again.

This day's adventure, however, did not turn out like yesterday's,
although it began like it; and indeed to- day is very seldom like
yesterday, if people would note the differences - even when it
rains. The princess ran through passage after passage, and could
not find the stair of the tower. My own suspicion is that she had
not gone up high enough, and was searching on the second instead of
the third floor. When she turned to go back, she failed equally in
her search after the stair. She was lost once more.

Something made it even worse to bear this time, and it was no
wonder that she cried again. Suddenly it occurred to her that it
was after having cried before that she had found her grandmother's
stair. She got up at once, wiped her eyes, and started upon a
fresh quest.

This time, although she did not find what she hoped, she found what
was next best: she did not come on a stair that went up, but she
came upon one that went down. It was evidently not the stair she
had come up, yet it was a good deal better than none; so down she
went, and was singing merrily before she reached the bottom.
There, to her surprise, she found herself in the kitchen. Although
she was not allowed to go there alone, her nurse had often taken
her, and she was a great favourite with the servants. So there was
a general rush at her the moment she appeared, for every one wanted
to have her; and the report of where she was soon reached the
nurse's ears. She came at once to fetch her; but she never
suspected how she had got there, and the princess kept her own
counsel.