Page 86 - Adventures in shadow-land

;
“ Why do you not come in?” the same voice
asked, after a pause. <f You are permitted."

“ I cannot come in, because the door is shut/ 1
Eva said.

** Take the key and unlock it.”
But Eva, after looking around carefully, could

see no key, and so she said, 1 f I do not know where
the key can be,M

“ Look under your right foot,” said the voice
within ; and Eva, stepping to one side, saw lying,

jjust where her foot had been, a queer little key,
which she picked up ; and seeing a key-hole among

the quaint letters of the inscription, she found the
little key just fitted it; and on turning it, the door
flew open, and, as it did, a band of beautiful chil­

dren came forward to meet her, though not one
of them crossed the threshold of the door, and

they bade her welcome. But when Eva would
have gone in, it seemed to her that invisible hands

prevented her entrance; and then one of the
children, seeing that she still held in her hand the

white stone she had picked up near the spring,
and with which she had made the mark over Aster's

hiding-place, told her to throw it away, for that
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