author:Frances Hodgson Burnett

“ IT was such a strange thing—so unlike the things of every day, and so totally an unexpected thing, that for a little while they all three had a sense of scarcely knowing what to do with themselves. If Robin and Meg had not somehow rather liked the man and vaguely felt him friendly, and if there had not been in their impressionable minds that fancy about his being far from as happy as the other people of the crowds looked, it is more than probable that they would not have liked their position, and would have felt that it might spoil their pleasure. ”

“ Meg sat up in the straw, conscious of a sort of shock.
"To go by ourselves! like grown-up people! To buy our tickets ourselves and get on the train and go all the way alone—and walk about the Fair alone! Robin!"
"Who takes care of us here?" answered Robin. "Who has looked after us ever since father and mother died? Ourselves! just ourselves! Whose business are we but our own! Who thinks of us or asks if we are happy or unhappy?" ”

“ A new and wonderful thing, better than their old books, even better than the stories Meg made, when she lay on the straw, her elbows supporting her, her cheeks on her hands, and her black-lashed grey eyes staring into space. Hers were always good stories, full of palaces and knights and robber-chiefs and fairies, but this new thing had the thrill of being a fairy story which was real—so real that one could read about it in the newspapers, and everybody was talking about it, even Aunt Matilda, her neighbours, and the work hands on the farm. ”

“ The picture which remained with them and haunted them like a fair dream was that of a white and splendid archway, crowned with one of the great stories of the world in marble, the story of the triumph of the man, in whom the god was so strong that his dreams, the working of his mind, his strength, his courage, his suffering wrested from the silence of the Unknown a new and splendid world. ”

“ Standing upon a fairy bridge, looking over shining canals crossed by these fairy bridges again and again, the gold sun lighting snow-white columns, archways, towers and minarets, statues and rushing fountains, flowers and palms, her child eyes filled with a deep, strange glow of joy and dreaming.
She leaned upon the balustrade in her favourite fashion, her chin upon her hands.
"We need not pretend it is a fairy story, Robin," she said. "It is a fairy story—but it is real. Who ever thought a fairy story could come true. ”

“ As she dived into the story of the Genie who strode through tropical forests and deep jungles, over purple moors and up mountain-sides where strange-hued, pale or vivid things grew in tangles, or standing in the sun alone, John Holt became of the opinion that his experiment would be a success. It was here that he began to find he had gifts to give. She asked him questions, Robin and Ben asked him questions, the three drew close to him and hung on his every word.
"You know the things and the places where they grow," Meg said. "We have never seen anything. We can only try to imagine. ”

“ If they had never known any other life, or if Nature had not given them the big, questioning eyes, and square little jaws and strong nervous little fists, they might have been content to sink into careless idleness and apathy. No one was actively unkind to them—they had their Straw Parlour and were free to amuse themselves as they chose. But they had been made of the material of which the world's workers are built, and their young hearts were full of a restlessness and longing whose full significance they themselves did not comprehend. ”

“ For a few moments Robin and Meg were overwhelmed. They did not quite know what to do; everybody pushed past and jostled them. No one was ill-natured, but no one had time to be polite. They were so young and so strange to all such worlds of excitement and rush. Involuntarily they clutched each other's hands after their time-honoured fashion when they were near each other and overpowered. The human vortex caught them up and carried them along, not knowing where they were going.
"We seem so little!" gasped Meg. "There—there are so many people. ”

“ And the exaltation and thrill of it got into their young blood and made them feel as if they walked on air, and that every passing human thing meant somehow life and strength to them.
Their appetites were sharpened by the morning air, and they consulted as to what their breakfast should be. They had no money to spend at restaurants, and every penny must be weighed and calculated.
"Let's walk on," said Meg, "until we see a bakery that looks as if it was kept by poor people. Then we can buy some bread and eat it with our eggs somewhere." ”

“ She saw Robin clench his hands though he said nothing, and it made her clench her own hands. Rob's were rough, little, square-fingered fists, brown and muscular. Meg's hands were long-fingered, flexible, and slender, but they made good little fists when they doubled themselves up.
"Rob," she said, "we never see anything—we never hear anything—we never learn anything. If something doesn't happen, we shall be—Nothings—that's what we shall be Nothings." And she struck her fists upon the straw. ”

