Текст книги "Страна Северного Ветра / At the Back of the North Wind"

Автор книги: Джордж МакДональд

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Текущая страница: 21 (всего у книги 35 страниц)

CHAPTER VIII. THE EAST WINDOW

THAT Diamond had fallen fast asleep is very evident from the strange

things he now fancied as taking place. For he thought he heard a sound

as of whispering up in the great window. He tried to open his eyes, but

he could not. And the whispering went on and grew louder and louder,

until he could hear every word that was said. He thought it was the

Apostles talking about him. But he could not open his eyes.

“And how comes he to be lying there, St. Peter?” said one.

“I think I saw him a while ago up in the gallery, under the Nicodemus

window. Perhaps he has fallen down.

“What do you think, St. Matthew?”

“I don't think he could have crept here after falling from such a

height. He must have been killed.”

“What are we to do with him? We can't leave him lying there. And we

could not make him comfortable up here in the window: it's rather

crowded already. What do you say, St. Thomas?”

“Let's go down and look at him.”

There came a rustling, and a chinking, for some time, and then there was

a silence, and Diamond felt somehow that all the Apostles were standing

round him and looking down on him. And still he could not open his eyes.

“What is the matter with him, St. Luke?” asked one.

“There's nothing the matter with him,” answered St. Luke, who must

have joined the company of the Apostles from the next window, one would

think. “He's in a sound sleep.”

“I have it,” cried another. “This is one of North Wind's tricks. She

has caught him up and dropped him at our door, like a withered leaf or a

foundling baby. I don't understand that woman's conduct, I must say. As

if we hadn't enough to do with our money, without going taking care

of other people's children! That's not what our forefathers built

cathedrals for.”

Now Diamond could not bear to hear such things against North Wind, who,

he knew, never played anybody a trick. She was far too busy with her own

work for that. He struggled hard to open his eyes, but without success.

“She should consider that a church is not a place for pranks, not to

mention that we live in it,” said another.

“It certainly is disrespectful of her. But she always is disrespectful.

What right has she to bang at our windows as she has been doing the

whole of this night? I daresay there is glass broken somewhere. I know

my blue robe is in a dreadful mess with the rain first and the dust

after. It will cost me shillings to clean it.”

Then Diamond knew that they could not be Apostles, talking like this.

They could only be the sextons and vergers and such-like, who got up at

night, and put on the robes of deans and bishops, and called each other

grand names, as the foolish servants he had heard his father tell of

call themselves lords and ladies, after their masters and mistresses.

And he was so angry at their daring to abuse North Wind, that he jumped

up, crying–“North Wind knows best what she is about. She has a good

right to blow the cobwebs from your windows, for she was sent to do it.

She sweeps them away from grander places, I can tell you, for I've been

with her at it.”

This was what he began to say, but as he spoke his eyes came wide open,

and behold, there were neither Apostles nor vergers there–not even a

window with the effigies of holy men in it, but a dark heap of hay all

about him, and the little panes in the roof of his loft glimmering blue

in the light of the morning. Old Diamond was coming awake down below in

the stable. In a moment more he was on his feet, and shaking himself so

that young Diamond's bed trembled under him.

“He's grand at shaking himself,” said Diamond. “I wish I could shake

myself like that. But then I can wash myself, and he can't. What fun

it would be to see Old Diamond washing his face with his hoofs and iron

shoes! Wouldn't it be a picture?”

So saying, he got up and dressed himself. Then he went out into the

garden. There must have been a tremendous wind in the night, for

although all was quiet now, there lay the little summer-house crushed

to the ground, and over it the great elm-tree, which the wind had broken

across, being much decayed in the middle. Diamond almost cried to see

the wilderness of green leaves, which used to be so far up in the blue

air, tossing about in the breeze, and liking it best when the wind blew

it most, now lying so near the ground, and without any hope of ever

getting up into the deep air again.

“I wonder how old the tree is!” thought Diamond. “It must take a long

time to get so near the sky as that poor tree was.”

“Yes, indeed,” said a voice beside him, for Diamond had spoken the last

words aloud.

Diamond started, and looking around saw a clergyman, a brother of Mrs.

Coleman, who happened to be visiting her. He was a great scholar, and

was in the habit of rising early.

“Who are you, my man?” he added.

“Little Diamond,” answered the boy.

“Oh! I have heard of you. How do you come to be up so early?”

