"All is prepared for them, Lal, and even as you desire, great splendour awaits them, and nothing will be lacking for their perfect enjoyment." "Good; see that all is well done, and be ready to begin when I give the signal. You understand?" "We understand," laughed the four merry Lions. "We obey," squeaked the Dolphins. "Only one thing remains to be done, to dress you, Ridgwell, and you, Christine." "What shall we be dressed in?" inquired Christine. "Shut your eyes," said the Lion gently, "and stretch your hands over the lake of the fountain and take what the Dolphins give you. They know what you want, and their taste in such matters is exquisite." The children shut their eyes and obeyed. The Lion leant over the rim of the lake and whispered to the Dolphins-- "Dress the boy like a prince, and the girl like a little queen. The richest stuff, mind, five guineas a yard. Give her a crown of the whitest daisies with shell pink petal tips for a crown. No jewels, no pearls, no, no. Take, oh take the pearls away, For they bring tears, the wise men say. chanted the Lion in his rich double bass. "Give them both jewelled shoe buckles; give the boy jewelled levee buttons for his satin breeches, a plain gold circlet for his head. A train for the girl from her shoulders, of pure cloth of gold; bring it light, so that it does not weigh heavily. White satin for the boy, with richest figured velvet doublet set with cloth of gold. Hang round their necks now, with all its luminous jewels, the highest order in the world, the Order of Great Imagination," commanded the Lion, "For by the Order of Great Imagination they shall see things that no one else can see, they shall be able to listen to things that no one else shall be able to hear. They shall delight in the exquisiteness of things as no one else can delight in them, who has not received this order. For I declare to you all that a child who has this glittering order shall know of things that nobody else in the whole world shall know of. Everything is ready." "Let us have Spring," commanded the Lion. Immediately the words were uttered there came the soft beating of birds' wings over Ridgwell's head. The atmosphere instantly became fragrant with the myriad scents of wild flowers. A mist seemed to swim for a second before their eyes, and, as it cleared away, they were standing together with many other children knee-deep in unending banks of bluebells and primroses. They were in the midst of the most perfect wooded dell they had ever beheld. Thousands of delicate flower-stems thrust their tiny spears from earth and emerald moss, blossoming with flowers before their wondering eyes. The spiral hedges slowly shook out dappled clusters of white hawthorn. The interlaced trees above them, amidst which all the birds in Christendom appeared to be carolling simultaneously, gently outspread friendly arms, overladen with powdered red and white may blossom.