Mignon grew more lovely every day. She never walked up and down the
stairs, but jumped. She would spring along by the railing, and before
you knew it, would be sitting quietly above on the landing.
To each one she would speak in a different way. To Wilhelm it was with
her arms crossed upon her breast. Often for a whole day she would not
say one word, and yet in waiting upon Wilhelm she never tired.
One night he came home very weary and sad. Mignon was waiting for him.
She carried the light before him up-stairs. She set the light down
upon the table, and in a little while she asked him if she might
dance.
"It might ease your heart a little," she said.
Wilhelm, to please her, told her that she might.
Then she brought a little carpet, and spread it upon the floor. At
each corner she placed a candle, and on the carpet she put a number of
eggs. She arranged the eggs in the form of certain figures. When this
was done, she called to a man who was waiting with a violin. She tied
a band about her eyes, and then the dancing began.
[Illustration: "And then the dancing began."]
How lightly, quickly, nimbly, wonderfully, she moved! She skipped so
fast among the eggs, she trod so closely beside them, that you would
have thought she must crush them all.
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