“Because the sham Apostles talked such nonsense, they waked me up.”

The clergyman stared. Diamond saw that he had better have held his

tongue, for he could not explain things.

“You must have been dreaming, my little man,” said he. “Dear! dear!” he

went on, looking at the tree, “there has been terrible work here. This

is the north wind's doing. What a pity! I wish we lived at the back of

it, I'm sure.”

“Where is that sir?” asked Diamond.

“Away in the Hyperborean regions,” answered the clergyman, smiling.

“I never heard of the place,” returned Diamond.

“I daresay not,” answered the clergyman; “but if this tree had been

there now, it would not have been blown down, for there is no wind

there.”

“But, please, sir, if it had been there,” said Diamond, “we should not

have had to be sorry for it.”

“Certainly not.”

“Then we shouldn't have had to be glad for it, either.”

“You're quite right, my boy,” said the clergyman, looking at him very

kindly, as he turned away to the house, with his eyes bent towards the

earth. But Diamond thought within himself, “I will ask North Wind next

time I see her to take me to that country. I think she did speak about

it once before.”

CHAPTER IX. HOW DIAMOND GOT TO THE BACK OF THE NORTH WIND

WHEN Diamond went home to breakfast, he found his father and mother

already seated at the table. They were both busy with their bread and

butter, and Diamond sat himself down in his usual place. His mother

looked up at him, and, after watching him for a moment, said:

“I don't think the boy is looking well, husband.”

“Don't you? Well, I don't know. I think he looks pretty bobbish. How do

you feel yourself, Diamond, my boy?”

“Quite well, thank you, father; at least, I think I've got a little

headache.”

“There! I told you,” said his father and mother both at once.

“The child's very poorly” added his mother.

“The child's quite well,” added his father.

And then they both laughed.

“You see,” said his mother, “I've had a letter from my sister at

Sandwich.”

“Sleepy old hole!” said his father.

“Don't abuse the place; there's good people in it,” said his mother.

“Right, old lady,” returned his father; “only I don't believe there are

more than two pair of carriage-horses in the whole blessed place.”

“Well, people can get to heaven without carriages–or coachmen either,

husband. Not that I should like to go without my coachman, you know. But

about the boy?”

“What boy?”

“That boy, there, staring at you with his goggle-eyes.”

“Have I got goggle-eyes, mother?” asked Diamond, a little dismayed.

“Not too goggle,” said his mother, who was quite proud of her boy's

eyes, only did not want to make him vain.

“Not too goggle; only you need not stare so.”

“Well, what about him?” said his father.

“I told you I had got a letter.”

“Yes, from your sister; not from Diamond.”

“La, husband! you've got out of bed the wrong leg first this morning, I

do believe.”

“I always get out with both at once,” said his father, laughing.

“Well, listen then. His aunt wants the boy to go down and see her.”

“And that's why you want to make out that he ain't looking well.”

“No more he is. I think he had better go.”

“Well, I don't care, if you can find the money,” said his father.

“I'll manage that,” said his mother; and so it was agreed that Diamond

should go to Sandwich.

I will not describe the preparations Diamond made. You would have

thought he had been going on a three months' voyage. Nor will I describe

the journey, for our business is now at the place. He was met at the

station by his aunt, a cheerful middle-aged woman, and conveyed in

safety to the sleepy old town, as his father called it. And no wonder

that it was sleepy, for it was nearly dead of old age.

Diamond went about staring with his beautiful goggle-eyes, at the quaint

old streets, and the shops, and the houses. Everything looked very

strange, indeed; for here was a town abandoned by its nurse, the sea,

like an old oyster left on the shore till it gaped for weariness. It

used to be one of the five chief seaports in England, but it began to

hold itself too high, and the consequence was the sea grew less and less

intimate with it, gradually drew back, and kept more to itself, till at

length it left it high and dry: Sandwich was a seaport no more; the sea

went on with its own tide-business a long way off, and forgot it. Of

course it went to sleep, and had no more to do with ships. That's what

comes to cities and nations, and boys and girls, who say, “I can do

without your help. I'm enough for myself.”

Diamond soon made great friends with an old woman who kept a toyshop,

for his mother had given him twopence for pocket-money before he left,

and he had gone into her shop to spend it, and she got talking to him.

She looked very funny, because she had not got any teeth, but Diamond

liked her, and went often to her shop, although he had nothing to spend

there after the twopence was gone.

