"Then there is a Cinderella, after all?" I cried joyfully. "Where are the pumpkins?" glancing about.
"I believe that several of them have gone hunting for the slipper."
I was delighted. Three witty women all in one night, and two of them charming. It was more than a man had any right to expect.
"You have really and truly lost a slipper?"
"Really and truly; only I am not the Cinderella you are looking for." From under her skirt there came into view (immediately to disappear) a small scarlet slipper.
I was very much taken aback.
"Red?" said I. "Ah, I have it. The wicked fairy has cast a spell over the slipper and turned it white."
"That would simplify everything ... if we lived in fairy-tale times. Oh, dear, there are no fairies nowadays, and I wonder how in the world I am to get home."
"You have the pumpkins and the mice."