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ALADDIN*S PALACE. 93
u YOD are the most ungrateful Beast alive !
Beauty
never cared so much for you as she does at this minute ;
and if YOU go back and tell her what a charming girl
Rhoda is. she will lore you almost as well as you do
her."
" Oh, Chimney-Elf, how can you talk so ! n exclaimed
Rhoda reproachfully.
u Because you are a goose, my dear/' replied the
Chimney-Elf; and at the same moment the carpet settled
to the ground. Rhoda opened her eyes, and found
herself in the court-yard of a splendid palace filled with
servants and horses and carriages, running this way and
that in the greatest confusion.
" The Princess Badronlbondonr is going
out for a
drive," remarked the Chimney-Elf.
K After she is out
palace."
of the way we will go in and look at the
While he was speaking, two or three women-servants
appeared upon the steps of the palace, and among them
a tall
kdy dressed with the utmost magnificence, her
clothes sparkling with jewels, and stiff with gold embroideries.
Her face was covered by a thin veiL but
through it Rhoda could perceive that the princess looked
very cross and dissatisfied, and had, moreover, lost most
of her wonderful beauty. Her voice, as she ordered
her servants to place her in the carriage, was harsh,
fretful, and impatient, and Rhoda could see that the
women made grimaces at each other when their mistress's
back was turned.