`` If the earth is ever again to see any verdure , it must first grow along the path which my daughter will tread in coming back to me . '' Finally , as there seemed to be no other remedy , our old friend Quicksilver was sent post-haste to King Pluto , in hopes that he might be persuaded to undo the mischief he had done , and to set everything right again , by giving up Proserpina . Quicksilver accordingly made the best of his way to the great gate , took a flying leap right over the three-headed mastiff , and stood at the door of the palace in an inconceivably short time . The servants knew him both by his face and garb ; for his short cloak , and his winged cap and shoes , and his snaky staff had often been seen thereabouts in times gone by . He requested to be shown immediately into the king 's presence ; and Pluto , who heard his voice from the top of the stairs , and who loved to recreate himself with Quicksilver 's merry talk , called out to him to come up . And while they settle their business together , we must inquire what Proserpina had been doing ever since we saw her last . The child had declared , as you may remember , that she would not taste a mouthful of food as long as she should be compelled to remain in King Pluto 's palace . How she contrived to maintain her resolution , and at the same time to keep herself tolerably plump and rosy , is more than I can explain ; but some young ladies , I am given to understand , possess the faculty of living on air , and Proserpina seems to have possessed it too . At any rate , it was now six months since she left the outside of the earth ; and not a morsel , so far as the attendants were able to testify , had yet passed between her teeth . This was the more creditable to Proserpina , inasmuch as King Pluto had caused her to be tempted day by day , with all manner of sweetmeats , and richly-preserved fruits , and delicacies of every sort , such as young people are generally most fond of . But her good mother had often told her of the hurtfulness of these things ; and for that reason alone , if there had been no other , she would have resolutely refused to taste them . All this time , being of a cheerful and active disposition , the little damsel was not quite so unhappy as you may have supposed . The immense palace had a thousand rooms , and was full of beautiful and wonderful objects . There was a never-ceasing gloom , it is true , which half hid itself among the innumerable pillars , gliding before the child as she wandered among them , and treading stealthily behind her in the echo of her footsteps . Neither was all the dazzle of the precious stones , which flamed with their own light , worth one gleam of natural sunshine ; nor could the most brilliant of the many-colored gems , which Proserpina had for playthings , vie with the simple beauty of the flowers she used to gather . But still , whenever the girl went among those gilded halls and chambers , it seemed as if she carried nature and sunshine along with her , and as if she scattered dewy blossoms on her right hand and on her left . After Proserpina came , the palace was no longer the same abode of stately artifice and dismal magnificence that it had before been . The inhabitants all felt this , and King Pluto more than any of them . `` My own little Proserpina , '' he used to say . `` I wish you could like me a little better .
We gloomy and cloudy-natured persons have often XXXXX warm hearts , at bottom , as those of a more cheerful character .
At along as by in into than that to while