ect moonlight, as upon the scenery of a dream.

The old man who, with thin wiry legs, walked by his side, in a dingy
white coat, and blue facings, and great pewter buttons, with his silver
gray hair escaping from under his battered three-cocked hat; and his
shrewd puckered resolute face, in which the boy could read no promise of
sympathy, showing so white and phantom-like in the moonlight, was, as he
thought, the incarnate ideal of a fairy.

This figure led him in silence under the great arched gateway, and
across the grass-grown court, to the door in the far angle of the
building; and so, in the dark, round and round, up a stone screw stair,
and with a short turn into a large room, with a fire of turf and wood,
burning on its long unused hearth, over which hung a pot, and about it
an old woman with a great wooden spoon was busy. An iron candlestick
supported their solitary candle; and about the floor of the room, as
well as on the table and chairs, lay a litter of all sorts of things;
piles of old faded hangings, boxes, trunks, clothes, pewter-plates, and
cups; and I know not what more.

But what instantly engaged the fearful gaze of the boy were the figures
of two ladies; red drugget cloaks they had on, like the peasant girls of
Munster and Connaught, and the rest of their dress was pretty much in
keeping. But they had the grand air, the refined expression and beauty,
and above all, the serene air of command that belong to people of a
higher rank.

The elder, with black hair and full brown eyes, sat writing at the deal
table on which the candle stood, and raised her dark gaze to the boy as
he came in. The other, with her hood thrown back, beautiful and _riant_,
with a flood of wavy golden hair, and great blue eyes, and with
something kind, and arch, and strange in her countenance, struck him as
the most wonderful beauty he could have imagined.

They questioned the man in a language strange to the child. It was not
English, for he had a smattering of that, and the man's story seemed to
amuse them. The two young ladies exchanged a glance, and smiled
mysteriously. He was more convinced than ever that he was among the good
people. The younger stepped gaily forward and said----

"Do you know who _I_ am, my little man? Well, I'm the fairy Una, and
this is my palace; and that fairy you see there (pointing to the dark
lady, who was looking out something in a box), is my sister and family
physician, the Lady Graveairs; a