"Aha! little squirrel," he cried, "my nest is built higher
than yours."
"You can be up here with your books as much as you like,"
said his mistress. "I will have a little bell hung at the door,
which I can ring when I want you. Half-way down the stair is the
drawing-room."
So Diamond was installed as page, and his new room got
ready for him.
It was very soon after this that I came to know Diamond. I
was then a tutor in a family whose estate adjoined the little
property belonging to The Mound. I had made the acquaintance of
Mr. Raymond in London some time before, and was walking up the
drive towards the house to call upon him one fine warm evening,
when I saw Diamond for the first time. He was sitting at the
foot of a great beech-tree, a few yards from the road, with a
book on his knees. He did not see me. I walked up behind the
tree, and peeping over his shoulder, saw that he was reading a
fairy-book.
"What are you reading?" I said, and spoke suddenly, with
the hope of seeing a startled little face look round at me.
Diamond turned his head as quietly as if he were only obeying
his mother's voice, and the calmness of his face rebuked my
unkind desire and made me ashamed of it.
"I am reading the story of the Little Lady and the Goblin
Prince," said Diamond.
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