ich formed the ceiling gave a light
like stars. But Amelia cared for none of this. She only struggled to
peep through the hay, and she did see her father and mother and nurse
come down the lawn, followed by the other servants, looking for her.
When they saw the stock they ran to raise it with exclamations of pity
and surprise. The stock moaned faintly, and Amelia's mamma wept, and
Amelia herself shouted with all her might.

"What's that?" said her mamma. (It is not easy to deceive a mother.)

"Only the grasshoppers, my dear," said Papa. "Let us get the poor child
home."

The stock moaned again, and the mother said, "Oh dear! oh
dear-r-Ramelia!" and followed in tears.

"Rub her eyes," said the dwarf; on which Amelia's eyes were rubbed with
some ointment, and when she took a last peep, she could see that the
stock was nothing but a hairy imp, with a face like the oldest and most
grotesque of apes.

"--and send her below," added the dwarf. On which the field opened, and
Amelia was pushed underground.

She found herself on a sort of open heath, where no houses were to be
seen. Of course there was no moonshine, and yet it was neither daylight
nor dark. There was as the light of early dawn, and every sound was at
once clear and dreamy, like the first sounds of the day coming through
the fresh air before sunrise. Beautiful flowers crept over the heath,
whose tints were constantly changing in the subdued light; and as the
hues changed and blended, the flowers gave forth different perfumes.
All would have been charming but that at every few paces the paths were
blocked by large clothes-baskets full of dirty frocks, And the frocks
were Amelia's. Torn, draggled, wet, covered with sand, mud, and dirt of
all kinds, Amelia recognized them.

"You've got to wash them all," said the dwarf, who was behind her as
usual; "that's what you've come down for--not because your society is
particularly pleasant. So the sooner you begin the better."

"I can't," said Amelia (she had already learnt that "I won't" is not an
answer for every one); "send them up to Nurse, and she'll do them. It
is her business."

"What Nurse can do she has done, and now it's time for you to begin,"
said the dwarf. "Sooner or later the mischief done by spoilt children's
wilful disobedience comes back on their own hands. Up to a certain
point we help them, for we love children, and we are wilful ourselves.
But there are limits to everything. If you can't wash