"Is it much farther, Anna?"
"This is the easy part of the climb, Greta. Don't give up yet."
They kept on climbing. The stairs wound round and round, and as the girls went higher and higher the stairs became more and more narrow. Finally they came to the place where the stairs were so narrow and so steep that a rope had been hung from the top to help those who climbed. It was like climbing the side of a mountain.
"Now we've come to the hard part," said Anna. "Take hold of this rope and don't let go."
"Anna, do you think we ought to go any higher?" Greta was frightened but she didn't want to admit it.
"Why, of course. There is no point in climbing this far and then stopping. You aren't afraid, are you, Greta?"
"I guess not."
"Don't look down at all, and then you'll be all right," advised Anna.
All of a sudden Greta remembered what her father had told her when she was climbing the tower in the forest. "A girl who is named after a queen must not be afraid of anything." After all, what was there to be afraid of? The stairs were narrow and steep, but she would hold tightly to the rope and she would be quite safe.
When Greta was about ten steps from the top, she did glance down and saw a handkerchief lying on the step below her. Very carefully she backed down one step, holding to the rope with her left hand and clutching her purse with her right. As she took her left hand off the rope to pick up the handkerchief, she started to lose her balance. In terror she grabbed at the rope. She didn't fall, but the handkerchief fell six or seven steps below her.