Strangest of all was the fact that Will o’Dreams went about with the other children, guided by the sound of their voices, and by an occasional touch of Everychild’s hand; and one after another he tested the pool and the paths and the stairs and the beds.

“Ah, how good it is to have them!” he said at last with a great sigh; and soon after he had sunk into deep and refreshing slumber.

Nor were the others long in following his example.  They had traveled far; and it seemed good to rest now, especially as they believed they might look forward to happy and wonderful experiences on the morrow.

CHAPTER XXIX

THE MASKED LADY’S SECRET

Toward morning Everychild had a dream.  In his dream his mother came and stood near him, and looked at him wonderingly and sadly.  And then—­in the dream—­his father could be seen, standing apart and slowly shaking his head.

It seemed that there was a cry of joy in his throat, and that he ran to embrace his mother.  He felt that he should weep for joy when he flung his arms about her neck and felt her face touching his.

But then he awoke, and his parents were not there:  but only the great chamber in the heart of the mountain, and all the other children rising from their beds, eager to begin a new day.

He could not rid his mind of the vivid dream, nor his heart of the strange softness it had brought.  And as soon as he could do so he sought the Masked Lady, his intention being to inquire of her what his dream had meant.

She stood waiting for him, as it seemed, and he approached her with increasing eagerness.  And now he perceived that she was no longer wearing the dress of a piper, but had on the soft white dress in which he had first beheld her, and wore a jewel in her hair.

He had the strange thought that she might be really beautiful if only she would remove the mask which gave her face that distant expression and almost hid her eyes.  And he remembered, all of a sudden, how he had often been helped by her, and how she had always been near, as if she wished to help him even more, and how she had comforted him that night when he had seen a star fall by assuring him that he was a little bit of God.

He began speaking to her with a new feeling of constraint.  “I dreamed of seeing my mother and father last night,” he said.

She smiled faintly.  “I know,” she replied.  “All the other children had the same dream.  That is what all children dream of here in this chamber.”

He opened his eyes very wide.  How could she know what all the other children had dreamed, since it did not appear that they had told her of their dreams?  But he continued:  “They seemed a little sad,” he said.  “My mother’s eyes were troubled, and my father shook his head.”

“Yes, Everychild?”

“And I wondered if I might not see them again, really.  It would be good to see them again; and you know I have come so far . . .”