edge of
Norway fir, twenty feet high, and solid as a wall. Over this the
sunbeams poured in, flecking the green with gold. In one corner stood a
laburnum-tree, covered with yellow blossoms; under a tall elm near by
was a rustic seat.

"How do you like my kingdom?" asked the old lady, smiling at their eager
faces.

"It is like a fairy place!" said Margaret. "You are quite sure you are
real, Mrs. Cheriton?" They smiled at each other, feeling friends
already.

"'Mrs. Cheriton' will never do, if we are to see each other every day,
as I hope we are. How would you like to call me Aunt Faith?"

"Oh, the lovely name!" cried Margaret. "Thank you so much! Now we really
belong to some one, and we shall not feel strange any more; shall we,
Peggy?"

"I--s'pose not!" stammered Peggy. "I shall like it ever so much."

The girls sat a little longer, chatting and listening. Mrs. Cheriton
told them of her parrot, who was old too, and who spoke Spanish and
French, and did not like English; she showed them her books, many of
which were bound in white vellum or parchment. "It is a fancy of
John's," she said, "to have all my belongings white. I think he still
remembers his Aunt Phoebe. Do you know about your Great-aunt Phoebe?"

The girls said no, and begged to hear, but Mrs. Cheriton said that must
be for another time.

"I must not keep you too long," she said, "for I want you to come often.
I will call Janet, and she shall show you the way through my green
parlour to the garden. The Fernley garden is the pleasantest in the
world, I think."

She touched the bell, and told the pretty rosy-cheeked maid who appeared
to take the young ladies by the back way, and introduce them to
Chiquito; and they took their leave regretfully, begging that they might
come every day to the white chamber.

Chiquito's cage hung in the porch, and Chiquito was hanging in it upside
down. He swore frightfully at the sight of strangers, and bit Peggy's
finger when she tried to stroke him; but at a word from Janet he was
quiet, and said, "_Me gustan todas!_" in a plaintive tone, with his head
on one side.

"What does that mean?" asked Peggy. "He's horrid, isn't he?"

Janet's feeling were hurt. "He doesn't mean it!" she said. "And he
always wants to be pleasant when he says that. Something out of a
Spanish song, Mrs. Cheriton says it is, and means that he likes folks.
You do like folks when they like you, don't you, poor Chico?"

"_En general!_" said th