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I don't know, my dear," replied Jellia. "I haven't heard a word from her this

morning. She hasn't even called for her bath or her breakfast, and it is far

past her usual time for them."

That's strange!" exclaimed the little girl.

Yes," agreed the maid, "but of course no harm could have happened to her.

No one can die or be killed in the Land of Oz, and Ozma is herself a powerful

fairy, and she has no enemies so far as we know. Therefore I am not at all

worried about her, though I must admit her silence is unusual."

Perhaps," said Dorothy thoughtfully, "she has overslept. Or she may be

reading or working out some new sort of magic to do good to her people."

Any of these things may be true," replied Jellia Jamb, "so I haven't dared

disturb our royal mistress. You, however, are a privileged character, Princess,

and I am sure that Ozma wouldn't mind at all if you went in to see her."

Of course not," said Dorothy, and opening the door of the outer chamber, she

went in. All was still here. She walked into another room, which was Ozma's

boudoir, and then, pushing back a heavy drapery richly broidered with

threads of pure gold, the girl entered the sleeping-room of the fairy Ruler of

Oz. The bed of ivory and gold was vacant; the room was vacant; not a trace of

Ozma was to be found.

Very much surprised, yet still with no fear that anything had happened to her

friend, Dorothy returned through the boudoir to the other rooms of the suite.

She went into the music room, the library, the laboratory, the bath, the

wardrobe, and even into the great throne room, which adjoined the royal suite,

but in none of these places could she find Ozma.

So she returned to the anteroom where she had left the maid, Jellia Jamb,

and said:

She isn't in her rooms now, so she must have gone out."

I don't understand how she could do that without my seeing her," replied

Jellia, "unless she made herself invisible."

She isn't there, anyhow," declared Dorothy.

Then let us go find her," suggested the maid, who appeared to be a little

uneasy. So they went into the corridors, and there Dorothy almost stumbled

over a queer girl who was dancing lightly along the passage.

The Lost Princess of Oz