white shells for feet, at the lower edge of the fringed
skirt. She laid a wreath of little star-fish across the brown hair, a
belt of small orange-crabs round the waist, buttoned the dress with
violet snail-shells, and hung a tiny white pebble, like a pearl, in
either ear.

"Now she must have a glass and a comb in her hand, as the song says,
and then she will be done," said Fancy, looking about her, well pleased.

Presently she found the skeleton of a little fish, and his backbone made
an excellent comb; while a transparent jelly-fish served for a glass,
with a frame of cockle-shells round it. Placing these in the hands of
her mermaid, and some red coral bracelets on her wrists, Fancy
pronounced her done; and danced about her, singing:

"My pretty little mermaid,
Oh! come, and play with me:
I'll love you, I'll welcome you;
And happy we shall be."

Now, while she had been working, the tide had crept higher and higher;
and, as she sung, one wave ran up and wet her feet.

"Oh, what a pity I didn't put her farther up!" cried Fancy; "the tide
will wash her all away; and I meant to keep her fresh, and show her to
Aunt Fiction. My poor mermaid!--I shall lose her; but perhaps she will
be happier in the sea: so I will let her go."

Mounting her rock, Fancy waited to see her work destroyed. But the sea
seemed to pity her; and wave after wave came up, without doing any harm.
At last one broke quite over the mermaid, and Fancy thought that would
be the end of her. But, no: instead of scattering shells, stones, and
weeds, the waves lifted the whole figure, without displacing any thing,
and gently bore it back into the sea.

"Good by! good by!" cried Fancy, as the little figure floated away;
then, as it disappeared, she put her hands before her face,--for she
loved her mermaid, and had given all her treasures to adorn her; and now
to lose her so soon seemed hard,--and Fancy's eyes were full of tears.
Another great wave came rolling in; but she did not look up to see it
break, and, a minute after, she heard steps tripping toward her over the
sand. Still she did not stir; for, just then, none of her playmates
could take the place of her new friend, and she didn't want to see them.

"Fancy! Fancy!" called a breezy voice, sweeter than any she had ever
heard. But she did not raise her head, nor care to know who called. The
steps came quite close; and the touch of a cold, wet hand fell on her
own. Then she loo