Page:MU KPB 022 Cinderella - Arthur Rackham.pdf/78

This page has been validated.
72

Cinderella managed to seat herself opposite her sisters. They had not the slightest idea who she was, for they had only seen her dressed in rags, or odds and ends, with the marks of her menial toil about her. If anybody had told them that this lovely lady, the belle of the ball, was the despised Cinderslut from their own kitchen, they would never have believed it.

Cinderella went out of her way to be amiable with her sisters, and they were very proud of the attention she paid them. Many a girl, remembering their spiteful ways, would have taken advantage of her position to get her revenge, but not so Cinderella, who was good-natured and bore no malice.

“Will you not have some of these delicious citrons?” she said, when one of the servants brought her the fruit in a silver basket. And whenever any special delicacy was brought to her, she insisted upon sharing it with them.

After the banquet, dancing began again, and the Prince, who had hardly eaten a morsel, so absorbed was he in gazing at Cinderella’s beauty, renewed his attentions