"
And then came one covered with flowers and berries, and another with
fruits, and another with shells, and so on through the whole fifteen.
They hung now in little Star's window, a strange and piteous record;
and every night before the child said her prayers, she kissed the
first and last shell, and then prayed that Daddy Captain might forget
the "dreadful time," and never, never think about it again.
So, on this gray day, when other things were going on out-of-doors,
Star was having a "good time" in her room. She had found in the
treasure-chest a short mantle of gold-coloured velvet, which made
"a just exactly skirt" for her, the two ends trailing behind enough
to give her a sense of dignity, but not enough to impede her
movements. "For I am not a princess to-day!" she said; "I am delicate
Ariel, and the long ones get round my feet so I can't run." Then came
a long web of what she called "sunshine," and really it might have
been woven of sunbeams, so airy-light was the silken gauze of the
fabric. This my lady had wound round and round her small person with
considerable art, the fringed ends hanging from either shoulder, and
making, to her mind, a fair substitute for wings. "See!" she cried,
running to and fro, and glancing backward as she ran.
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