mise to be good and do as I tell you?"

"Es," lisped Gabella Sarah.

"Es," said Isaphine.

"Yes, yes," clamored the others, headed by Tommy, who was a child of
promise if ever there was one. All the time his eyes were fixed on the
table drawer!

Mell went upstairs. First into the children's room, then into her own.
She put her head out of the window once or twice. The children were
playing quietly; Tommy had gone in for something, they said. Last of
all, Mell went to her step-mother's room. She had just begun to smooth
the bed, when an astonishing sight caught her eyes. _The key was in the
lock of the big chest!_

Yes, actually, the fairy treasury, home of so many fancies, was left
unlocked! How Mrs. Davis came to do so careless a thing will never be
known, but that she had done so was a fact.

Mell thought at first that her eyes deceived her. She stole across the
room and touched the key timidly with her forefinger to make sure. Then
she lifted the lid a little way and let it fall again, looking over her
shoulder as if fearing to hear a sharp voice from the stairs. Next,
grown bolder, she opened the lid wide. There lay the red shawl, just as
she remembered it, the coral beads in their lidless box, the blue paper
parcels, and, forgetting all consequences in a rapture of curiosity,
Mell sat down on the floor, lifted out the red shawl, tied the coral
beads round her neck, and plunged boldly into the contents of the big
chest.

Such a delightful chest as it proved to be! Mell thought it a great deal
better than any fairy tale, as one by one she lifted out and handled the
things which it contained. First and most beautiful was a parasol. It
was covered with faded pink silk trimmed with fringe, and had a long
white handle ending in a curved hook. Mell had never seen a parasol so
fine. She opened it, shut it, opened it again; she held it over her head
and went to the glass to see the effect. It was gorgeous, it was like
the parasols of Fairy-land, Mell thought. She laid it on the floor close
beside her, that she might see it all the while she explored the chest.

Below the parasol was a big paper box. Mell lifted the lid. A muff and
tippet lay inside, made of yellow and brown fur like the back of a
tortoise-shell cat. These were beautiful, too. Then came rolls of
calico and woollen pieces, some of which were very pretty, and would
make nice doll's dresses, Mell thought.

A newspaper parcel next claimed her attentio