“Yes,” said Fleecy. “I see the lights over in the palace now. They are bringing out the chariot.”
“We had better go,” she said to Tina, and they got out of the hammock, and went and stood by the palace steps.
Very soon there was a rustle. It grew lighter and lighter. Down the steps came first a beautiful maiden bearing a lighted taper, that shone with the fairest, purest light.
“That is Venus,” whispered Fleecy. “She is the Evening Star now, and goes ahead of the queen.”
Then came a procession of other stars, and next them the queen herself.
“How fair and lovely she is!” said Tina.
She wore a dress of spun silver, and a crown of diamonds on her head.
As she passed along, Tina saw quantities of figures on each side the steps, a long procession of them that extended to the sea.
“Those are clouds,” whispered Fleecy, quietly. “Stay here. I must go and take my place among them.”
Tina stood at the foot of the steps. As the queen passed along, the crowd made way, and she went through them until she came to Tina.