where the ass's head declares "There are two of us;" while every
child had some absurdity to show; and Miss Moy's shrieks of delight
were already audible at a tortoise-shell pen-holder disguised as a
hunting-whip.

"I must go to my friends," said Cecil, vouchsafing no admiration of
the ring, though she had seen enough to perceive that it was a
beautifully engraved ruby; and she hurried back to the library, but
only to find all her birds flown, and the room empty! Pursuing them
to the drawing-room, she saw only the backs of a few, in the
rearmost rank of the eager candidates for admission to the magic
cave.

Lady Tyrrell alone saw her, and turned back from the eager
multitude, to say in her low, modulated voice, "Beaten, my dear.
Able strategy on la belle mere's part."

"Where's Mrs. Tallboys?"

"Don't you see her blue feather, eagerly expectant? Just after you
were gone, Edith Bowater came in, and begged us to come and see the
conservatory lighted up; and then came a rush of the Brenden
children after their aunt, exclaiming wildly it was delicious--
lights, and a fairy, and a secret, and every one got something, if
they were ever so old. Of course, after that there was nothing but
to follow the stream."

"It is a regular plot for outwitting us! Rosamond is dressed up for
the fairy. They are all in league."