34 THE HISTORY OF A NUT-CRACKER.

acquired confidence, when he felt
himself gently rocked in her arms.
Then Mary perceived that God-
father Drosselmayer watched with
mocking smiles the care which
she bestowed upon the little man
with the wooden cloak; and it struck
her that the single eye of the doctor
had acquired an expression of spite .<
and malignity which she had never
before seen. She therefore tried to
get away from him; but Godfather
Drosselmayer burst out laughing,
saying, ‘* Well, my dear god-
uA daughter, I am really astonished
that a pretty little girl like you can
be so devoted to an ugly little urchin
like that.”
Mary turned round; and, much as
she loved her godfather, even the
compliment which he paid her
did not make amends for the unjust
attack he made upon the person of her Nut-cracker. She
even felt—contrary to her usual disposition—very angry; and
that vague comparison which she had before formed between
the little man with the wooden cloak and her godfather, re-
turned to her memory.
“*Godpapa Drosselmayer,”
she said, ‘ you are unkind to-
wards my little Nut-cracker,
whom you call an ugly urchin.
Who knows whether you would
even look so well as he, even if
you had his pretty little military °
coat, his pretty thttle breeches, *
and his pretty little boots!”