One afternoon he had been wandering rather wearily about the streets

for some time. It was a hot day, and he felt tired. As he passed the

toyshop, he stepped in.

“Please may I sit down for a minute on this box?” he said, thinking the

old woman was somewhere in the shop. But he got no answer, and sat down

without one. Around him were a great many toys of all prices, from a

penny up to shillings. All at once he heard a gentle whirring somewhere

amongst them. It made him start and look behind him. There were the

sails of a windmill going round and round almost close to his ear. He

thought at first it must be one of those toys which are wound up and go

with clockwork; but no, it was a common penny toy, with the windmill at

the end of a whistle, and when the whistle blows the windmill goes. But

the wonder was that there was no one at the whistle end blowing, and

yet the sails were turning round and round–now faster, now slower, now

faster again.

“What can it mean?” said Diamond, aloud.

“It means me,” said the tiniest voice he had ever heard.

“Who are you, please?” asked Diamond.

“Well, really, I begin to be ashamed of you,” said the voice. “I wonder

how long it will be before you know me; or how often I might take you in

before you got sharp enough to suspect me. You are as bad as a baby that

doesn't know his mother in a new bonnet.”

“Not quite so bad as that, dear North Wind,” said Diamond, “for I didn't

see you at all, and indeed I don't see you yet, although I recognise

your voice. Do grow a little, please.”

“Not a hair's-breadth,” said the voice, and it was the smallest voice

that ever spoke. “What are you doing here?”

“I am come to see my aunt. But, please, North Wind, why didn't you come

back for me in the church that night?”

“I did. I carried you safe home. All the time you were dreaming about

the glass Apostles, you were lying in my arms.”

“I'm so glad,” said Diamond. “I thought that must be it, only I wanted

to hear you say so. Did you sink the ship, then?”

“Yes.”

“And drown everybody?”

“Not quite. One boat got away with six or seven men in it.”

“How could the boat swim when the ship couldn't?”

“Of course I had some trouble with it. I had to contrive a bit, and

manage the waves a little. When they're once thoroughly waked up, I have

a good deal of trouble with them sometimes. They're apt to get stupid

with tumbling over each other's heads. That's when they're fairly at it.

However, the boat got to a desert island before noon next day.”

“And what good will come of that?”

“I don't know. I obeyed orders. Good bye.”

“Oh! stay, North Wind, do stay!” cried Diamond, dismayed to see the

windmill get slower and slower.

“What is it, my dear child?” said North Wind, and the windmill began

turning again so swiftly that Diamond could scarcely see it. “What a big

voice you've got! and what a noise you do make with it? What is it you

want? I have little to do, but that little must be done.”

“I want you to take me to the country at the back of the north wind.”

“That's not so easy,” said North Wind, and was silent for so long that

Diamond thought she was gone indeed. But after he had quite given her

up, the voice began again.

“I almost wish old Herodotus had held his tongue about it. Much he knew

of it!”

“Why do you wish that, North Wind?”

“Because then that clergyman would never have heard of it, and set you

wanting to go. But we shall see. We shall see. You must go home now, my

dear, for you don't seem very well, and I'll see what can be done for

you. Don't wait for me. I've got to break a few of old Goody's toys;

she's thinking too much of her new stock. Two or three will do. There!

go now.”

Diamond rose, quite sorry, and without a word left the shop, and went

home.

It soon appeared that his mother had been right about him, for that same

afternoon his head began to ache very much, and he had to go to bed.

He awoke in the middle of the night. The lattice window of his room had

blown open, and the curtains of his little bed were swinging about in

the wind.

“If that should be North Wind now!” thought Diamond.

But the next moment he heard some one closing the window, and his aunt

came to his bedside. She put her hand on his face, and said–

“How's your head, dear?”

“Better, auntie, I think.”

“Would you like something to drink?”

“Oh, yes! I should, please.”

So his aunt gave him some lemonade, for she had been used to nursing

sick people, and Diamond felt very much refreshed, and laid his head

down again to go very fast asleep, as he thought. And so he did, but

only to come awake again, as a fresh burst of wind blew the lattice

open a second time. The same moment he found himself in a cloud of North

Wind's hair, with her beautiful face, set in it like a moon, bending

over him.

“Quick, Diamond!” she said. “I have found such a chance!”

“But I'm not well,” said Diamond.

“I know that, but you will be better for a little fresh air. You shall

have plenty of that.”

“You want me to go, then?”

