The White Lily. 53

 

 

them in the morning, and she did not at all want to
lay herself open to such mortification again.

So she gave in to Ruby’s proposal, and they lay
down together amid the poppies.

Was there some evil spell upon the poor children
ever since they had plucked that garland of purple
flowers in the morning?

Sleep fell upon them, it is true, but it was not the
sweet and refreshing sleep that they had always
known before.

They slept many hours.

When they awoke the clouds all over the sky were
painted with gold and pink, and the sun was just
going to rise upon the land. The rosy colour fell
upon the ripples of the river, and upon the tops of
the trees, and upon the tops of the mountains above
the trees, and the land looked like fairy-land indeed.

And presently the sun came—a great golden ball,
gilding everything with its light.

The flowers opened their petals with the night dew
still fresh upon them, and the drops of it shone like