"Oh!"

The little maid gave one glance at the infinite splendor of her new
bow and feather, and her dark eyes sparkled, while the eyes of her
father filled.

"But not Michael Sunlocks, you know, Greeba ven; no, nor mother, nor
father."

At that word there was a pretty downward curve of the little lip; but
life had no real sorrow for one with such a hat and such a prospect,
and the next instant the bright eyes leapt again to the leaping
heart.

"Then run away, Greeba ven--run."

The little maiden took her father at his word, though it was but
sadly spoken, and bounded off in chase of Michael Sunlocks, that she
might tell him the great news. She found him by the old wooden bridge
of the Silver Burn near the Malew Church.

Michael Sunlocks had lately struck up a fast friendship with the
carrier, old crazy Chalse A'Killey, who sometimes lent him his donkey
for a ride. Bareheaded, barefooted, with breeches rolled up above the
knees, his shoes and stockings swung about his neck, and his wavy
yellow hair rough and tangled, Michael Sunlocks was now seated
bareback on this donkey, tugging the rope that served it for curb and
snaffle, and persuading it, by help of a blackthorn stick, to cross
the river to the meadow opposite. And it was just when the donkey, a
creature of becoming meekness and most venerable age, was reflecting
on these arguments, and contemplating the water at his shoes with a
pensive eye, that Greeba, radiant in the happiness of her marvellous
hat, came skipping on to the bridge.

In a moment she blurted out her news between many gusts of breath,
and Michael Sunlocks, pausing from his labors, sat on his docile
beast and looked up at her with great wonder in his wide blue eyes.

"And I shall see the carriages, and the ladies on horseback, and the
ships, and the waxworks, and the wild beasts."

The eyes of Sunlocks grew hazy and wet, but the little maiden rattled
on, cocking her eye down as she spoke at her reflection in the smooth
river, for it took a world of glances to grow familiar with the
marvel that sat on her head.

"And I shall wear velvet frocks, and have new hats often and lots of
goodies and things; and--and didn't I always say a good fairy would
come for me some day?"

"What are you talking of, you silly?" said Michael Sunlocks.

"I'm not a silly, and I'm going away, and you are not; and I'll have
girls to play with now, not boys--there!"

Michael Sunlocks could bear no more. His ey