e were well," he cried; "but I can't go and leave her here to
die!" The sufferings of the poor girl were greatly increased by her
brother's misery; and what was her horror when she heard him mutter
suddenly: "I will go and steal something. The shops are full of
everything. I _won't_ let her die!" Then before she had time to stop him
he had darted out of the room.

Just at this moment Pet's clock ran down, and she flew off, forgetting
Time's commands, and only bent on reaching her palace. But her strange
friend appeared in her path as before.

"Oh, _don't_ stop me!" cried Pet. "The girl will die, and the boy will
turn out a thief!"

"Leave them to me! leave them to me!" said Time, "and go on obediently
doing as I bid you."

Pet went away in tears this time, still fancying she could feel the poor
sick girl's woful heart beating in her own breast. But by-and-by she
cheered herself, remembering Time's promise, and hurried on as fast as
she could. She met with a great many sad people after this, and lived a
great many different lives, so that she became quite familiar with all
the sorrows and difficulties of the poor. She reflected that it was a
very sad thing that there should be so much distress in her rich
kingdom, and felt much puzzled to know how she could remedy the matter.
One day, having just left an extremely wretched family, she travelled a
long way without stopping, and she had not seen a very poor-looking
dwelling for many miles. All the people she met seemed happy and merry,
and they sang over their work as if they had very little care. When she
peeped into the little roadside houses she found that they were neatly
furnished and comfortable. Even in the towns she could not find any
starving people, except a few wicked ones who would not take the trouble
to be industrious. At last she asked a man what was the reason that she
could not meet with any miserable people?

"Oh," he said, "it is because of our good king; his laws are so wise
that nobody is allowed to want."

"Where does he live? and what country is this?" asked Pet.

"This is Silver-country," said the man, "and our king lives over yonder
in a castle built of blocks of silver ornamented with rubies and
pearls."

Pet then remembered that she had heard her nurses talk about
Silver-country, which was the neighboring country to her own. She
immediately longed to see this wise king and learn his laws, so that she
might know how to behave when she ca