"But Laddie,I do!I'm not a baby!I know how people love and make homes for themselves,like Sally and Peter are going to.If it is with you about the Princess as it is with father and mother,why I do know.""All right!Here we are!"said Laddie.
He parted the willows and we stepped on the Magic Carpet,and that minute the Magic worked.I forgot every awful,solemn,troublous thing we had been talking about,and looked around while Laddie knelt and hunted for a letter,and there was none.
That meant the Princess was coming,so we sat on the throne to wait.We hadn't remembered to bathe my cheek,we had been so busy when we passed the water,and I doubt if we were thinking much then.We just waited.The willow walls waved gently,the moss carpet was spotted with little gold patches of sunlight,in the shade a few of the red flowers still bloomed,and big,lazy bumblebees hummed around them,or a hummingbird stood on air before them.A sort of golden throbbing filled the woods,and my heart began to leap,why,I don't know;but I'm sure Laddie's did too,for I looked at him and his eyes were shining as I never had seen them before,while his cheeks were a little red,and he was breathing like when you've been running;then suddenly his body grew tense against mine,and that meant she was coming.
Like that first day,she came slowly through the woods,stopping here and there to touch the trunk of a tree,put back a branch,or bend over a flower face.Brown as the wood floor was her dress,and cardinal flowers blazed on her breast,and the same colour showed on her cheeks and lips.Her eyes were like Laddie's for brightness,and she was breathing the same way.I thought sure there was going to be something to remember a lifetime--I was so excited I couldn't stand still.Before it could happen Laddie went and said it was a "beautiful day,"and she said "it didn't show in the woods,but the pastures needed rain."Then she kissed me.Well if I ever!I sank on the throne and sat there.They went on talking like that,until it was too dull to bear,so I slipped out and wandered away to see what I could find.When I grew tired and went back,Laddie was sitting on the Magic Carpet with his back against the beech,and the Princess was on the throne reading from a little book,reading such interesting things that I decided to listen.After a while she came to this:
"Thou are mated with a clown,And the grossness of his nature,will have weight to bear thee down."Laddie threw back his head,and how he laughed!The Princess put down the book and looked at him so surprised.
"Are you reading that to me because you think it appropriate?"asked Laddie.
"I am reading it because it is conceded to be one of the most beautiful poems ever written,"said the Princess.
"You knew when you began that you would come to those lines.""I never even thought of such a thing."
"But you knew that is how your father would regard any relationship,friendly or deeper,with me!""I cannot possibly be held responsible for what my father thinks.""It is natural that you should think alike."
"Not necessarily!You told me recently that you didn't agree with your father on many subjects.""Kindly answer me this,"said Laddie:"Do you feel that I'm a `clown'because I'm not schooled to the point on all questions of good manners?Do you find me gross because I plow and sow?""You surprise me,"said the Princess."My consenting to know and to spend a friendly hour with you here is sufficient answer.I have not found the slightest fault with your manners.I have seen no suspicion of `grossness'about you.""Will you tell me,frankly,exactly what you do think of me?""Surely!I think you are a clean,decent man,who occasionally kindly consents to put a touch of human interest into an hour,for a very lonely girl.What has happened,Laddie?This is not like you."Laddie sat straight and studied the beech branches.Father said beech trees didn't amount to much;but I first learned all about them from that one,and what it taught me made me almost worship them always.There were the big trunk with great rough spreading roots,the bark in little ridges in places,smooth purple gray between,big lichens for ornament,the low flat branches,the waxy,wavy-edged leaves,with clear veins,and the delicious nuts in their little brown burrs.The Princess and I both stared at the branches and waited while a little breath of air stirred the leaves,the sunshine flickered,and a cricket sang a sort of lonesome song.Laddie leaned against the tree again,and he was thinking so hard,to look at him made me begin to repeat to myself the beech part of that beautiful churchyard poem our big folks recite:
