XIX "ANNE" 258 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS "I am _not_--I am _not_ dreaming!" _Frontispiece_ She was not abashed at all by the many pairs of eyes watching her 16 More than once she had been known to have a tea-party 38 The children crowded clamoring around her 76 She seldom cried. She did not cry now 94 The sparrows twittered and hopped about quite without fear 112 The beggar girl was still huddled up in the corner 168 She sat down and held him on her knee 230 Noticed that his companion ... sat gazing into the fire 260 A LITTLE PRINCESS CHAPTER I SARA Once on a dark winter's day, when the yellow fog hung so thick and heavy in the streets of London that the lamps were lighted and the shop windows blazed with gas as they do at night, an odd-looking little girl sat in a cab with her father and was driven rather slowly through the big thoroughfares. She sat with her feet tucked under her, and leaned against her father, who held her in his arm, as she stared out of the window at the passing people with a queer old-fashioned thoughtfulness in her big eyes. She was such a little girl that one did not expect to see such a look on her small face. It would have been an old look for a child of twelve, and Sara Crewe was only seven. The fact was, however, that she was always dreaming and thinking odd things and could not herself remember any time when she had not been thinking things about grown-up people and the world they belonged to. She felt as if she had lived a long, long time. At this moment she was remembering the voyage she had just made from Bombay with her father, Captain Crewe. She was thinking of the big ship, of the Lascars passing silently to and fro on it, of the children playing about on the hot deck, and of some young officers' wives who used to try to make her talk to them and laugh at the things she said. Principally, she was thinking of what a queer thing it was that at one time one was in India in the blazing sun, and then in the middle of the ocean, and then driving in a strange vehicle through strange streets where the day was as dark as the night. She found this so puzzling that she moved closer to her father. "Papa," she said in a low, mysterious little voice which was almost a whisper, "papa." "What is it, darling?" Captain Crewe answered, holding her closer and looking down into her face. "What is Sara thinking of?" "Is this the place?" Sara whispered, cuddling still closer to him. "Is it, papa?" "Yes, little Sara, it is. We have reached it at last." And though she was only seven years old, she knew that he felt sad when he said it.