onettes said nothing; their hearts were very full; now, at
last, they found their old happiness return to them. Their prayers,
that they used to say to each other so tenderly, had been going wrong
for quite a long time; sudden starts and tremblings of fear had taken
hold of their light-hearted deceptions of each other; and every day
things had been going worse. But now they felt like entering upon a
long rest.

As they lay, their hands met together. The little cow-herd could
count her fingers across the palm of his hand, and never once did she
pretend to be drawing them away. How good it all seemed!

Close by them the odd man was strutting in stiff, ungainly attitudes,
cricking his neck and elbows, and tossing up his toes. How foolish he
seemed to them in their innocent wisdom! They knew he was nothing to
them, for he had no heart; he was nothing but a trick on springs. Yet
they wished he would go away, and give them room to be alone, while
the moon was making a white dream over their lives.

* * * * *

The partner grumbled to himself at the awkward ways of the new
puppet. Instead of obeying, it kicked at the leading strings, and did
everything like a stick, all angles and corners. Presently he put it
back into its box; and then he saw the little king and queen lying
together on the damp grass. He picked them up, growling at Killian as
a simpleton, for leaving them there to get rusty with the dew. Then he
put them also away, and curled himself up to dream about the success
of his play on the morrow.

Quite early in the morning he and Killian went into the city, and set
up their stage in a corner of the marketplace. The wonderful acting of
the little king and queen, compared with the ungainly hobblings and
jerkings of the odd man, threw the townspeople into ecstasies of
laughter. They declared they had never seen so funny a sight in their
lives as the beautiful nervous acting of the pair, side by side with
the stiff-jointed awkwardness of the other.

Presently, sure enough, the queen heard tell of this new form of
entertainment, and sent word for the mummers to appear at the palace.

Killian said to his partner: 'There is something the matter with the
puppets to-day; they want careful handling. I am glad we settled
that you are to do the new play; for, before the queen and her great
ladies, I am likely to lose my head.'

All the court was gathered together to watch the puppet-play,