'No,' said Hildegarde, 'we shall be very careful. Come along, Leonore.'
'Shall we find you here when we come back, please, dear fairy lady?' asked Leonore.
'You will not return this way,' their friend answered. 'But you will see me again before long—never fear.'
She pointed towards the passage, and as she did so it seemed to the children that the light increased, as if her white hand had touched some unseen spring in the air. Nor did it grow dimmer again—though not very bright, it was now twice as bright as when they first entered, only the colour had grown reddish; and as they walked on, they noticed this more and more.
'It looks like the light of a fire, of a great fire,' said Leonore.
'Or of a great many fires,' said Hildegarde. 'I daresay it is that, for I have heard stories of the gnomes working at metals, and to do that they must have big fires like blacksmiths, you know.'
'I hope it won't be very hot in their country,' said Leonore, who was more timid than Hildegarde.
'It will be all right whatever it is,' replied her friend, 'otherwise you may be sure our fairy would not have let us come. Gnomeland is the nearest to our world of all the fairy countries—or the border countries, as they are, I suppose—so it is right to begin with it. But you needn't be frightened, Leonore. I hope we shall have lots of adventures, now we have really got started.'
'You are so brave,' said Leonore admiringly, 'and you seem to know so much about fairy things. What are all the other countries, do you think?'
Hildegarde smiled.