ght; for, indeed, that is his favourite way of doing.
Pray, keep out of his way to-night."

"Shall I be able to see these things?" said I.

"That I cannot tell yet, not knowing how much of the fairy nature there
is in you. But we shall soon see whether you can discern the fairies in
my little garden, and that will be some guide to us."

"Are the trees fairies too, as well as the flowers?" I asked.

"They are of the same race," she replied; "though those you call fairies
in your country are chiefly the young children of the flower fairies.
They are very fond of having fun with the thick people, as they call
you; for, like most children, they like fun better than anything else."

"Why do you have flowers so near you then? Do they not annoy you?"

"Oh, no, they are very amusing, with their mimicries of grown people,
and mock solemnities. Sometimes they will act a whole play through
before my eyes, with perfect composure and assurance, for they are not
afraid of me. Only, as soon as they have done, they burst into peals
of tiny laughter, as if it was such a joke to have been serious over
anything. These I speak of, however, are the fairies of the garden.
They are more staid and educated than those of the fields and woods.
Of course they have near relations amongst the wild flowers, but they
patronise them, and treat them as country cousins, who know nothing
of life, and very little of manners. Now and then, however, they are
compelled to envy the grace and simplicity of the natural flowers."

"Do they live IN the flowers?" I said.

"I cannot tell," she replied. "There is something in it I do not
understand. Sometimes they disappear altogether, even from me, though
I know they are near. They seem to die always with the flowers they
resemble, and by whose names they are called; but whether they return to
life with the fresh flowers, or, whether it be new flowers, new fairies,
I cannot tell. They have as many sorts of dispositions as men and women,
while their moods are yet more variable; twenty different expressions
will cross their little faces in half a minute. I often amuse myself
with watching them, but I have never been able to make personal
acquaintance with any of them. If I speak to one, he or she looks up in
my face, as if I were not worth heeding, gives a little laugh, and runs
away." Here the woman started, as if suddenly recollecting herself, and
said in a low voice to her daughter, "Make haste--go and watc