But we may as well go up this stair, and see what we do find, Jeanne." And just at that moment a funny thing happened.

They heard a little noise, and looking up, there--hopping down the stair before them, step by step, as if some one had started it from the top, came the lost ball, or what the children thought the lost ball, for with an exclamation Hugh darted forward to pick it up, and held it out to Jeanne.

But Jeanne looked at it with astonishment.
"Why, Cheri," she cried, "it's turned into gold." So it was, or at least into something which looked just like it.
"Cheri," Jeanne went on, her eyes dancing with excitement, "I do believe this is another way into Fairyland, or into some other queer place like what we've seen.

Come on, quick." The children seized hold of each other's hands, and hurried up the stair.

The steps were easier to mount than those of the corkscrew staircase up to the white lady's turret, and very soon the children found themselves at the top of the first flight.