“ The Palace of the Flowers held up a great crystal of light glowing against the dark blue of the sky, towers and domes were crowned and diademed, thousand of jewels hung among the masses of leaves, or reflected themselves sparkling in the darkness of the lagoons, fountains of molten jewels sprung up and flamed and changed. The City Beautiful stood out whiter and more spirit-like than ever in the pure radiance of these garlands of clearest flame. ”

“ Meg drew a little closer to him, but she said no more about what she knew he was thinking of. She was a clever little thing, and knew this was not the time.
And after they had eaten of the good things, until hunger seemed a thing of the past, the afternoon began as a fairy story indeed. Little by little they began to realise that John Holt was their good and powerful giant, for it seemed that he was not only ready to do everything for them, but was rich enough. ”

“ Meg looked rather like a little witch as she stood over the bubbling old pot, with her strange little dark face and shining eyes and black elf locks.
"It's like making a kind of sacrifice on an altar," she said.
"You always think queer things about everything, don't you?" said Robin. "But they're all right. I don't think them myself, but I like them."
When the eggs were boiled hard enough, they carried them to the barn, and hid them in the Straw Parlour near the Treasure. ”

“ Each morning Meg went to her drudgery in the dairy, and Robin followed Jones whithersoever duty led. If the older people had imagined they would get tired and give up, they found out their mistake. That they were often tired was true, but that in either there arose once the thought of giving up—never! And they worked hard. The things they did to earn their weekly stipend would have touched the heart of a mother of cared-for children; but on Mrs. Jennings' model farm, people knew how much work a human being could do when necessity drove. ”

“ Meg answered as gloomily, "but it wouldn't do any good. Miracles are over."
"The world is all different," said Robin. "You have to do your miracle yourself."
"It will be a miracle," Meg said, "if we ever get away from Aunt Matilda's world, and live like people instead of like pigs who are comfortable; and we shall have to perform it ourselves."
"There is no one else," said Robin. "You see there is no one else in the world."
He threw out his hand and clutched Meg's, which was lying on the straw near him. ”

“ The thing that thinks—and makes us want to do things and be things. Don't you suppose so, Rob?"
"The thing that made us want so to come here that we could not bear not to come," said Robin. "The thing that makes you make up stories about everything, and always have queer thoughts?"
"Yes—that!" said Meg; "and everyone has some of it—and there are such millions of people, and so there is enough to make the Great Genie. Robin, come along, let us go to the palace the picture Genie built, and see what his people put in it. Let us be part of the fairy story when we go anywhere. ”

“ YES, there were plenty of kind people in the world. And one of the best proofs of it was that in that busy, wonderful place, through which all the world seemed passing, and where on every side were a thousand things to attract attention and so fill eyes and mind that forgetfulness and carelessness of small things might not have been quite unnatural, these two small things, utterly insignificant and unknown to the crowds they threaded, met many a passing friend of the moment, and found themselves made happier by many a kindly helpful word or look. ”

“ Meg and Robin went away as he told them. It was in one sense rather a relief.
"I wonder what she'll say to him?" said Meg.
"There's no knowing," Robin answered. "But whatever it is he will make it all right. He's one of those who have found out that human beings can do things if they try hard enough. He was as lonely and poor as we are when he was twelve. He told me so."
What Aunt Matilda said was very matter of fact.
"I must say," she said as the children walked off, "you seem to have been pretty good to them."
"They've been pretty good to me," said John Holt. ”

“ Before the day was over, Robin and Meg realised that this wonder was to go on as long as there was anything of the City Beautiful they had not seen. They were to drink deep draughts of delight as long as they were thirsty for more. John Holt made this plain to them in his blunt, humorous way. He was going to show them everything and share all their pleasures, and they were to stay at the golden hotel every night. ”

“ I've made up how it came to be like this."
"Tell us how?" said Robin, looking over the jewelled water almost as she did.
"It was like this," she said: "There was a great Genie who was the ruler of all the other Genii in all the world. They were all powerful and rich and wonderful magicians, but he could make them all obey him, and give him what they stored away. And he said, 'I will build a splendid city that all the world shall flock to, and wonder at, and remember for ever. ”

