They then said , `` Well-a-day , '' and `` Such is life ! '' for they can be frightfully sarcastic , but she felt sorry for those of them who had no crutches , and she said good-naturedly , `` Before I go to the fairies ' ball , I should like to take you for a walk one at a time ; you can lean on me , you know . '' At this they clapped their hands , and she escorted them up to the Baby Walk and back again , one at a time , putting an arm or a finger round the very frail , setting their leg right when it got too ridiculous , and treating the foreign ones quite as courteously as the English , though she could not understand a word they said . They behaved well on the whole , though some whimpered that she had not taken them as far as she took Nancy or Grace or Dorothy , and others jagged her , but it was quite unintentional , and she was too much of a lady to cry out . So much walking tired her and she was anxious to be off to the ball , but she no longer felt afraid . The reason she felt no more fear was that it was now night-time , and in the dark , you remember , Maimie was always rather strange . They were now loath to let her go , for , `` If the fairies see you , '' they warned her , `` they will mischief you , stab you to death or compel you to nurse their children or turn you into something tedious , like an evergreen oak . '' As they said this they looked with affected pity at an evergreen oak , for in winter they are very envious of the evergreens . `` Oh , la ! '' replied the oak bitingly , `` how deliciously cosy it is to stand here buttoned to the neck and watch you poor naked creatures shivering ! '' This made them sulky though they had really brought it on themselves , and they drew for Maimie a very gloomy picture of the perils that faced her if she insisted on going to the ball . She learned from a purple filbert that the court was not in its usual good temper at present , the cause being the tantalising heart of the Duke of Christmas Daisies . He was an Oriental fairy , very poorly of a dreadful complaint , namely , inability to love , and though he had tried many ladies in many lands he could not fall in love with one of them . Queen Mab , who rules in the Gardens , had been confident that her girls would bewitch him , but alas , his heart , the doctor said , remained cold . 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 .
XXXXX walked alongside one of them for some distance without meeting anybody , but at last she saw a fairy cavalcade approaching .
Dorothy Duke English Gardens Mab Maimie Nancy fall first minutes