"Why, yes," said the fairy, "if that's the one you want. Now fix your
eyes on it while I count."

Then the Counterpane Fairy began to count. He heard her voice going on
and on and on. "FORTY-NINE!" she cried.

* * * * * * *

When Teddy looked about him he saw that he was standing in a long hall
of white marble veined with silver. There were arches and pillars of
silver and all the walls 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