`` How I should love to see the Cupids in their dear little fools ' caps ! '' Maimie cried , and away she ran to look for them very recklessly , for the Cupids hate to be laughed at . It is always easy to discover where a fairies ' ball is being held , as ribbons are stretched between it and all the populous parts of the Gardens , on which those invited may walk to the dance without wetting their pumps . This night the ribbons were red and looked very pretty on the snow . Maimie walked alongside one of them for some distance without meeting anybody , but at last she saw a fairy cavalcade approaching . To her surprise they seemed to be returning from the ball , and she had just time to hide from them by bending her knees and holding out her arms and pretending to be a garden chair . There were six horsemen in front and six behind , in the middle walked a prim lady wearing a long train held up by two pages , and on the train , as if it were a couch , reclined a lovely girl , for in this way do aristocratic fairies travel about . She was dressed in golden rain , but the most enviable part of her was her neck , which was blue in colour and of a velvet texture , and of course showed off her diamond necklace as no white throat could have glorified it . The high-born fairies obtain this admired effect by pricking their skin , which lets the blue blood come through and dye them , and you can not imagine anything so dazzling unless you have seen the ladies ' busts in the jewellers ' windows . Maimie also noticed that the whole cavalcade seemed to be in a passion , tilting their noses higher than it can be safe for even fairies to tilt them , and she concluded that this must be another case in which the doctor had said `` Cold , quite cold ! '' Well , she followed the ribbon to a place where it became a bridge over a dry puddle into which another fairy had fallen and been unable to climb out . At first this little damsel was afraid of Maimie , who most kindly went to her aid , but soon she sat in her hand chatting gaily and explaining that her name was Brownie , and that though only a poor street singer she was on her way to the ball to see if the Duke would have her . `` Of course , '' she said , `` I am rather plain , '' and this made Maimie uncomfortable , for indeed the simple little creature was almost quite plain for a fairy . It was difficult to know what to reply . `` I see you think I have no chance , '' Brownie said falteringly . `` I do n't say that , '' Maimie answered politely , `` of course your face is just a tiny bit homely , but -- '' Really it was quite awkward for her . Fortunately she remembered about her father and the bazaar . He had gone to a fashionable bazaar where all the most beautiful ladies in London were on view for half-a-crown the second day , but on his return home instead of being dissatisfied with Maimie 's mother he had said , `` You ca n't think , my dear , what a relief it is to see a homely face again . '' Maimie repeated this story , and it fortified Brownie tremendously , indeed she had no longer the slightest doubt that the Duke would choose her . So she scudded away up the ribbon , calling out to Maimie not to follow lest the Queen should mischief her .
But Maimie 's curiosity tugged her forward , and presently at the seven Spanish chestnuts , she XXXXX a wonderful light .
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