“That will be very nice; but who shall hide first?”
They had a little consultation about that very important matter, when it was decided that Nellie should hide first. It was most peculiar that the name Nellie came quite natural to the dreamer, though she had been called Maggie, Meg, and sometimes Peggy as long as she could remember.
So Nellie went to hide, and she hid behind a rosebush, and there she found a great hole in the ground big enough for her to creep into. Ere she had settled herself, Nellie found that the hole led to a dark passage, with a soft light glimmering at the end of it. Still wondering, she went towards the light. Passing along through several archways, the child emerged into a splendid cavern, lit up with many coloured, sparkling lights from thousands of precious stones, with which the sides and roof of the place were studded. While she was standing awe-struck with amazement at this magnificent place, she heard by her side a flutter of light wings, and turning, saw hovering [[233]]over her a beautiful little creature with long hair, which glittered like woven sunbeams. The form was rose-hued in colour, and from its shoulders sprang green wings, sheeny and lustrous as the throat of a humming-bird.
“THE LOVELY BEING TOOK NELLIE BY THE HAND.”
“Come!” warbled the being, and the voice was dreamy and sweet, like the “coo” of a stock dove. “Come, and I will show you something wonderful.”
And the lovely being took Nellie by the hand, and led the child through a cleft in the rock to [[234]]another room which was lined, roof, walls, and floor, with soft green moss. All round the room were hung beautiful garlands adorned with diamonds. Some fairly blazed again with gems, others contained only a few, fixed here and there, while fairy-like forms flitted to and fro continually, bearing in their hands more gems, which they fixed into the garlands. The dreamer was very much surprised at what she beheld.
“Where do they get all those diamonds to put into the garlands?” she inquired of her companion.
“The diamonds,” answered her conductor, “are the tears of sorrow shed by the unhappy people in the world; for always while they are weeping there are unseen watchers ready waiting to receive their tears and convey them here.”
“And what are those very large gems, that shine so brightly in the middle of the finished garlands?”