“You! Who are you?” cried the father in astonishment. [[194]]
“I’m Lily, father,” she cried out, with a great sob.
“Lily! Why, Lily is in the dining-room with mamma.”
“No; I am Lily, your own naughty little girl, and—I broke the clock. There!” she sobbed aloud. “The Moths took me away because I told you a falsehood, and they only gave me old faded rose-leaves to wear, and the legs of locusts to eat, and made me drink dew out of the cups of the flowers; and see what a great, long, ugly tongue they have given me for telling that story.”
The trilling voice sounded very remorseful, and the little hand clung nervously to the father, who immediately led the little one into the dining-room.
The first thing on which the eyes of the man rested was the vacant seat of Scarlet Mantle.
“Hallo! Where’s the other one?” he cried.
“The other one?” repeated his wife. “What other one, dear?”
“The—the child, Lily,” replied the astonished pater.
The good woman laughed, and answered, “There she is, at your side,”