came back to the dear child's cheek! and how she began
to sneeze and sputter!--and how astonished she was to find herself
dripping wet, and her father still throwing more water over her!

"Pray do not, dear father!" cried she. "See how you have wet my nice
frock, which I put on only this morning!"

For Marygold did not know that she had been a little golden statue;
nor could she remember anything that had happened since the moment
when she ran with outstretched arms to comfort poor King Midas.

Her father did not think it necessary to tell his beloved child how
very foolish he had been, but contented himself with showing how much
wiser he had now grown. For this purpose, he led little Marygold into
the garden, where he sprinkled all the remainder of the water over the
rose-bushes, and with such good effect that above five thousand roses
recovered their beautiful bloom. There were two circumstances,
however, which, as long as he lived, used to put King Midas in mind of
the Golden Touch. One was, that the sands of the river sparkled like
gold; the other, that little Marygold's hair had now a golden tinge,
which he had never observed in it before she had been transmuted by
the effect of his kiss. This change of hue was really an improvement,
and made Marygold's hair richer than in her babyhood.

When King Midas had grown quite an old man, and used to trot
Marygold's children on his knee, he was fond of telling them this
marvelous story, pretty much as I have now told it to you. And then
would he stroke their glossy ringlets, and tell them that their hair,
likewise, had a rich shade of gold, which they had inherited from
their mother.

"And to tell you the truth, my precious little folks," quoth King
Midas, diligently trotting the children all the while, "ever since
that morning, I have hated the very sight of all other gold, save
this!"

[Illustration]

SHADOW BROOK AFTER THE STORY

[Illustration]

"Well, children," inquired Eustace, who was very fond of eliciting a
definite opinion from his auditors, "did you ever, in all your lives,
listen to a better story than this of 'The Golden Touch'?"

"Why, as to the story of King Midas," said saucy Primrose, "it was a
famous one thousands of years before Mr. Eustace Bright came into the
world, and will continue to be so long after he quits it. But some
people have what we may call 'The Leaden Touch,' and make everything
dull and heavy that they lay their fing