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 rec-
reate 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 has 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 lo 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 Proserpi la, inasmuch
as King Pluto had caused her to be tempted

[[258]]

p257 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p258w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p259

v?