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 as warm hearts , at bottom , as those of a more cheerful character . If you would only stay with me of your own accord , it would make me happier than the possession of a hundred such palaces as this . '' `` Ah , '' said Proserpina , `` you should have tried to make me like you before carrying me off . And the best thing you can now do is , to let me go again . Then I might remember you sometimes , and think that you were as kind as you knew how to be . Perhaps , too , one day or other , I might come back , and pay you a visit . '' `` No , no , '' answered Pluto , with his gloomy smile , `` I will not trust you for that . You are too fond of living in the broad daylight , and gathering flowers . What an idle and childish taste that is ! Are not these gems , which I have ordered to be dug for you , and which are richer than any in my crown -- are they not prettier than a violet ? '' `` Not half so pretty , '' said Proserpina , snatching the gems from Pluto 's hand , and flinging them to the other end of the hall . `` O my sweet violets , shall I never see you again ? '' And then she burst into tears . But young people 's tears have very little saltness or acidity in them , and do not inflame the eyes so much as those of grown persons ; so that it is not to be wondered at , if , a few moments afterwards , Proserpina was sporting through the hall almost as merrily as she and the four sea nymphs had sported along the edge of the surf wave . King Pluto gazed after her , and wished that he , too , was a child . And little Proserpina , when she turned about , and beheld this great king standing in his splendid hall , and looking so grand , and so melancholy , and so lonesome , was smitten with a kind of pity . She ran back to him , and , for the first time in all her life , put her small , soft hand in his .
`` I love you a little , '' whispered she , looking up XXXXX his face .
along at before from in into like than through to