“Yes, I do. It won't hurt you.”

“Very well,” said Diamond; and getting out of the bed-clothes, he jumped

into North Wind's arms.

“We must make haste before your aunt comes,” said she, as she glided out

of the open lattice and left it swinging.

The moment Diamond felt her arms fold around him he began to feel

better. It was a moonless night, and very dark, with glimpses of stars

when the clouds parted.

“I used to dash the waves about here,” said North Wind, “where cows and

sheep are feeding now; but we shall soon get to them. There they are.”

And Diamond, looking down, saw the white glimmer of breaking water far

below him.

“You see, Diamond,” said North Wind, “it is very difficult for me to

get you to the back of the north wind, for that country lies in the very

north itself, and of course I can't blow northwards.”

“Why not?” asked Diamond.

“You little silly!” said North Wind. “Don't you see that if I were to

blow northwards I should be South Wind, and that is as much as to say

that one person could be two persons?”

“But how can you ever get home at all, then?”

“You are quite right–that is my home, though I never get farther than

the outer door. I sit on the doorstep, and hear the voices inside. I am

nobody there, Diamond.”

“I'm very sorry.”

“Why?”

“That you should be nobody.”

“Oh, I don't mind it. Dear little man! you will be very glad some day

to be nobody yourself. But you can't understand that now, and you had

better not try; for if you do, you will be certain to go fancying some

egregious nonsense, and making yourself miserable about it.”

“Then I won't,” said Diamond.

“There's a good boy. It will all come in good time.”

“But you haven't told me how you get to the doorstep, you know.”

“It is easy enough for me. I have only to consent to be nobody, and

there I am. I draw into myself and there I am on the doorstep. But you

can easily see, or you have less sense than I think, that to drag you,

you heavy thing, along with me, would take centuries, and I could not

give the time to it.”

“Oh, I'm so sorry!” said Diamond.

“What for now, pet?”

“That I'm so heavy for you. I would be lighter if I could, but I don't

know how.”

“You silly darling! Why, I could toss you a hundred miles from me if I

liked. It is only when I am going home that I shall find you heavy.”

“Then you are going home with me?”

“Of course. Did I not come to fetch you just for that?”

“But all this time you must be going southwards.”

“Yes. Of course I am.”

“How can you be taking me northwards, then?”

“A very sensible question. But you shall see. I will get rid of a few of

these clouds–only they do come up so fast! It's like trying to blow a

brook dry. There! What do you see now?”

“I think I see a little boat, away there, down below.”

“A little boat, indeed! Well! She's a yacht of two hundred tons; and the

captain of it is a friend of mine; for he is a man of good sense, and

can sail his craft well. I've helped him many a time when he little

thought it. I've heard him grumbling at me, when I was doing the very

best I could for him. Why, I've carried him eighty miles a day, again

and again, right north.”

“He must have dodged for that,” said Diamond, who had been watching the

vessels, and had seen that they went other ways than the wind blew.

“Of course he must. But don't you see, it was the best I could do? I

couldn't be South Wind. And besides it gave him a share in the business.

It is not good at all–mind that, Diamond–to do everything for those

you love, and not give them a share in the doing. It's not kind. It's

making too much of yourself, my child. If I had been South Wind, he

would only have smoked his pipe all day, and made himself stupid.”

“But how could he be a man of sense and grumble at you when you were

doing your best for him?”

“Oh! you must make allowances,” said North Wind, “or you will never do

justice to anybody.–You do understand, then, that a captain may sail

north–”

“In spite of a north wind–yes,” supplemented Diamond.

“Now, I do think you must be stupid, my dear” said North Wind. “Suppose

the north wind did not blow where would he be then?”

“Why then the south wind would carry him.”

“So you think that when the north wind stops the south wind blows.

Nonsense. If I didn't blow, the captain couldn't sail his eighty miles

a day. No doubt South Wind would carry him faster, but South Wind is

sitting on her doorstep then, and if I stopped there would be a dead

calm. So you are all wrong to say he can sail north in spite of me; he

sails north by my help, and my help alone. You see that, Diamond?”

“Yes, I do, North Wind. I am stupid, but I don't want to be stupid.”

“Good boy! I am going to blow you north in that little craft, one of the

finest that ever sailed the sea. Here we are, right over it. I shall

be blowing against you; you will be sailing against me; and all will be

just as we want it. The captain won't get on so fast as he would like,

but he will get on, and so shall we. I'm just going to put you on board.

