The Masked Lady did not reply in words, but the obscure smile on her lips was very significant.

It was Cinderella who clasped her hands in sudden ecstacy and cried, "She must be here. A place so lovely--it couldn't have been meant for any one else!" She spoke with such elation that all the other children looked at her with beaming eyes.

Everychild asked in perplexity--"But if she be here . . . ?"

"You haven't forgotten, have you?" asked Cinderella. "She was doomed to sleep a hundred years, until the prince came to waken her with a kiss."

"And is she still waiting?" asked Everychild.

"I haven't a doubt in the world that she is still waiting."

"She is always waiting," said the dreamy voice of the Masked Lady.

"But not--not here?" asked Everychild.

"There's never any telling where you'll find things," replied Cinderella. "We might look at least."

No one had observed that the Masked Lady had straightened up with a very dramatic gesture. _The sand in the gla.s.s she held had all fallen_!

No sooner had she spoken than Cinderella advanced to the alcove hidden by the damask curtain. The other children watched her intently. She barely touched the curtain--yet it was drawn aside. And everything within the alcove became visible.

There was a perfectly beautiful bed, all trimmed with gold and silver lace, so it is said. And on it reposed a slight, queen-like young lady, fully dressed, yet sound asleep. Her cheeks were delicately tinted, indicating perfect health. Her lips were slightly parted; her bosom rose and fell tranquilly. A naked little Cupid knelt on her pillow, his wings aloft, his eyes intently inspecting her closed eyelids.

Everychild seemed really to lose control of himself. He gazed, and then he advanced in a manner so determined that Cinderella drew back, leaving him alone with the sleeper, save for the Cupid on the pillow and the lady of honor asleep in her chair.

"It _is_ the Sleeping Beauty!" exclaimed Everychild. Somehow or other he knew positively. He knelt down beside her and gazed at her reverently. Slowly and gently he reached for the hand nearest him.

_He took it into his own; and then--he never could have told what put it into his head to do so!--he shyly kissed the beautiful hand_.

And the Sleeping Beauty? She sighed and opened her eyes. For an instant she gazed dreamily at the ceiling. Then she sat up, placing her feet on the floor. With wonder and delight she leaned a little forward, her eyes fixed on Everychild's.

And then she said, in a voice which would have set the birds to singing, if there had been any near by--

"Is it you, my prince? You have waited a long while!"

CHAPTER XXIII

THE AWAKENING

No sooner had the Sleeping Beauty spoken than a number of things began to happen.

The other sleepers in the room opened their eyes.

The lady of honor was the first to attract attention. She stirred and placed her fingers against her lips in a very elegant manner to suppress a yawn. Then she exclaimed very audibly: "Bless my soul--I must have dropped off for a moment!"

The sergeant of the guard was seen to open his eyes and glare very suspiciously at the spear-bearer nearest to him. He exclaimed, upon noting the stupid expression in the spear-bearer's eyes--"Ah-ha! I caught you asleep, did I?"

To which the spear-bearer replied nervously, "Not to say asleep, exactly, I just closed my eyes because a bit of smoke got into them."

The scullion by the fireplace opened his eyes and sat quite still for an instant, all his attention concentrated upon the others in the room, at whom, however, he was afraid to look. It was his aim to conceal from them the fact that he had been asleep.

The kettle on the crane in the fireplace began to sing cheerfully and an appetizing odor arose. Flames began to dance in the fireplace.

The lady of honor with affected testiness addressed the Sleeping Beauty. "It's high time you were stirring, I should say," was her comment. "It seems to me we are all becoming quite indolent!"

The Sleeping Beauty would not respond to her mood of bustling levity.

She gazed wonderingly and patiently at the lady of honor; and then turning her attention to Everychild she said in a dreamy voice--

"I think I shall rise!"

She offered her hand to Everychild, and he a.s.sisted her to her feet. I am informed that "he took care not to tell her that she was dressed like her great-grandmother, and had a point band peeping over a high collar." My own belief is that perhaps he scarcely noticed this.

They moved forward, the Sleeping Beauty maintaining an air of dreaminess, while Everychild simply could not remove his eyes from her--she was so perfect!

All the others in the room were silent, gazing now at the Sleeping Beauty, and now at Everychild.

And just at that moment there were evidences of new life in the adjoining apartments. You could hear some one playing on a spinnet. A sentry on a distant wall called the hour. Lords and ladies could be heard laughing together. And then there was a great to-do; the king and queen, father and mother of the Sleeping Beauty, entered the room!

There was now a respectful silence for you! You could have heard a pin drop. Little train-bearers came behind the king and queen. Then came lords and ladies, and then the court chamberlain, and at last a few others whose functions I cannot even name.

The king was pleased to speak presently. "And so you have finished your nap, daughter?" he said.

The Sleeping Beauty stood before him with a radiant face. "And only observe who it was that awakened me!" she replied, inclining her head toward Everychild.

Said the king: "He is the guest whose coming was foretold, no doubt.

Long ago it was written that one should awaken you and claim you as his bride."

There was general delight and amazement at this: so frankly manifested that the humblest of Everychild's companions lost all sense of caution.

The smallest son of the Old Woman who lived in a shoe actually undertook to stand on his head, while the little black dog ran here and there barking with the utmost freedom.

In the general excitement Mr. Literal took occasion to remark to the Masked Lady: "But--dear me!--it's all fiction of the most extravagant character--the account of the Sleeping Beauty and the rest of it!"

But the Masked Lady smiled in her puzzling way and said: "When you would find the truth perfectly told, you will always find it in a story. It is only facts which lead us hopelessly astray."

However, the Sleeping Beauty was speaking again. She was replying to what her father had said. "That's very nice, I'm sure!" she said. And she turned to Everychild with a blissful smile.

It seemed the king did not mean that any time should be lost. He turned majestically to the sergeant of the guard. "Go," said he, "and bid the trumpeter summon all within hearing to a.s.semble in the chapel."

Then, to those who were a.s.sembled in the room, "The wedding shall take place without delay. Let us to the chapel."

The sergeant disappeared, and almost immediately there was the sound of a bugle blowing on the castle wall.

The king and queen went out, followed by their train-bearers, pages and others.

Everychild hesitated; but the Sleeping Beauty, with a rea.s.suring nod, took his hand, and they followed.

There was a moment's confusion among Everychild's companions; but they speedily got themselves into line. Will o'Dreams led them; and there followed Hansel and Grettel, Little Bo-Peep and Little Boy Blue, Prince Arthur and Tom Hubbard, the children of the Old Woman who lived in a shoe, and last of all the little black dog.