s were carved with lilies.

Teddy walked slowly down this hall, and as he walked a rosy glow seemed
to move with him. He looked down to see what made it, and found that he
was dressed in a tunic of rose-colored silk, such as he had never seen
before, and it was fastened about the waist with a golden girdle. His
feet were bare, but the air was so mildly warm that the marble did not
chill him.

After a while, as he walked slowly and wonderingly down the hall, he
turned a corner and found himself in another hall just like the first,
only at one side there was a great crystal window, and sitting on a
marble seat before it was the Counterpane Fairy herself. She sat quite
still as though she were listening, and she paid no attention to Teddy.

He was sure it must be the Counterpane Fairy, for it looked like her,
though she was quite large now; she looked as large as a real woman.

Teddy stood looking at her for a while, and waiting for her to see him,
but she paid no attention, and so at last he whispered, "Counterpane
Fairy!"

"Hush!" said she. "I'm listening."

Then Teddy listened too, and as soon as he did he heard a sound of music
like that of the music-box in the nursery at home, only it was very much
clearer, and sweeter, and fainter.

It seemed to come from outside the crystal window, and looking through
it Teddy saw that outside was the most beautiful garden he had ever
seen. The grass of the garden was a silvery green; and the paths were
white. The leaves of the tress were lined with silver, and the branches
hung with shining fruit. There were lilies growing beside the paths,
and in the centre of the garden a fountain leaped and fell back into a
marble basin. The water sparkled as though it were made of diamonds, and
as Teddy listened he knew that the music he heard was the voice of the
fountain.

Presently it ceased and then the fairy turned to him and smiled.

"Oh, Counterpane Fairy!" cried Teddy, "may I go out into that garden?"

"That I don't know," said the fairy, "but if you want to get there the
best thing for you to do is find Starlein and Silverling, for they are
the only ones who can show you the way into the garden."

"Where are they?" asked Teddy.

"I can't tell you that, either," said the fairy, "but they're somewhere
in the halls."

"I'll go find them," cried Teddy, and without waiting any longer he
turned and ran down the hall as fast as he could, he was in such haste
to find them and g