ng lady to see me some day soon, Master
Pat, won't you?' she said. 'She'd like to come, I know, for she's heard
tell of me, and she loves the moor.'

'Nance,' said Pat gravely, 'I do believe you heard us talking on the
mound this afternoon, when Miss Mouse was with us, and that's how you
know all these things.'

Nance only laughed.

'Think what you're saying, Master Pat,' she replied. 'Could I have been
near you and you not see me? Unless I had the hiding-cap that the
fairies left behind them on the moor many a year ago, but that nobody's
found yet, though many have looked for it.'

'Then how do you know they left it,' said Pat quickly.

''Tis just an old tale,' she said carelessly. 'These days are past and
gone--worse luck. It was fine times when the good people came
about--fine times for those they took a fancy to, at least. Why, there
was my own great-grandmother had many a tale to tell, when I was a
child, of what they did for her and hers to help them through troubles
and bring them good luck.'

'Your great-grandmother,' repeated Pat, 'why what an awfully long time
ago that must have been! For I suppose you are very old yourself, Nance,
aren't you?'

She did not seem at all offended at this remark. On the contrary she
nodded her head as if rather pleased, as she replied,

'You're in the right there, Master Pat,' she said. 'I've lived a good
while; longer than you'd think for, perhaps, and I've seen strange
things in my time. And my great-grandmother was a very old woman when I
remember her. And yet it was seldom, even in those days, that the good
people showed themselves.'

'Do they _never_ come now?' inquired Archie, from the doorway. 'Not even
in wild, lonely places like this,' for he was gazing out upon the moor,
and the fast-falling darkness added to the mysterious loneliness of the
far-stretching prospect before him.

His words gave Pat a new idea.

'Your stories can't have to do with this moor, Nance,' he said. 'You
didn't live here when you were young, I know.'

Nance shook her head.

'Deed no,' she replied. 'Many a long mile away from here. The place I
first remember _was_ lonesome, if you like. There's not many such places
to be found now, and they're getting fewer and fewer. No wonder the good
people are frightened away with the railways coming all over the
country. Why, the stage-coaches were bad enough, and some folks say
there'll be no more of them,' and again Nance shook her head.