Beauty did not believe this, but the Beast spoke so gently that she no longer feared him and when the time came for her father to go she bade him good-by and did not grieve him by weeping.
After that Beauty lived there in the Beast’s castle and was well content. Every day she went out into the gardens, and the Beast came and played with her for awhile, and she grew very fond of him. Every day before he left her he said, “Beauty, are you willing to marry me?”
But always Beauty answered, “No, dear Beast, I do not wish to marry you.”
Then the Beast would sigh heavily and go away.
One day Beauty was sitting before a large mirror in her room, and she was sad because she had not seen her father for so long.
“I wish,” said she, “that I could see what my dear father is doing at this moment.”
As she said this she raised her eyes to the mirror. What was her surprise to see in it the reflection of a room quite different from the one she was in. It was a room in her own home that she saw reflected there. She saw in it the images of her father and sisters. She could see them smile and move, and she could tell exactly what they were doing. She found she could watch them in the mirror for as long as she pleased and whenever she pleased.
After this Beauty often came to sit before the mirror, and she had only to wish it and she could see her home, and all that was going on there.
But one day when she sat down before the glass she saw that her father was ill. He lay upon his bed so pale and weak that Beauty was terrified. She jumped up and ran out into the garden calling for the Beast.
At once he appeared before her. “What is it?” asked the Beast anxiously. “What has frightened you, Beauty?”