r-garden to the
right of the verandah, and a vegetable garden to the left, and roses
and clematis on the walls of the house, and in less time than five
minutes all these dear things were in full bloom.

[Illustration: Shook his bald head and murmured, 'Cold, quite cold']

Oh, how beautiful the little house was now! But it was at last
finished true as true, and they had to leave it and return to the
dance. They all kissed their hands to it as they went away, and the
last to go was Brownie. She stayed a moment behind the others to drop
a pleasant dream down the chimney.

All through the night the exquisite little house stood there in the
Figs taking care of Maimie, and she never knew. She slept until the
dream was quite finished, and woke feeling deliciously cosy just as
morning was breaking from its egg, and then she almost fell asleep
again, and then she called out, 'Tony,' for she thought she was at home
in the nursery. As Tony made no answer, she sat up, whereupon her head
hit the roof, and it opened like the lid of a box, and to her
bewilderment she saw all around her the Kensington Gardens lying deep
in snow. As she was not in the nursery she wondered whether this was
really herself, so she pinched her cheeks, and then she knew it was
herself, and this reminded her that she was in the middle of a great
adventure. She remembered now everything that had happened to her from
the closing of the gates up to her running away from the fairies, but
how ever, she asked herself, had she got into this funny place? She
stepped out by the roof, right over the garden, and then she saw the
dear house in which she had passed the night. It so entranced her that
she could think of nothing else.

'O you darling! O you sweet! O you love!' she cried.

Perhaps a human voice frightened the little house, or maybe it now knew
that its work was done, for no sooner had Maimie spoken than it began
to grow smaller; it shrank so slowly that she could scarce believe it
was shrinking, yet she soon knew that it could not contain her now. It
always remained as complete as ever, but it became smaller and smaller,
and the garden dwindled at the same time, and the snow crept closer,
lapping house and garden up. Now the house was the size of a little
dog's kennel, and now of a Noah's Ark, but still you could see the
smoke and the door-handle and the roses on the wall, every one
complete. The glow-worm light was waning too, but it was