t palace
is apt to be gloomy (although the precious stones certainly shine very
bright), and that I am not of the most cheerful disposition, and that
therefore it was a natural thing enough to seek for the society of some
merrier creature than myself. I hoped you would take my crown for a
plaything, and me--ah, you laugh, naughty Proserpina--me, grim as I am,
for a playmate. It was a silly expectation."

"Not so extremely silly," whispered Proserpina. "You have really amused me
very much, sometimes."

"Thank you," said King Pluto, rather dryly. "But I can see, plainly
enough, that you think my palace a dusky prison, and me the iron-hearted
keeper of it. And an iron heart I should surely have, if I could detain
you here any longer, my poor child, when it is now six months since you
tasted food. I give you your liberty. Go with Quicksilver. Hasten home to
your dear mother."

Now, although you may not have supposed it, Proserpina found it impossible
to take leave of poor King Pluto without some regrets, and a good deal of
compunction for not telling him about the pomegranate. She even shed a
tear or two, thinking how lonely and cheerless the great palace would seem
to him, with all its ugly glare of artificial light, after she
herself,--his one little ray of natural sunshine, whom he had stolen, to
be sure, but only because he valued her so much,--after she should have
departed. I know not how many kind things she might have said to the
disconsolate king of the mines, had not Quicksilver hurried her away.

"Come along quickly," whispered he in her ear, "or his majesty may change
his royal mind. And take care, above all things, that you say nothing of
what was brought you on the golden salver."

In a very short time, they had passed the great gateway (leaving the
three-headed Cerberus, barking and yelping, and growling, with threefold
din, behind them), and emerged upon the surface of the earth. It was
delightful to behold, as Proserpina hastened along, how the path grew
verdant behind and on either side of her. Wherever she set her blessed
foot, there was at once a dewy flower. The violets gushed up along the
wayside. The grass and the grain began to sprout with tenfold vigor and
luxuriance, to make up for the dreary months that had been wasted in
barrenness. The starved cattle immediately set to work grazing, after
their long fast, and ate enormously all day, and got up at midnight to eat
more. But I can assure you i