t is deep."

And drinking of the water, they found it to be sweet and refreshing.

"Do not hold back from wandering in the paths," she added. "Your feet
will take them easily."

And wandering in the paths they found that they were not so rough as
they had imagined them.

"Do not falter if you wish to climb the stairways," she continued.
"Only try them."

And they tried them, and found that their limbs responded joyously to
the effort they were putting forth.

"Do not shrink from sleeping in the beds which have been provided," she
said at last. "They may surprise you."

And lying down in the beds which had seemed so uninviting, the children
were wooed to slumber. They were really comfortable beds, after all!

Strangest of all was the fact that Will o'Dreams went about with the
other children, guided by the sound of their voices, and by an
occasional touch of Everychild's hand; and one after another he tested
the pool and the paths and the stairs and the beds.

"Ah, how good it is to have them!" he said at last with a great sigh;
and soon after he had sunk into deep and refreshing slumber.

Nor were the others long in following his example. They had traveled
far; and it seemed good to rest now, especially as they believed they
might look forward to happy and wonderful experiences on the morrow.

CHAPTER XXIX

THE MASKED LADY'S SECRET

Toward morning Everychild had a dream. In his dream his mother came
and stood near him, and looked at him wonderingly and sadly. And
then--in the dream--his father could be seen, standing apart and slowly
shaking his head.

It seemed that there was a cry of joy in his throat, and that he ran to
embrace his mother. He felt that he should weep for joy when he flung
his arms about her neck and felt her face touching his.

But then he awoke, and his parents were not there: but only the great
chamber in the heart of the mountain, and all the other children rising
from their beds, eager to begin a new day.

He could not rid his mind of the vivid dream, nor his heart of the
strange softness it had brought. And as soon as he could do so he
sought the Masked Lady, his intention being to inquire of her what his
dream had meant.

She stood waiting for him, as it seemed, and he approached her with
increasing eagerness. And now he perceived that she was no longer
wearing the dress of a piper, but had on the soft white dress in which
he had first beheld her, and wore a