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unwilling they should touch him, and then she walked up the path a way and
hesitated, as if uncertain where to go next.
Trot was grieved by Pon's sobs and indignant because Gloria treated him so
badly. But she remembered why.
"
I guess your heart is frozen, all right," she said to the Princess. Gloria nodded
gravely, in reply, and then turned her back upon the little girl. "Can't you like
even me?" asked Trot, half pleadingly.
"
"
No," said Gloria.
Your voice sounds like a refrig'rator," sighed the little girl. "I'm awful sorry for
you, 'cause you were sweet an' nice to me before this happened. You can't help
it, of course; but it's a dreadful thing, jus' the same."
"
My heart is frozen to all mortal loves," announced Gloria, calmly. "I do not
love even myself."
"
That's too bad," said Trot, "for, if you can't love anybody, you can't expect
anybody to love you."
"
"
I do!" cried Pon. "I shall always love her."
Well, you're just a gardener's boy," replied Trot, "and I didn't think you
'mounted to much, from the first. I can love the old Princess Gloria, with a
warm heart an' nice manners, but this one gives me the shivers."
"
"
It's her icy heart, that's all," said Pon.
That's enough," insisted Trot. "Seeing her heart isn't big enough to skate on, I
can't see that she's of any use to anyone. For my part, I'm goin' to try to find
Button-Bright an' Cap'n Bill."
"
I will go with you," decided Pon. "It is evident that Gloria no longer loves me
and that her heart is frozen too stiff for me to melt it with my own love;
therefore I may as well help you to find your friends."
As Trot started off, Pon cast one more imploring look at the Princess, who
returned it with a chilly stare. So he followed after the little girl.
As for the Princess, she hesitated a moment and then turned in the same
direction the others had taken, but going far more slowly. Soon she heard
footsteps pattering behind her, and up came Googly-Goo, a little out of breath
with running.
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