‘THE HISTORY OF A NU'T-CRACKER. 63)

‘to do, she remained silent and ‘pensive, occupied only with
her own thoughts, while every one called her “the little
dreamer.”

But one day, when the doctor, with his wig laid upon
the ground, his tongue thrust into one corner of his mouth,
and the sleeves of his yellow coat turned up, was mendin
a clock by the aid of a long pointed instrument, it happene
that Mary, who was seated near the glass cupboard con-
templating the Nut-cracker, and buried in her own thoughts,
suddenly said, quite forgetful that both the doctor and her
mamma were close by, ‘Ah! my dear Mr. Drosselmayer,
if you were not a little man made of wood, as my papa
declares, and if you really were alive, I would not do as
Princess Pirlipata did, and desert you because, in servin
me, you had ceased to be a handsome young man; for
love you sincerely |”

But scarcely had she uttered these words, when there
was such a noise in the room, that Mary fell off her chair
in a fainting fit.

When she came to herself, she
found that she was in the
arms of her mother, who said,
‘How is it possible that a
great girl like you, | ask, can
be so foolish as to fall off your
chair—and just at the moment,
too, when young Mr. Drossel-
mayer, who has finished his
travels, arrives at Nuremberg?
Come, wipe your eyes, and be
a good girl.”
Indeed, as Mary wiped her
eyes, the door opened, and
Godpapa Drosselmayer, with his glass wig upon his head,
his hat under his arm, and his drab frock-coat upon his
back, entered the room. He wore a smiling countenance,

  

iS