e end,
and one day Anne and her handsome lover managed to slip away unobserved.
Hand in hand they ran to a garden which lay at some little distance from
the others, one that was seldom used, too, and where the flowers grew so
tall and in such profusion that they soon were completely hidden amongst
them.

Here they made their home, and here they lived for a time as happily as
any two people could who loved each other more than all the world beside.

Alas, though, their happiness was too great to last! They had not been in
their beautiful retreat very long, when one day they heard a great noise
and disturbance, and to Anne's dismay the five little men followed by a
crowd of fairies, equally angered, burst in on them. They had traced the
lovers to the garden, and even to the lily-bell in which they had made
their home. With drawn swords and faces full of anger, they surrounded
the lily and commanded the lovers to come down. Nearly mad with jealousy
as they were, they heaped the most cruel and insulting speeches on the
poor little pair.

Furious with indignation Anne's lover sprang down, sword in hand, and
faced his attackers, but what could one do against such odds? His sword
was knocked out of his hand, he himself was overpowered by the numbers who
hurled themselves on him. For a while he fought desperately, his back to
the wall, his courage unfailing, but the blows fell on him so fast and
furious, that in a few minutes he lay bleeding and lifeless at poor Anne's
feet.

What happened next Anne never knew. She remembered looking down on her
dead lover through eyes almost blind with tears, she remembered seeing his
blood staining her dainty green slippers, and splashing her gown, then
someone passed a hand over her eyes, and she could see nothing. She was
as blind as she had been once before.

All about her she heard strange noises, like the whirring and buzzing of
numberless insects; she felt herself being carried through the air at a
terrific rate, until her breath was quite taken away,--then she was placed
on a seat, and in a moment her sight came back to her.

She was back in the arbour where she had first seen the fairies, but,
instead of six little men, she now saw about six-and-twenty big men and
women all staring at her with frightened eyes and open mouths.

"She's very bad," they were whispering, "poor maid, she do look ill!
'Tis a fit she's had, and no mistake!" Then seeing her open her eyes and
l