There were no outspoken words, only a cautious going forward one
step and receding two. All seemed busy heaping up their unfulfilled
desires like castles in the air, or fortresses of sand. They were pale
and speechless, their eyes were burning, their lips trembling with
unspoken secrets.
The Prince saw what was wrong. He summoned every one on the Island and
said: "Bring hither the flutes and the cymbals, the pipes and drums.
Let all be played together, and raise loud shouts of rejoicing. For the
Queen of Hearts this very night is going to choose her Mate !"
So the Tens and Nines began to blow on their flutes and pipes; the
Eights and Sevens played on their sackbuts and viols; and even the Twos
and Threes began to beat madly on their drums.
When this tumultous gust of music came, it swept away at one blast all
those sighings and mopings. And then what a torrent of laughter and
words poured forth! There were daring proposals and locking refusals,
and gossip and chatter, and jests and merriment. It was like the
swaying and shaking, and rustling and soughing, in a summer gale, of a
million leaves and branches in the depth of the primeval forest.
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