or, The Silver Skates 217

XXVII
THE MERCHANT PRINCE AND THE PRINCESS

ELL might Peter feel that his sister’s house was like an
enchanted castle. Large and elegant as it was, a
spell of quiet hung over it. The very lion crouching at its
gate seemed to have been turned into stone through magic.
Within, it was guarded by genii, in the shape of red-faced serv-
ants, who sprang silently forth at the summons of bell or
knocker. ‘There was a cat, also, who appeared as knowing as
any Puss-in-Boots; and a brass gnome in the hall, whose busi-
ness it was to stand with outstretched arms ready to receive
sticks and umbrellas. Safe within the walls bloomed a Garden
of Delight, where the flowers firmly believed it was summer,
and a sparkling fountain was laughing merrily to itself because
Jack Frost could not find it. There was a Sleeping Beauty,
too, just at the time of the boys’ arrival. But when Peter,
like a true prince, flew lightly up the stairs, and kissed her
eyelids, the enchantment was broken. The princess became
his own good sister, and the fairy castle just one of the finest,
most comfortable houses of the Hague.

As may well be believed, the boys received the heartiest of
welcomes. After they had conversed a while with their lively
hostess, one of the genii summoned them to a grand repast in
a red-curtained room, where floor and ceiling shone like pol-
ished ivory; and the mirrors suddenly blossomed into rosy-
cheeked boys as far as the eye could reach.