` 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 saw a wonderful light . She crept forward until she was quite near it , and then she peeped from behind a tree . -LSB- Illustration : A chrysanthemum heard her , and said pointedly , ` Hoity-toity , what is this ? ' -RSB- The light , which was as high as your head above the ground , was composed of myriads of glow-worms all holding on to each other , and so forming a dazzling canopy over the fairy ring . There were thousands of little people looking on , but they were in shadow and drab in colour compared to the glorious creatures within that luminous circle , who were so bewilderingly bright that Maimie had to wink hard all the time she looked at them . It was amazing and even irritating to her that the Duke of Christmas Daisies should be able to keep out of love for a moment : yet out of love his dusky grace still was : you could see it by the shamed looks of the Queen and court -LRB- though they pretended not to care -RRB- , by the way darling ladies brought forward for his approval burst into tears as they were told to pass on , and by his own most dreary face . Maimie could also see the pompous doctor feeling the Duke 's heart and hear him give utterance to his parrot cry , and she was particularly sorry for the Cupids , who stood in their fools ' caps in obscure places and , every time they heard that ` Cold , quite cold , ' bowed their disgraced little heads . She was disappointed not to see Peter Pan , and I may as well tell you now why he was so late that night . It was because his boat had got wedged on the Serpentine between fields of floating ice , through which he had to break a perilous passage with his trusty paddle . The fairies had as yet scarcely missed him , for they could not dance , so heavy were their hearts . They forget all the steps when they are sad , and remember them again when they are merry . David tells me that fairies never say , ` We feel happy ' : what they say is , ` We feel dancey . '
Well , they were XXXXX very undancey indeed , when sudden laughter broke out among the onlookers , caused by Brownie , who had just arrived and was insisting on her right to be presented to the Duke .
am bowed calling composed forget looking pretended tell tells tugged