`Are you ready?' asked the eldest.

`Yes,' replied the other eleven in chorus, and they took their
places one by one behind her.

Then the eldest Princess clapped her hands three times and a
trap door opened. All the princesses disappeared down a secret
staircase, and Michael hastily followed them.

As he was following on the steps of the Princess Lina, he
carelessly trod on her dress.

`There is somebody behind me,' cried the Princess; `they are
holding my dress.'

`You foolish thing,' said her eldest sister, `you are always afraid
of something. It is only a nail which caught you.'


VII


They went down, down, down, till at last they came to a passage
with a door at one end, which was only fastened with a latch. The
eldest Princess opened it, and they found themselves immediately
in a lovely little wood, where the leaves were spangled with drops
of silver which shone in the brilliant light of the moon.

They next crossed another wood where the leaves were sprinkled
with gold, and after that another still, where the leaves glittered