Read "The Princess and the Goblin" by George MacDonald online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
When the princess awoke from the sweetest of sleeps, she found her nurse bending over her, the housekeeper looking over the nurse's shoulder, and the laundry-maid looking over the housekeeper's. The room was full of women-servants; and the gentlemen-at-arms, with a long column of servants behind them, were peeping, or trying to peep in at the door of the nursery.
'Are those horrid creatures gone? ' asked the princess, remembering first what had terrified her in the morning.