She would have drawn the curtain
again, but Leontes begged her to wait a while, and again he appealed to
those about him to say if it was not indeed a marvelous likeness.
Perdita had all the while been kneeling, admiring in silence her
beautiful mother. Paulina presently said that she possessed the power
to make the statue move, if such were the king's pleasure; and as some
soft music was heard, the figure stirred. Ah! it was no sculptured
marble, but Hermione, living and breathing, who hung upon her husband
and her long-lost child!
It is needless to tell that Paulina's story of her royal mistress'
death was an invention to save her life, and that for all those years
she had kept the queen secluded, so that Leontes should not hear that
she was living until Perdita was found.
All was happiness; but none was greater than that of Camillo and
Paulina, who saw the reward of their long faithfulness. One more
person was to arrive upon the scene; even Polixenes, who came in search
of Florizel, and was thus in time to bless the union of the young
people, and take a share in the general joy.
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