THE CAVE AND THE BLACK DOOR. 53

“Oh, Clover, look,” suddenly exclaimed Cowslip. They had been
going up the hill some little distance, and Cowslip as she spoke
pulled her brother’s arm with great eagerness and pointed downwards.

The meadow through which the little gitl had so longed to walk
the previous evening was now turned into a lake of water, so violent
had been the storm of wind and rain.

“We should have been drowned if we had taken that short
cut,” said Cowslip. “ Dear Clover, how wise you are—how much,
much wiser than I am!”

“Let us be thankful,” said Clover, “ but when you speak of my
wisdom, Cowslip, you quite forget that I lost the precious little glass
and the map. Still, there is not the least doubt that this road does
lead to the Mountains, and that, by-and-by, if we do not turn to
the right hand or the left, we shall reach that lovely land. Now
let us walk steadily on. I for one don’t find this hill very steep—
do you, Cowslip ?”

“No, for the water in the cave has refreshed me so much, and my
dress, now that I have washed it, feels so light, and clean, and cool.
Oh, Clover, I never spent such a night in the whole course of my life
as I did in the cave.”

“And I had never such a delicious meal,” said Clover. “It is
very odd ; who would have thought that that ugly cave would contain
such food?”

“ Which looked so bad,” interrupted Cowslip.

“And which was the most delicious we ever ate,” said her brother.

“ And such beds—no down was ever nicer than those sheepskins.
Oh, Clover, I did have such happy dreams.”

“And I too,” replied Clover. ‘They strengthened me, they made
me feel as if I would go through anything to get to my father and
mother.”

* And to the Kking himself,” said Cowslip in a low voice. “ Yes,
I do not feel at all frightened now.”

Scarcely had she uttered the words, however, before she turned
very pale. Alas for poor little Cowslip, there was to be a test put to
her courage.