wherever his hand touched a flower, the petals
flattened themselves on the hand and the glass, and clung so tight that
it took a hard jerk to get them loose. There was danger of losing the
glasses, and with one accord they held the glasses high above their
heads. The moment they did so, the conduct of the stalks became
terrifying indeed.

As if in anger, the broken stalks spouted forth, with a hiss and a rush,
blinding jets of liquid white fire, which tore at the ceiling angrily
and roared and crackled. From the broken stalks it spread to the others,
and in a moment jets of liquid white fire were blazing and crackling
upward from all the stalks in the room, and the terrified captives were
in the very midst of it.

It ran up their robes and showered on them from the ceiling; it became
denser and angrier; it was all but unbearable, though they felt it in
only a tiny fraction of its real strength; in another instant the frail
white gowns must surely be consumed. But in some strange way the gowns
shed off the liquid fire, and remained unscorched.

For a moment the sufferers were stupefied. They were unable to move.
Freddie tried to scream, but he could make no sound; he almost fainted
away; but he felt, through it all, the sturdy arm of Mr. Toby tight
about him.

They pushed on in a close body and passed the center of the room; the
white glare became more blinding, the roar and crackle more deafening;
they were surrounded, cut off, in the midst of destruction; they were
bewildered; they stopped again; there was no use in going back; they
must get forward through the furnace at any cost; they made a new start;
and in a frenzy of terror, their hands before their eyes, with a rush
they gained the door. They crowded against it; they pushed and beat upon
it; it gave way before them; they rushed through, and it closed behind
them of its own accord.

They were standing in broad daylight on the sidewalk of a city street,
under a high blank wall, with shops on the opposite side; each with an
hour-glass, empty of sand, in his right hand, and each clad only in a
long white night-gown.

CHAPTER XXIV

DISENCHANTMENT COMPLETE

They looked behind them. A high stone wall rose at their backs, and in
it was no sign of a door.

They looked across the street. It was a narrow street, paved with
cobble-stones; on the opposite side, where a row of little low shops
stretched away on either hand, a few people were going in and o