ing in honor of your visit."
"Have it after we're gone, for we can't wait," said Dorothy, decidedly.
But seeing this displeased the King, she added: "If I'm going to get
Ozma to invite you to her party I'll have to find her as soon as
poss'ble, you know."
In spite of all the beauty of Foxville and the gorgeous dresses of its
inhabitants, both the girl and the shaggy man felt they were not quite
safe there, and would be glad to see the last of it.
"But it is now evening," the King reminded them, "and you must stay
with us until morning, anyhow. Therefore, I invite you to be my guests
at dinner, and to attend the theater afterward and sit in the royal
box. To-morrow morning, if you really insist upon it, you may resume
your journey."
They consented to this, and some of the fox-servants led them to a
suite of lovely rooms in the big palace.
Button-Bright was afraid to be left alone, so Dorothy took him into her
own room. While a maid-fox dressed the little girl's hair--which was a
bit tangled--and put some bright, fresh ribbons in it, another maid-fox
combed the hair on poor Button-Bright's face and head and brushed it
carefully, tying a pink bow to each of his pointed ears. The maids
wanted to dress the children in fine costumes of woven feathers, such
as all the foxes wore; but neither of them consented to that.
"A sailor suit and a fox head do not go well together," said one of the
maids, "for no fox was ever a sailor that I can remember."
"I'm not a fox!" cried Button-Bright.
"Alas, no," agreed the maid. "But you've got a lovely fox head on your
skinny shoulders, and that's ALMOST as good as being a fox."
The boy, reminded of his misfortune, began to cry again. Dorothy
petted and comforted him and promised to find some way to restore him
his own head.
"If we can manage to get to Ozma," she said, "the Princess will change
you back to yourself in half a second; so you just wear that fox head
as comf't'bly as you can, dear, and don't worry about it at all. It
isn't nearly as pretty as your own head, no matter what the foxes say;
but you can get along with it for a little while longer, can't you?"
"Don't know," said Button-Bright, doubtfully; but he didn't cry any
more after that.
Dorothy let the maids pin ribbons to her shoulders, after which they
were ready for the King's dinner. When they met the shaggy man in the
splendid drawing room of the palace they found him just the same as
befo
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