striking, they came out at the farther edge of a great bed of reeds,
and here was the castle straight before them.

Inside the castle lived a lovely lady, and when she saw Mopsa she took
her to her arms. "Who are you?" asked the lovely lady.

"I am a Queen," said Mopsa.

"Yes, my sweet Queen," answered the lady, "I know you are."

"Do you promise that you will be kind to me until I grow up?" inquired
Mopsa. "Will you love me and teach me how to reign? I am only ten years
old, and the throne is too big for me to sit upon, but I am Queen."

"Yes," answered the lady, "and I will love you just as if I were your
mother."

QUEEN MOPSA

When Mopsa ran through the castle door it shut suddenly behind her, and
Jack was left behind. After great difficulty he succeeded in climbing
the walls, and crept through a window; and when he got inside he saw a
very wonderful sight. There was Mopsa in the great audience-room,
dressed superbly in a white satin gown, with a long train of crimson
velvet, which was glittering with diamonds. It reached almost from one
end of the gallery to the other, and had hundreds of fairies to hold it
to keep it in its place; but in her hair were no jewels, only a little
crown made of daisies, and on her shoulders her robe was fastened with a
little golden image of a boat. These things were to show the land she
had come from and the vessel she had come in. At one side of Mopsa stood
the lovely lady; and on the other, to Jack's amazement, a little boy of
his own size, who looked exactly like himself.

"I will go in," said Jack. "There is nothing to prevent me." He set his
foot on the step, and while he hesitated Mopsa came out to meet him. He
looked at her earnestly, because her lovely eyes were not looking at
him, but far away toward the west.

"Jack lives there," she said, as if speaking to herself. "He will play
there again, in his father's garden."

Then she brought her eyes down slowly from the rose-flush in the cloud
and looked at him and said, "Jack."

"Yes," said Jack, "here I am. What is it that you wish to say?"

She answered, "I am come to give you back your kiss."

GOOD-BY TO MOPSA

So she stooped forward as she stood on her step and kissed him, and her
tears fell on his cheek.

"Farewell," she said; and she turned and went up the steps into the
great hall. Jack gazed at her as she entered, and would fain have
followed, but could not stir, the great doors closed together again