Do you see in front of the tiller–that thing the man is working, now to

one side, now to the other–a round thing like the top of a drum?”

“Yes,” said Diamond.

“Below that is where they keep their spare sails, and some stores of

that sort. I am going to blow that cover off. The same moment I will

drop you on deck, and you must tumble in. Don't be afraid, it is of no

depth, and you will fall on sail-cloth. You will find it nice and warm

and dry-only dark; and you will know I am near you by every roll and

pitch of the vessel. Coil yourself up and go to sleep. The yacht shall

be my cradle and you shall be my baby.”

“Thank you, dear North Wind. I am not a bit afraid,” said Diamond.

In a moment they were on a level with the bulwarks, and North Wind sent

the hatch of the after-store rattling away over the deck to leeward. The

next, Diamond found himself in the dark, for he had tumbled through the

hole as North Wind had told him, and the cover was replaced over his

head. Away he went rolling to leeward, for the wind began all at once to

blow hard. He heard the call of the captain, and the loud trampling of

the men over his head, as they hauled at the main sheet to get the boom

on board that they might take in a reef in the mainsail. Diamond felt

about until he had found what seemed the most comfortable place, and

there he snuggled down and lay.

Hours after hours, a great many of them, went by; and still Diamond

lay there. He never felt in the least tired or impatient, for a strange

pleasure filled his heart. The straining of the masts, the creaking of

the boom, the singing of the ropes, the banging of the blocks as they

put the vessel about, all fell in with the roaring of the wind above,

the surge of the waves past her sides, and the thud with which every now

and then one would strike her; while through it all Diamond could hear

the gurgling, rippling, talking flow of the water against her planks,

as she slipped through it, lying now on this side, now on that–like a

subdued air running through the grand music his North Wind was making

about him to keep him from tiring as they sped on towards the country at

the back of her doorstep.

How long this lasted Diamond had no idea. He seemed to fall asleep

sometimes, only through the sleep he heard the sounds going on. At

length the weather seemed to get worse. The confusion and trampling of

feet grew more frequent over his head; the vessel lay over more and

more on her side, and went roaring through the waves, which banged and

thumped at her as if in anger. All at once arose a terrible uproar. The

hatch was blown off; a cold fierce wind swept in upon him; and a long

arm came with it which laid hold of him and lifted him out. The same

moment he saw the little vessel far below him righting herself. She had

taken in all her sails and lay now tossing on the waves like a sea-bird

with folded wings. A short distance to the south lay a much larger

vessel, with two or three sails set, and towards it North Wind was

carrying Diamond. It was a German ship, on its way to the North Pole.

“That vessel down there will give us a lift now,” said North Wind; “and

after that I must do the best I can.”

She managed to hide him amongst the flags of the big ship, which were

all snugly stowed away, and on and on they sped towards the north. At

length one night she whispered in his ear, “Come on deck, Diamond;” and

he got up at once and crept on deck. Everything looked very strange.

Here and there on all sides were huge masses of floating ice, looking

like cathedrals, and castles, and crags, while away beyond was a blue

sea.

“Is the sun rising or setting?” asked Diamond.

“Neither or both, which you please. I can hardly tell which myself. If

he is setting now, he will be rising the next moment.”

“What a strange light it is!” said Diamond. “I have heard that the sun

doesn't go to bed all the summer in these parts. Miss Coleman told me

that. I suppose he feels very sleepy, and that is why the light he sends

out looks so like a dream.”

“That will account for it well enough for all practical purposes,” said

North Wind.

Some of the icebergs were drifting northwards; one was passing very near

the ship. North Wind seized Diamond, and with a single bound lighted on

one of them–a huge thing, with sharp pinnacles and great clefts. The

same instant a wind began to blow from the south. North Wind hurried

Diamond down the north side of the iceberg, stepping by its jags and

splintering; for this berg had never got far enough south to be melted

and smoothed by the summer sun. She brought him to a cave near the

water, where she entered, and, letting Diamond go, sat down as if weary

on a ledge of ice.

Diamond seated himself on the other side, and for a while was enraptured

with the colour of the air inside the cave. It was a deep, dazzling,

lovely blue, deeper than the deepest blue of the sky. The blue seemed to

be in constant motion, like the blackness when you press your eyeballs

with your fingers, boiling and sparkling. But when he looked across to

North Wind he was frightened; her face was worn and livid.

