tyrant; she had her
kinder moods, and in one of them she told Cherry that if she was a good
girl, and did her work quickly, she would take her into those parts of the
house where she had been forbidden to go, and show her some of the
wonderful sights of the place!

Oh, how delighted Cherry was, and how she did hurry through her work!
She felt that now she was going to be made happy for the rest of her life,
and would have nothing left to wish for. She got through her work so
quickly, that it was still quite early when they started off together on
their sight-seeing.

First of all they came to a door opening out of a passage, and here Aunt
Prudence told Cherry to take off her shoes. This done, they opened the
door and entered, letting it fall silently behind them. The passage was
very low and very dark, and Cherry, who had to feel her way by the wall,
felt rather nervous, for she could not see where her next step would take
her. Before very long, though, they came to a room where the light was
bright, it was a beautiful room, with a floor like glass, but, oh, how
frightened Cherry was when she stepped into it! for ranged all round the
walls, on shelves or on the floor, were a lot of people turned to stone.
Some had no arms, others no legs, while of others there were only the head
and shoulders. Some heads had no ears, others had no noses, and some few
were without either.

Oh, it was a horrid sight, and Cherry was terribly frightened lest they
should all come to life suddenly, and set on her and tear off her limbs
too. She told Aunt Prudence, "she was mortal fear't of 'em, for she'd
heard tell on 'em up to Zennor, and everybody said there was never no
knowing what they wouldn't be up to. She'd thought all along that she'd
got in with the Little People, only her master was such a fine upstanding
man, she'd never have took him for a fairy."

Aunt Prudence only laughed at her, and seeing that she really was afraid,
took a greater pleasure in making her go further. There was a
curious-looking thing standing in the room, like a coffin on six legs, and
this Aunt Prudence insisted on Cherry's giving a good polishing to.
So Cherry had to set to and rub it with all her might and main, for she
dared not disobey the old lady; but the more she rubbed the more the old
lady scolded her to rub harder, and Cherry rubbed harder and harder and
harder, until at last she nearly upset the thing. She threw out her arms
and seize