or as if the whole big world were his to own,
and suffering and misfortune were banished forever from the face
of the earth.

Maya somehow had no desire to know what he said to the girl in
reply. Her heart quivered as though the ecstasy that emanated
from the two human beings was also hers.

"Now I have seen the most glorious thing that my eyes will ever
behold," she whispered to herself. "I know now that human beings
are most beautiful when they are in love."

How long Maya stayed behind the leaves without stirring, lost in
looking at the boy and girl, she did not know. When she turned
round, the firefly's lamp had been extinguished, the sprite was
gone. Through the doorway of the arbor far across the country on
the distant horizon showed a narrow streak of red.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

CHAPTER XII

ALOIS, LADYBIRD AND POET

The sun was risen high above the tops of the beech-trees when
Maya awoke in her woodland retreat. In the first moments, the
moonlight, the chirping of the cricket, the midsummer night
meadow, the lovely sprite, the boy and the girl in the arbor,
all seemed the perishing fancies of a delicious dream. Yet here
it was almost midday; and she remembered slipping back into her
chamber in the chill of dawn. So it had all been real, she _had_
spent the night with the flower-sprite and _had_ seen the two
human beings, with their arms round each other, in the arbor of
woodbine and jasmine.

The sun outside was glowing hot on the leaves, a warm wind was
stirring, and Maya heard the mixed chorus of thousands of
insects. Ah, what these knew, and what _she_ knew! So proud was
she of the great thing that had happened to her that she
couldn't get out to the others fast enough; she thought they
must read it in her very looks.

But in the sunlight everything was the same as ever. Nothing was
changed; nothing recalled the blue moonlit night. The insects
came, said how-do-you-do, and left; yonder, the meadow was a
scene of bustling activity; the insects, birds and butterflies
hopped, flew and flitted in the hot flickering air around the
tall, gay midsummer flowers.

Sadness fell upon Maya. There was no one in the world to share
her joys and sorrows. She couldn't make up her mind to fly over
and join the others in the meadow. No, she would go to the
woods. The woods were serious and solemn. They suited her mood.

How many mysteries and marvels lie hidden in the dim depths
of