The king was pleased to speak presently.  “And so you have finished your nap, daughter?” he said.

The Sleeping Beauty stood before him with a radiant face.  “And only observe who it was that awakened me!” she replied, inclining her head toward Everychild.

Said the king:  “He is the guest whose coming was foretold, no doubt.  Long ago it was written that one should awaken you and claim you as his bride.”

There was general delight and amazement at this:  so frankly manifested that the humblest of Everychild’s companions lost all sense of caution.  The smallest son of the Old Woman who lived in a shoe actually undertook to stand on his head, while the little black dog ran here and there barking with the utmost freedom.

In the general excitement Mr. Literal took occasion to remark to the Masked Lady:  “But—­dear me!—­it’s all fiction of the most extravagant character—­the account of the Sleeping Beauty and the rest of it!”

But the Masked Lady smiled in her puzzling way and said:  “When you would find the truth perfectly told, you will always find it in a story.  It is only facts which lead us hopelessly astray.”

However, the Sleeping Beauty was speaking again.  She was replying to what her father had said.  “That’s very nice, I’m sure!” she said.  And she turned to Everychild with a blissful smile.

It seemed the king did not mean that any time should be lost.  He turned majestically to the sergeant of the guard.  “Go,” said he, “and bid the trumpeter summon all within hearing to assemble in the chapel.”  Then, to those who were assembled in the room, “The wedding shall take place without delay.  Let us to the chapel.”

The sergeant disappeared, and almost immediately there was the sound of a bugle blowing on the castle wall.

The king and queen went out, followed by their train-bearers, pages and others.

Everychild hesitated; but the Sleeping Beauty, with a reassuring nod, took his hand, and they followed.

There was a moment’s confusion among Everychild’s companions; but they speedily got themselves into line.  Will o’Dreams led them; and there followed Hansel and Grettel, Little Bo-Peep and Little Boy Blue, Prince Arthur and Tom Hubbard, the children of the Old Woman who lived in a shoe, and last of all the little black dog.

Only Cinderella, with a certain strange quiet upon her, remained in her place, while the Masked Lady and Mr. Literal stood regarding her.

Words broke from her tremulously:  “And so it is to be the Sleeping Beauty!  I had hoped . . . there was to be one who would find my crystal slipper and come for me . . .”

She had scarcely uttered the words when the Masked Lady stepped forward and touched her face with gentle fingers and kissed her brow.

A happy transformation occurred in Cinderella’s face.  She stood gazing into vacancy a moment, her eyes shining.  An instant later she dashed from the room, to be present at the wedding ceremony.  Already, in the distance, the strains of the Lohengrin march could be heard.