be!" "There is a slight difficulty about that," I replied, "which is
that you will not remember in the morning a single thing that has
happened to-night." "Oh! Oh!" cried both the children, "how can that be
possible, Mr. Moonman? we _could_ not forget all these wonderful things,
even if we tried, and we do not want to try." "That is all very well," I
replied, "but it will make no difference whether you try or not, for all
will be as I say. If you had carried a sprig of the sea-flower in your
hands it might have been otherwise; but I take care never to give that
to children, remembering what trouble my cousin Patty once had from
doing that very thing."

"Who is your cousin Patty?" asked Nibble. "Pray tell us about her." The
little Winds nodded their heads.

"We know all about her!" they said. "She is the Sea Fairy, and lives in
the palace which is hollowed out of a single pearl, under the Indian
Ocean. There are fine things there, Father Moonman!"

"You are right!" I said, "and some night these two mice shall pay her a
visit, and see for themselves. But as I was saying, she got into trouble
once, by giving a sprig of the sea-flower to a little boy of whom she
was very fond. I took him down to see her one night, and she gave him
many beautiful things, among them a pair of diamond trousers."

"Diamond trousers!" exclaimed Nibble. "Who ever heard of such things!"

"There are many things which you have not heard of," I replied, "and one
seems to be that you are not to interrupt when other people are
speaking."

Nibble hung his head and was silent.

[Illustration]

"She gave him," I continued, "a pair of diamond trousers, which shone as
brightly as Whisk does when he shakes himself. The boy, a little English
fellow named Arthur, was of course, very much delighted, and putting the
trousers on, he capered all about the palace, kicking his little legs up
and down, to make the diamonds sparkle more and more. 'Now there is a
rule among all the Light Ones (as we are called to distinguish us from
human beings,) that no heavy one shall ever be allowed to take anything
away with him when he comes to see us. It is a very necessary rule, for
there would be all kinds of trouble without it. So on this occasion, if
Patty had not given little Arthur the sea-flower, all would have been
well. He would have enjoyed his diamond trousers while he was under the
sea, and when he woke up in the morning he would not have known anything
abo