“Here he is,” she cried to the Ice Lady; then to the Disconsolate Lover, “Here is your dream—the White Lady.”
The Disconsolate Lover turned, and he and the White Lady stared a moment at each other. Then what did he do, right before everybody in the hotel office, but take the White Lady in his arms. But not for long; you see he didn’t realize how awfully cold the White Lady was, while she didn’t realize how very warm he was, being from the South. So if he hadn’t let her go—she’d have melted. And the two poor creatures who thought so much of each other were kept apart. The Disconsolate Lover couldn’t kiss the White Lady’s hand.
“Oh, what shall we do?” sighed the White Lady. “I think so much of you—I do indeed; but you are fatal to me. If you come any nearer I’m sure I shall melt.”
“You freeze me through and through,” he answered; “but I don’t care for that—for you really are the most beautiful lady in the world.”
Then Maida had an inspiration, and she jumped up and down, clapping her hands with joy, for she had found a way to get them out of their troubles. “Come with us to the Wishing Post,” she cried, “and you can wish, each to be like the other.”
Everybody clapped their hands at this, and said it was a fine idea, so the Disconsolate Lover and the White Lady agreed to go along with them.
Chapter XII
“Now who’s going to show us the way across the Forbidden Land to the City of Illusia where the North Pole is?” asked Maida.
“Fido, of course,” the Candy Kid and Jack-in-the-Box replied together; so the three hurried off to find Fido. They discovered him drinking pink lemonade through a straw, lazily keeping cool with a palm leaf fan, and quickly explained what they wanted him to do. Greatly to their regret, as well as to his own, Fido could be of no assistance, as he had never been any further North than Arcturia. He was willing to go along with them, but he couldn’t lead the way. And although Maida and the Candy Kid and Jack-in-the-Box, as well as Billy and Santa, and the Man with the Growly Voice, looked about everywhere, they couldn’t find anyone to guide them to the City of Illusia. So they put an advertisement in the evening paper and waited. Very soon the big Chief Kankakee followed by pretty little Kokomo and a number of Eskimos filed into the office of the hotel. The Eskimos all sat down in a circle while Kankakee stood in the centre and made a fine speech. As nearly as we (Maida and I) can remember, the speech ran something like this: