Page:Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1912, Hodder & Stoughton).djvu/272

 of the Lord Chamberlain, and the ladies of the court leapt into the arms of her gentlemen, for it is etiquette to follow her example in everything. Thus in a single moment about fifty marriages took place, for if you leap into each other’s arms it is a fairy wedding. Of course a clergyman has to be present.

How the crowd cheered and leapt! Trumpets brayed, the moon came out, and immediately a thousand couples seized hold of its rays as if they were ribbons in a May dance and waltzed in wild abandon round the fairy ring. Most gladsome sight of all, the Cupids plucked the hated fools’ caps from their heads and cast them high in the air. And then Maimie went and spoiled everything.

She couldn't help it. She was crazy with delight over her little friend’s good fortune, so she took several steps forward and cried in an ecstasy, ‘O Brownie, how splendid!’

Everybody stood still, the music ceased, the lights went out, and all in the time you may take to say, ‘Oh dear!’ An awful sense of her peril came upon Maimie; too late she remembered that she was a lost child in a place where no human must