e sat the big frog again, looking so
like the old gentleman, with his bottle-green coat, speckled trousers,
and twinkling eyes, that Marjorie burst out laughing, and clapped her
hands, saying aloud,--

"I'll play he was the Brownie, and this is the good-luck penny he gave
me. Oh, what fun!" and away she skipped, rattling the dear new bank like
a castanet.

When she had told granny all about it, she got knife and basket, and
went out to dig dandelions; for the desire to increase her fortune was
so strong, she could not rest a minute. Up and down she went, so busily
peering and digging, that she never lifted up her eyes till something
like a great white bird skimmed by so low she could not help seeing
it. A pleasant laugh sounded behind her as she started up, and, looking
round, she nearly sat down again in sheer surprise, for there close by
was a slender little lady, comfortably established under a big umbrella.

"If there WERE any fairies, I'd be sure that was one," thought Marjorie,
staring with all her might, for her mind was still full of the old
story; and curious things do happen on birthdays, as every one knows.

It really did seem rather elfish to look up suddenly and see a lovely
lady all in white, with shining hair and a wand in her hand, sitting
under what looked very like a large yellow mushroom in the middle of
a meadow, where, till now, nothing but cows and grasshoppers had been
seen. Before Marjorie could decide the question, the pleasant laugh came
again, and the stranger said, pointing to the white thing that was still
fluttering over the grass like a little cloud,--

"Would you kindly catch my hat for me, before it blows quite away?"

Down went basket and knife, and away ran Marjorie, entirely satisfied
now that there was no magic about the new-comer; for if she had been an
elf, couldn't she have got her hat without any help from a mortal child?
Presently, however, it did begin to seem as if that hat was bewitched,
for it led the nimble-footed Marjorie such a chase that the cows stopped
feeding to look on in placid wonder; the grasshoppers vainly tried to
keep up, and every ox-eye daisy did its best to catch the runaway, but
failed entirely, for the wind liked a game of romps, and had it that
day. As she ran, Marjorie heard the lady singing, like the princess in
the story of the Goose-Girl,--

"Blow, breezes, blow!
Let Curdkin's hat go!
Blow, breezes, blow!
Let him after it g