to do but walk out and be free, yet if she did get a little way some
invisible power always drew her back again, after which the Giant seemed
more tormenting than ever. For no one could really release her but the
Prince Philander, whom she loved, and he only by remaining true to her
alone (which, perhaps, was not always the case, and that was how she had
strayed into Castle Jealousy), and coming himself and overthrowing the
Giant, who would then be instantly dissolved into smoke, and--"

But the ultimate fate of the bewitched Princess was never known, the
story being arrested by a shout from the