But as the king, after finishing his tea and toast, lay and looked
about him, the Shadows dancing in his room seemed to him odder and more
inexplicable than ever. The whole chamber was full of mystery. So it
generally was, but now it was more mysterious than ever. After all that
he had seen in the Shadow-church, his own room and its Shadows were yet
more wonderful and unintelligible than those.
This made it the more likely that he had seen a true vision; for
instead of making common things look commonplace, as a false vision
would have done, it had made common things disclose the wonderful that
was in them.
"The same applies to all arts as well," thought Ralph Rinkelmann.
The next afternoon, as the twilight was growing dusky, the king lay
wondering whether or not the Shadows would fetch him again. He wanted
very much to go, for he had enjoyed the journey exceedingly, and he
longed, besides, to hear some of the Shadows tell their stories. But
the darkness grew deeper and deeper, and the shadows did not come. The
cause was, that Mrs. Rinkelmann sat by the fire in the gloaming; and
they could not carry off the king while she was there. Some of them
tried to frighten her away by playing the oddest pranks on the walls,
and floor, and ceiling; but altogether without effect; the queen only
smiled, for she had a good conscience. Suddenly, however, a dreadful
scream was heard from the nursery, and Mrs.
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