onze curls.

"Not exactly," said Karl, "but then I have never seen a fairy; you are
pretty enough for one!"

She made a little curtsy in acknowledgment of the compliment. "I'll have
finished my work soon," she said, "and then we will go home together."

"That will be delightful," said Karl.

The dwarfs were looking on.

"You may go," said Mr Query. "You have worked enough for to-day." He
handed her several pieces of gold. Her eyes sparkled with glee as she
pocketed the coins; she was proud of having earned some money.

"Follow me," she said to Karl, "and I will show you the way home. You
would never be able to find it alone."

"The dwarfs have burrowed here like moles," said Karl aside to the girl,
"and I believe they are almost as blind and ignorant."

"Do not speak disrespectfully of moles," said a dwarf who had overheard
the last part of this remark. "They belong to the most intelligent of
all creatures; who can build a fortress like the mole?"

"Norah," said the dwarfs, "Norah, when are you coming again?"

"Very soon," she said, "I'll bring some metal polish with me, and make
your vases shine!"

"Norah," thought Karl, "so that is her name. I wonder where she lives?"

Norah led the way back through intricate passages until they came to the
open space where there was the staircase leading up to the outside
world. "Good morning," she said to the dwarfs.

Karl pulled out his watch--yes--the night was already past, it was four
o'clock.

"I'll drop in again soon, and see about your little commissions," he
said to the dwarfs. "Electric light you want, telephone and lift, it
will be rather a big job."

"And what about the airship?" asked Mr Query.

"O I can't rig that up for you; you must go to Frankfurt and see that
for yourselves. Good morning," and he turned to follow Norah, who was
already some way up the stone staircase. From a distance she really
looked like a fairy. The light of dawn shone on her wonderful hair; she
had taken off her apron, and had on a white dress trimmed with gold,
that fluttered as she mounted the steps. At the top she waited to take
breath, and Karl easily caught her up. They gazed down into the depths
beneath them, but no trace of dwarfland could they see. Even the
glow-worms had vanished, and the rough steps looked like natural niches
in the rock. They were on the top of the mountain. Near by stood a grove
of firs, the trees were so gnarled and stunted from their exposed
pos