64 Lily and Water-Litly.

 

Although she had to-day lost their confidence, all
the things in the valley loved Pearl, and they were
sorry to watch her running to her destruction.

The lily was very, very sorry, and he watched
anxiously.

She put one foot firmly before the other, bravely
disregarding the sharpness of the rock that cut and
wounded her soft flesh, and with her delicate hands
she boldly grasped the strong ash boughs, or even the
prickly acacia and arbutus that grew upon her way.

She was very fearless and very skilful, but not so
skilful as to be able to escape the punishment of her
own foolish disobedience.

As she came nearer to the ledge where the tiger-
lily grew, she began to feel her head grow dizzy and
her footing less secure.

But the fiery flame of the flower swam before her
eyes when she lifted them up, and nodded its head to
her in the breeze, and she would not give up the
quest.

She put her foot on the stump of an arbutus bush,