D

4 BEYOND THE BLUM MOUNTAINS.

it was at this moment that Primrose noticed a change in Buttercup’s
face. It looked as if it were shrunken; she also observed that the
four other children were slightly—very slightly—altered in appear-
ance ; they looked old for their small size, and the expression on each
face seemed to bear a faint—very faint—resemblance to Peter
Pipkins’s. ;

“JT am glad I did not kiss that old man,” she said to Butter-
cup.

“You were very silly not to,” replied Buttercup. “I feel much
nicer since I kissed him. I had a horrid pain in my heart when I
woke after that sleep. You'll not believe me, Rose, but I felt sorry
that I had not gone with Clover and Cowslip this morning ; but after
I kissed Peter the pain went away—I am not a bit, not a morsel,
sorry now.”

“Well, we must walk to Castle Dangerous as fast as we can,” said
Primrose. “I do hope the night air won't give you cold, Butter-
cup.” She took his hand as she spoke, and walked on a little before
the other children.

After going very quickly for the best part of a mile the children
came to a stile marked “ Beware of the Dangerous Land.” The letters
were written in white on a black ground, and shone out clear and
distinct in the moonlight.

“Oh,” said Primrose, ‘we mustn’t go over that stile. See what
the sign-post says, ‘ Beware of the Dangerous Land.’”

“Nonsense,” said Buttercup. “Those words must be written by
some silly person, for the land at the other side of the stile is exactly
like this, only prettier; we can see it quite plainly, and it is ever so
sweet and pretty.”

“Just a green meadow, and a pretty little path running through
it,’ said one of the children; “what can there be to fear?”

“JT am not afraid,” said another child; “Ill risk it.”

“ And where are we to go if we don’t cross the stile?” asked the
tallest of the four strange children.

Primrose looked round her in fright and bewilderment.

“ T wish we had gone with Cowslip and Clover,” she said. ‘“ That