And then she said, in a voice which would have set the birds to singing, if there had been any near by—­

“Is it you, my prince?  You have waited a long while!”

CHAPTER XXIII

THE AWAKENING

No sooner had the Sleeping Beauty spoken than a number of things began to happen.

The other sleepers in the room opened their eyes.

The lady of honor was the first to attract attention.  She stirred and placed her fingers against her lips in a very elegant manner to suppress a yawn.  Then she exclaimed very audibly:  “Bless my soul—­I must have dropped off for a moment!”

The sergeant of the guard was seen to open his eyes and glare very suspiciously at the spear-bearer nearest to him.  He exclaimed, upon noting the stupid expression in the spear-bearer’s eyes—­“Ah-ha!  I caught you asleep, did I?”

To which the spear-bearer replied nervously, “Not to say asleep, exactly, I just closed my eyes because a bit of smoke got into them.”

The scullion by the fireplace opened his eyes and sat quite still for an instant, all his attention concentrated upon the others in the room, at whom, however, he was afraid to look.  It was his aim to conceal from them the fact that he had been asleep.

The kettle on the crane in the fireplace began to sing cheerfully and an appetizing odor arose.  Flames began to dance in the fireplace.

The lady of honor with affected testiness addressed the Sleeping Beauty.  “It’s high time you were stirring, I should say,” was her comment.  “It seems to me we are all becoming quite indolent!”

The Sleeping Beauty would not respond to her mood of bustling levity.  She gazed wonderingly and patiently at the lady of honor; and then turning her attention to Everychild she said in a dreamy voice—­

“I think I shall rise!”

She offered her hand to Everychild, and he assisted her to her feet.  I am informed that “he took care not to tell her that she was dressed like her great-grandmother, and had a point band peeping over a high collar.”  My own belief is that perhaps he scarcely noticed this.

They moved forward, the Sleeping Beauty maintaining an air of dreaminess, while Everychild simply could not remove his eyes from her—­she was so perfect!

All the others in the room were silent, gazing now at the Sleeping Beauty, and now at Everychild.

And just at that moment there were evidences of new life in the adjoining apartments.  You could hear some one playing on a spinnet.  A sentry on a distant wall called the hour.  Lords and ladies could be heard laughing together.  And then there was a great to-do; the king and queen, father and mother of the Sleeping Beauty, entered the room!

There was now a respectful silence for you!  You could have heard a pin drop.  Little train-bearers came behind the king and queen.  Then came lords and ladies, and then the court chamberlain, and at last a few others whose functions I cannot even name.