“‘But we care,’ said Maia. ‘It isn’t creditable to our family. What will the Stranger think, to see you different from us?’
“So they talked—and talked—”
“Why didn’t they give her a star?—like Little Bear?” asked the Kitten.
“They would have given it, gladly, but Merope wouldn’t take it; and, what is more, none of them had a star of the right kind to give.”
“They’re terribly particular about them, aren’t they?” said Phyllisy.
“They have to be,” answered the Princess. “But not in the way they were now. Those foolish people went on talking, and fixed their eyes and their thoughts on the star until they quite lost their senses, and it seemed the most calamitous thing that could happen—that the splendid Stranger should come from the Far-Away Isles and see Merope with the puzzling star above her forehead.
“One night, at this time, Perseus came along by the river, and there he found Merope sitting alone. She was thinking so deeply she didn’t see him until he was close beside her.
HE FOUND MEROPE SITTING ALONE
“‘Where are the rest of you?’ he asked.