Again the staring figures turned upon him all at once , and seemed to say , `` Is this the wife who has forsaken you ? '' A shadow fell upon the mirror or the picture : call it what you will . A great shadow of the Stranger , as he first stood underneath their roof ; covering its surface , and blotting out all other objects . But , the nimble Fairies worked like bees to clear it off again . And Dot again was there . Still bright and beautiful . Rocking her little Baby in its cradle , singing to it softly , and resting her head upon a shoulder which had its counterpart in the musing figure by which the Fairy Cricket stood . The night -- I mean the real night : not going by Fairy clocks -- was wearing now ; and , in this stage of the Carrier 's thoughts , the moon burst out , and shone brightly in the sky . Perhaps some calm and quiet light had risen also in his mind ; and he could think more soberly of what had happened . Although the shadow of the Stranger fell at intervals upon the glass -- always distinct , and big , and thoroughly defined -- it never fell so darkly as at first . Whenever it appeared , the Fairies uttered a general cry of consternation , and plied their little arms and legs with inconceivable activity to rub it out . And whenever they got at Dot again , and showed her to him once more , bright and beautiful , they cheered in the most inspiring manner . They never showed her otherwise than beautiful and bright , for they were Household Spirits to whom falsehood is an annihilation ; and being so , what Dot was there for them , but the one active , beaming , pleasant little creature who had been the light and sun of the Carrier 's Home ? The Fairies were prodigiously excited when they showed her , with the Baby , gossipping among a knot of sage old matrons , and affecting to be wondrous old and matronly herself , and leaning in a staid demure old way upon her husband 's arm , attempting -- she ! such a bud of a little woman -- to convey the idea of having abjured the vanities of the world in general , and of being the sort of person to whom it was no novelty at all to be a mother ; yet , in the same breath , they showed her laughing at the Carrier for being awkward , and pulling up his shirt collar to make him smart , and mincing merrily about that very room to teach him how to dance ! They turned , and stared immensely at him when they showed her with the Blind Girl ; for , though she carried cheerfulness and animation with her wheresoever she went , she bore those influences into Caleb Plummer 's home , heaped up and running over . The Blind Girl 's love for her , and trust in her , and gratitude to her ; her own good busy way of setting Bertha 's thanks aside ; her dexterous little arts for filling up each moment of the visit in doing something useful to the house , and really working hard while feigning to make holiday ; her bountiful provision of those standing delicacies , the Veal and Ham Pie and the bottles of Beer ; her radiant little face arriving at the door , and taking leave ; the wonderful expression in her whole self , from her neat foot to the crown of her head , of being a part of the establishment -- a something necessary to it , which it could n't be without , -- all this the Fairies revelled in , and loved her for . And once again they looked upon him all at once , appealingly , and seemed to say , while some among them nestled in her dress and fondled her , `` Is this the wife who has betrayed your confidence ? '' More than once , or twice , or thrice , in the long thoughtful night , they showed her to him sitting on her favourite seat , with her bent head , her hands clasped on her brow , her falling hair . As he had seen her last .
And when they found her thus , they neither turned nor looked XXXXX him , but gathered close round her , and comforted and kissed her , and pressed on one another , to show sympathy and kindness to her , and forgot him altogether .
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