Page:Little Daffydowndilly-1887.djvu/44

40 &ldquo;Look here, Peony! Come quickly! A light has been shining on her cheek out of that rose-colored cloud! and the color does not go away! Is not that beautiful!&rdquo; &ldquo;Yes; it is beau-ti-ful,&rdquo; answered Peony, pronouncing the three syllables with deliberate accuracy. &ldquo;O Violet, only look at her hair! It is all like gold!&rdquo;

&ldquo;Oh certainly,&rdquo; said Violet, with tranquillity, as if it were very much a matter of course. &ldquo;That color, you know, comes from the golden clouds, that we see up there in the sky. She is almost finished now. But her lips must be made very red,&mdash;redder than her cheeks. Perhaps, Peony, it will make them red if we both kiss them!&rdquo;

Accordingly, the mother heard two smart little smacks, as if both her children were kissing the snow-image on its frozen mouth. But, as this did not seem to make the lips quite red enough, Violet next proposed that the snow-child should be invited to kiss Peony&rsquo;s scarlet cheek.

&ldquo;Come, &rsquo;ittle snow-sister, kiss me!&rdquo; cried Peony.

&ldquo;There! she has kissed you,&rdquo; added Violet, &ldquo;and now her lips are very red. And she blushed a little, too!&rdquo;

&ldquo;Oh, what a cold kiss!&rdquo; cried Peony.

Just then, there came a breeze of the pure west-wind, sweeping through the garden and rattling the parlor-windows. It sounded so wintry cold, that the mother was about to tap on the window-pane with her thimbled finger, to summon the two children in, when they both cried out to her with one voice. The tone was not a tone of surprise, although they were evidently a good deal excited; it appeared rather as if they were very much rejoiced at some event that had