me moment both children gave a little
cry of astonishment. Instead of the bare wall which they expected to
see, or to feel rather, behind the tapestry, a flight of steps met their
view--a rather narrow flight of steps running straight upwards, without
twisting or turning, and lighted from above by a curious hanging lamp,
hanging by long chains from a roof high up, which they could not see.

"Why, is this a new part of the house?" cried Hugh. "Jeanne, did you
know there were stairs behind the tapestry?"

"No, of course not," said Jeanne. "It must be a part of our house, I
suppose, but I never saw it before. Shall we go up, Cheri, and see where
it takes us to? Perhaps it's another way to the white lady's turret, and
she'll tell us another story."

"No," said Hugh, "I don't believe it leads to her turret, and I don't
think we could find our way there again. She seemed to mean we could
never go again, I think. But we may as well go up this stair, and see
what we do find, Jeanne."

And just at that moment a funny thing happened. They heard a little
noise, and looking up, there--hopping down the stair before them, step
by step, as if some one had started it from the top, came the lost
ball, or what the children thought the lost ball, for with an
exclamation Hugh darted forward to pick it up, and held it out to
Jeanne. But Jeanne looked at it with astonishment.

"Why, Cheri," she cried, "it's turned into gold."

So it was, or at least into something which looked just like it.

"Cheri," Jeanne went on, her eyes dancing with excitement, "I do believe
this is another way into Fairyland, or into some other queer place like
what we've seen. Come on, quick."

The children seized hold of each other's hands, and hurried up the
stair. The steps were easier to mount than those of the corkscrew
staircase up to the white lady's turret, and very soon the children
found themselves at the top of the first flight. There, looking upwards,
they could see the roof. It was a sort of cupola; the chains from which
the lamps hung were fastened to the centre, but the rest of the roof was
of glass, and through it the children saw the sky, already quite dark,
and with innumerable stars dotting its surface.

"Come on, Cheri," said Jeanne; "I believe this stair leads out on to the
roof of the house."

So it did. A door at the top opened as they ran up the last steps, and a
familiar figure stepped out.

"Dudu!" exclaimed Jeanne, in a tone of