Page:The Father Confessor, Stories of Danger and Death.djvu/80

70 you will be grander than Cinderella when I am a great artist."

"And I will buy you a blue velvet suit with a lace collar and emerald rings on all your fingers."

"Men don't wear rings," said the boy; "but we shall have a gold coach, like the Lord Mayor's, and six white horses, and a house of white marble."

Here he came to the door of his own humble home.

"Lady," he said, with a remembrance of a beloved fairy story, bowing and extending his hand, "permit me to help you over this rugged and dangerous path."

The little lady in the blue cotton frock curtsied low, and with a gracious smile, "Thank you, my lord," held out her chubby, weather-reddened hand. The young lord in corduroys kissed it, and led her up the path to the door of the house.

"I am your true knight," he said, "and if in danger or deadly peril, blow three blasts upon this horn." He held a battered dog-whistle towards her. "When I hear it I will go through fire and water——"