knew that, if they were left to do as
they pleased, they might escape and get into mischief. It was not so
very cruel of her, because the vaults of her temple are even lighter
and lovelier than the upper floors of human houses; but you cannot get
out without her leave. She alone has the power of widening, with a
stroke of her wand, a little cleft in an emerald wall at the end of
the passage, through which you go down a few crystal steps till you
come to a sort of cave, all green and transparent like a forest when
the sunlight sweeps through its branches.

Usually, this great hall was quite empty; but now it had sofas in it
and a gold table laid with fruits and cakes and creams and delicious
wines, which Light's servants had just finished setting out. Light's
servants were very odd! They always made the Children laugh: with
their long white satin dresses and their little black caps with a
flame at the top, they looked like lighted candles. Their mistress
sent them away and then told the Animals and Things to be very good
and asked them if they would like some books and games to play with;
they answered, with a laugh, that nothing amused them more than
eating and sleeping and that they were very glad to stay where they
were.

[Illustration: Light's servants were very odd]

Tylo, of course, did not share this view. His heart spoke louder than
his greed or his laziness; and his great dark eyes turned in entreaty
on Tyltyl, who would have been only too pleased to take his faithful
companion with him, if Light had not absolutely forbidden it:

"I can't help it," said the boy, giving him a kiss. "It seems that
dogs are not admitted where we are going."

Suddenly, Tylo sprang up with delight: a great idea had struck him. He
had not left his real, doggy life long enough to forget any part of
it, especially his troubles. Which was the greatest of these? Was it
not the chain? What melancholy hours Tylo had spent fastened to an
iron ring! And what humiliation he endured when the woodcutter used to
take him to the village and, with unspeakable silliness, keep him on
the lead in front of everybody, thus depriving him of the pleasure of
greeting his friends and sniffing the smells provided for his benefit
at every street-corner and in every gutter:

"Well," he said to himself, "I shall have to submit to that
humiliating torture once again, to go with my little god!"

Faithful to his traditions, he had, in spite of his fine cl