Cats Triumphant Read Online Free PDF Page A

while he observed.
    But fate and physiology intervened. Even princesses occasionally have to use the necessary.
    Humberto had been enjoying a bite of cheese when Briar Rose asked to be excused for a moment. Marco, seeing that the Black Fairy remained in her place, thought that all would be well. He nodded to the mouse to accompany the girl. Bruno looked up from the bone he was enjoying. When he saw Marco nod toward the Black Fairy, he went back to his gnawing.
    * * *
    “Are you sure this is the way?” Briar Rose asked Humberto, as he gave her directions through the endless stone corridors lit by torches and hanging lanterns.
    “Oh, yes,” Humberto squeaked, clinging to the ermine trim of her gown. “The palace mice taught me every inch of the place. It’s just through here, my dear.” He pointed a tiny handpaw toward an arched doorway where a pair of maidservants were waiting with linen towels and bowls of rosewater.
    “Oh, what’s that?” Briar Rose asked. Humberto turned to look. A golden ball of light about the size of his body was bounding toward them in the dim hallway.
    “I know not,” he said. “Best to ignore it.”
    But the girl’s eyes suddenly gleamed with the golden light. “I must follow it.”
    Humberto, lacking human speech, could not call out to the maidservants for help, nor could he turn her back by himself. Briar Rose had acquired many of the traits of her animal friends, among them the curiosity of Marco. She followed the bounding light through the twists and turns of the passageways, up into a narrow spiral staircase festooned with cobwebs. At the top was a locked door.
    “Open it,” she said.
    “My dear Briar Rose!” the mouse protested.
    “Open it!” Her voice sounded distant, and not her own. Shrugging, Humberto reached into the keyhole to turn the wards of the lock until it opened with a creak and a thump. Briar Rose passed through the door in a trance. The small attic room was empty, except for one strange object made of wood. A spinning wheel. She moved toward it, her hand outstretched.
    “No, Briar Rose!”
    * * *
    Marco’s eyes were slitted as he watched the Black Fairy eating her supper. She was enjoying herself so much it ruined his appetite. Something was making her very happy. But what? She was here, under his eye, not harming his precious princess.
    He suddenly became aware of a frantic squeaking from the floor. He turned moonlike eyes downward to see Humberto scrambling up the chair leg, whiskers askew.
    “Come quickly,” the mouse cried.
    * * *
    At the terrible news everyone burst out talking, crying and running around frantically. Shouting for quiet, the king ordered everyone to stop where he was.
    “Anyone who knows anything about this matter, come forward,” he commanded. “Otherwise, all guests must leave the castle by noon!”
    Marco sprang onto the table, searching for Desdemona, but she was gone. Daffodil picked him up under her arm. Lavinia had Humberto in her hands, and Nocila took Bruno’s collar. They went to the princess’s chambers. Briar Rose had been laid upon her bed, a soft coverlet placed over her. Her face was like that of a waxen image, beautiful and still.
    “This is all my fault!” the mouse wailed over and over again.
    “Is she dead?” the queen repeated, sitting beside the princess as dawn cast its pale light through the window. Tears ran down her face. “Her hand is cold.”
    “She only sleeps,” Nocila promised them. Whimpering. Bruno rested his big head against her leg.
    “Then wake her,” the king ordered.
    “We cannot,” Daffodil said. “Only true love’s kiss can break the spell.”
    “Call back the princes,” the queen begged her husband. He set his jaw.
    “Our daughter turned them all away. Obviously she is not in love with any of them. It is no use. Her true love does not exist.”
    “I cannot bear this,” said the queen. She clutched her husband’s hand. “To have her return to us, only to lose her again. I