and supple, and with hair still jet black. Her eyes were
gray-green or green-gray, as the light happened to strike them; her
cheeks were hollow, and a long sharp chin slanted up to meet a long
sharp nose. Ordinarily, as the Knight had hinted, she was no doubt an
unholy terror, but to-day she was in the best of humors, and her eyes
twinkled with good nature.

"I just stepped out," she explained, "to carry some jelly and cake to
one of my neighbors, a woodcutter's wife. The poor woman has been ill
all the summer! Mercy! if I haven't had a day of it!" She dropped into
a chair, brushing a fly from the tip of her nose with the tip of her
tongue. "How is everything in Rainbow's-End?" she asked. "I suppose +She+
is as bad as ever."

"Worse," replied the Knight, fetching a sigh. "And +She+ never takes a day
off, as you do."

"Well, Henry, it's your own fault, as I've told you a thousand times. If
you hadn't been so soft-hearted-- But mercy! that's no way to be talking
on my holiday."

"So!" said the Boy to himself. "This wandering knight is the King of
Rainbow's-End and the father of the Princess. I have a friend at court
indeed."

V.

"And how is the Princess Aralia?" asked the Witch. "As pretty as ever, I
suppose, and with no prospect of a husband, thanks to her grandmother
and the silly tasks she sets for the suitors."

"That brings us to the business of our young friend here," said the
Knight of the Dusty Thoroughfare. "He wishes to present himself at
court, and is in great need of a horse and wardrobe."

"You've come to the wrong shop for horses and fine feathers," said the
Witch. "Those things are quite out of my line."

The Boy looked his disappointment.

"The best I can do," said Aunt Jo kindly, "is to give you a letter to a
Mr. Burbank, an excellent wizard of my acquaintance. He has recently
invented a skinless grape and a watermelon that is all heart, and is
quite the cleverest man in the business. Such a trifle as changing a pig
into a horse will give him no trouble whatever. Have you seen my garden,
Henry?"

"No, but I should like to," said the Knight rising.

"Meanwhile," said the Witch, "I will start the supper if our young
friend will fetch the wood."

The Boy responded with such cheerful readiness that Aunt Jo patted him
on the cheek and said: "You're the lad for the Princess Aralia, and have
her you shall if Aunt Jo can bring it about. And now go out in the
garden and pick me a hatful of Br