“ There are the poor people working in the fields and the mills, being glad or sorry—and there are the rich ones dancing at balls and standing in splendid places."
"And there are the good ones and the bad ones. You can see it in their faces," Rob went on for her.
"Yes," said Meg. "Richness and poorness, and goodness and badness, and happiness and gladness. The Genie who made this palace was a very proud one, and he said he would put all the world in it, even if his workers could only make pictures and statues." ”

“ The pavements were moving masses of human beings, the centre of the streets were pandemoniums of waggons and vans, street cars, hotel omnibuses, and carriages. The brilliant morning sunlight dazzled the children's eyes; the roar of wheels, the clamour of car bells, of clattering horses' feet, of cries and shouts and passing voices mingled in a volume of sound that deafened them. The great tidal wave of human life and work and pleasure almost took them off their feet. ”

“ Meg went on. "It seems so tremendous that people should think they could do such huge things—as if they felt as if they could do anything or bring anything from anywhere in the world! It almost frightens me sometimes, because it reminds me of the Tower of Babel. Don't you remember how the people got so proud that they thought they could do anything—and they began to build the tower that was to reach to heaven. ”

“ Meg's hands dropped, and she turned her shining eyes.
"I've been talking to your Aunt Matilda about that big house of mine," he went on. "It's empty. There's too much room in it. I want to take you two and see if you can fill it up. Will you come and live with me?"
Meg and Robin turned their eyes upon each other in a dazed way.
"Will we come?" they stammered. "Live with you!"
"Mrs. Jennings is willing," said John Holt. "You two have things to do in the world. I'll help you to learn to do them. ”

“ Meg lifted her searching black-lashed eyes to his. She was noticing again the dreary look in his face.
"They died nearly four years ago," she answered for Robin.
"Who is with you?" asked the man, meeting her questioning gaze with a feeling that her great eyes were oddly thoughtful for a child's, and that there was a look in them he had seen before in a pair of eyes closed a year ago. It gave him an almost startled feeling.
"Nobody is with us," Meg said, "except Ben." ”

“ Meg's glowing face quite made his weak heart beat as she turned it upon him.
"We are not much better off than you are," she said; "but we think we've got enough to take you into the grounds. You let us have your bed. Come along with us."
"To—to—the Fair?" he said tremulously.
"Yes," she answered. "And when we get in I'll try and think up things to tell you and Robin about the places we can't afford to go into. We can go into the palaces for nothing." ”

“ They were on each side of the streets—and they swayed and the lilies swung like great white bells—and the sweetness shook out of them and was in all the air the people breathed, and there was a strange golden light—like the light in the morning—and the houses were as white as snow, and had slender pillars and archways, and courts with flowers and fountains. And you could see lovely people in delicate, soft-floating robes—not all white robes, but pale flower colours—and everybody had a little smile, and a look as if their eyes were stars. ”

“ He was a young human being born so full of energy and enterprise that the dull prosaic emptiness of his life in Aunt Matilda's world had been more horrible than if he had been old enough to realise. He could not have explained why it had seemed so maddening to him, but the truth was that in his small boyish body was imprisoned the force and ability which in manhood build great schemes, and not only build but carry them out. ”

“ They had always been in the habit of scrambling up to their beloved refuge, when they could slip away there and adjust their ladder, and have time to climb up when there was no one about to see them. This was not an easy thing when the kind of work was being done which obliged the farm hands to pass in and out of the barn or anywhere near it. They had realised that it would not do for people to see the ladder too often in one place and position, or to find it moving itself from one point to another in a way not to be at all explained by ordinary practical farm reasons. ”

“ But of this he knew nothing, and so ate his young heart out in Aunt Matilda's world, sought refuge with Meg in the Straw Parlour, and was bitterly miserable and at a loss.
How he had drunk in every word the man from Chicago had uttered! How he had edged near to him, and tried not to lose him for a moment, and had hoarded up every sentence! If he had not been a man in embryo, and a strong and clear-headed creature, he would have done his work badly. But he never did his work badly. He held on like a little bull-dog, and thought of what Meg would say when they sat in the straw together. ”