You 'd break their spirits , too , if you wore the slippers . Do n't do it , Sara . Leave them one wee loophole of enjoyment . '' `` What does Uncle Roger mean ? '' whispered Felicity . `` He means you girls are all dying of jealousy because of the Story Girl 's dress , '' said Dan . `` I am not of a jealous disposition , '' said Felicity loftily , `` and she 's entirely welcome to the dress -- with a complexion like that . '' But we enjoyed that party hugely , every one of us . And we enjoyed the walk home afterwards , through dim , enshadowed fields where silvery star-beams lay , while Orion trod his stately march above us , and a red moon climbed up the black horizon 's rim . A brook went with us part of the way , singing to us through the dark -- a gay , irresponsible vagabond of valley and wilderness . Felicity and Peter walked not with us . Peter 's cup must surely have brimmed over that Christmas night . When we left the Marr house , he had boldly said to Felicity , `` May I see you home ? '' And Felicity , much to our amazement , had taken his arm and marched off with him . The primness of her was indescribable , and was not at all ruffled by Dan 's hoot of derision . As for me , I was consumed by a secret and burning desire to ask the Story Girl if I might see HER home ; but I could not screw my courage to the sticking point . How I envied Peter his easy , insouciant manner ! I could not emulate him , so Dan and Felix and Cecily and the Story Girl and I all walked hand in hand , huddling a little closer together as we went through James Frewen 's woods -- for there are strange harps in a fir grove , and who shall say what fingers sweep them ? Mighty and sonorous was the music above our heads as the winds of the night stirred the great boughs tossing athwart the starlit sky . Perhaps it was that aeolian harmony which recalled to the Story Girl a legend of elder days .
`` I read such a pretty story XXXXX one of Aunt Olivia 's books last night , '' she said .
above as at athwart for in of over that through