This rather irritating doctor , who was his private physician , felt the Duke 's heart immediately after any lady was presented , and then always shook his bald head and murmured , ` Cold , quite cold . ' Naturally Queen Mab felt disgraced , and first she tried the effect of ordering the court into tears for nine minutes , and then she blamed the Cupids and decreed that they should wear fools ' caps until they thawed the Duke 's frozen heart . ` How I should love to see the Cupids in their dear little fools ' caps ! ' Maimie cried , and away she ran to look for them very recklessly , for the Cupids hate to be laughed at . It is always easy to discover where a fairies ' ball is being held , as ribbons are stretched between it and all the populous parts of the Gardens , on which those invited may walk to the dance without wetting their pumps . This night the ribbons were red , and looked very pretty on the snow . -LSB- Illustration : She escorted them up the Baby Walk and back again -RSB- Maimie walked alongside one of them for some distance without meeting anybody , but at last she saw a fairy cavalcade approaching . To her surprise they seemed to be returning from the ball , and she had just time to hide from them by bending her knees and holding out her arms and pretending to be a garden chair . There were six horsemen in front and six behind ; in the middle walked a prim lady wearing a long train held up by two pages , and on the train , as if it were a couch , reclined a lovely girl , for in this way do aristocratic fairies travel about . She was dressed in golden rain , but the most enviable part of her was her neck , which was blue in colour and of a velvet texture , and of course showed off her diamond necklace as no white throat could have glorified it . The high-born fairies obtain this admired effect by pricking their skin , which lets the blue blood come through and dye them , and you can not imagine anything so dazzling unless you have seen the ladies ' busts in the jewellers ' windows . Maimie also noticed that the whole cavalcade seemed to be in a passion , tilting their noses higher than it can be safe for even fairies to tilt them , and she concluded that this must be another case in which the doctor had said , ` Cold , quite cold . ' -LSB- Illustration : An elderberry hobbled across the walk , and stood chatting with some young quinces -RSB- Well , she followed the ribbon to a place where it became a bridge over a dry puddle into which another fairy had fallen and been unable to climb out . At first this little damsel was afraid of Maimie , who most kindly went to her aid , but soon she sat in her hand chatting gaily and explaining that her name was Brownie , and that though only a poor street singer she was on her way to the ball to see if the Duke would have her . ` Of course , ' she said , ' I am rather plain , ' and this made Maimie uncomfortable , for indeed the simple little creature was almost quite plain for a fairy . It was difficult to know what to reply . ' I see you think I have no chance , ' Brownie said falteringly . ' I do n't say that , ' Maimie answered politely ; ` of course your face is just a tiny bit homely , but -- ' Really it was quite awkward for her . Fortunately she remembered about her father and the bazaar . He had gone to a fashionable bazaar where all the most beautiful ladies in London were on view for half a crown the second day , but on his return home , instead of being dissatisfied with Maimie 's mother , he had said , ` You ca n't think , my dear , what a relief it is to see a homely face again . '
Maimie repeated this story , and it fortified Brownie tremendously , indeed she had no longer the slightest doubt that the XXXXX would choose her .
Brownie Duke Gardens Mab Walk cavalcade colour elderberry jewellers minutes