“What is the matter with you, dear North Wind?” he said.

“Nothing much. I feel very faint. But you mustn't mind it, for I can

bear it quite well. South Wind always blows me faint. If it were not for

the cool of the thick ice between me and her, I should faint altogether.

Indeed, as it is, I fear I must vanish.”

Diamond stared at her in terror, for he saw that her form and face were

growing, not small, but transparent, like something dissolving, not in

water, but in light. He could see the side of the blue cave through her

very heart. And she melted away till all that was left was a pale face,

like the moon in the morning, with two great lucid eyes in it.

“I am going, Diamond,” she said.

“Does it hurt you?” asked Diamond.

“It's very uncomfortable,” she answered; “but I don't mind it, for I

shall come all right again before long. I thought I should be able to go

with you all the way, but I cannot. You must not be frightened though.

Just go straight on, and you will come all right. You'll find me on the

doorstep.”

As she spoke, her face too faded quite away, only Diamond thought he

could still see her eyes shining through the blue. When he went closer,

however, he found that what he thought her eyes were only two hollows in

the ice. North Wind was quite gone; and Diamond would have cried, if he

had not trusted her so thoroughly. So he sat still in the blue air of

the cavern listening to the wash and ripple of the water all about the

base of the iceberg, as it sped on and on into the open sea northwards.

It was an excellent craft to go with the current, for there was twice as

much of it below water as above. But a light south wind was blowing too,

and so it went fast.

After a little while Diamond went out and sat on the edge of his

floating island, and looked down into the ocean beneath him. The white

sides of the berg reflected so much light below the water, that he could

see far down into the green abyss. Sometimes he fancied he saw the eyes

of North Wind looking up at him from below, but the fancy never lasted

beyond the moment of its birth. And the time passed he did not know how,

for he felt as if he were in a dream. When he got tired of the green

water, he went into the blue cave; and when he got tired of the blue

cave he went out and gazed all about him on the blue sea, ever sparkling

in the sun, which kept wheeling about the sky, never going below the

horizon. But he chiefly gazed northwards, to see whether any land were

appearing. All this time he never wanted to eat. He broke off little

bits of the berg now and then and sucked them, and he thought them very

nice.

At length, one time he came out of his cave, he spied far off on the

horizon, a shining peak that rose into the sky like the top of some

tremendous iceberg; and his vessel was bearing him straight towards

it. As it went on the peak rose and rose higher and higher above the

horizon; and other peaks rose after it, with sharp edges and jagged

ridges connecting them. Diamond thought this must be the place he was

going to; and he was right; for the mountains rose and rose, till he saw

the line of the coast at their feet and at length the iceberg drove into

a little bay, all around which were lofty precipices with snow on their

tops, and streaks of ice down their sides. The berg floated slowly up to

a projecting rock. Diamond stepped on shore, and without looking behind

him began to follow a natural path which led windingly towards the top

of the precipice.

When he reached it, he found himself on a broad table of ice,

along which he could walk without much difficulty. Before him, at a

considerable distance, rose a lofty ridge of ice, which shot up into

fantastic pinnacles and towers and battlements. The air was very cold,

and seemed somehow dead, for there was not the slightest breath of wind.

In the centre of the ridge before him appeared a gap like the opening

of a valley. But as he walked towards it, gazing, and wondering whether

that could be the way he had to take, he saw that what had appeared a

gap was the form of a woman seated against the ice front of the ridge,

leaning forwards with her hands in her lap, and her hair hanging down to

the ground.

“It is North Wind on her doorstep,” said Diamond joyfully, and hurried

on.

He soon came up to the place, and there the form sat, like one of

the great figures at the door of an Egyptian temple, motionless, with

drooping arms and head. Then Diamond grew frightened, because she did

not move nor speak. He was sure it was North Wind, but he thought she

must be dead at last. Her face was white as the snow, her eyes were

blue as the air in the ice-cave, and her hair hung down straight, like

icicles. She had on a greenish robe, like the colour in the hollows of a

glacier seen from far off.

He stood up before her, and gazed fearfully into her face for a few

minutes before he ventured to speak. At length, with a great effort and

a trembling voice, he faltered out–

“North Wind!”

“Well, child?” said the form, without lifting its head.

“Are you ill, dear North Wind?”

“No. I am waiting.”

“What for?”

“Till I'm wanted.”

“You don't care for me any more,” said Diamond, almost crying now.