ck and longed to
hear human voices and see faces like her own. She wanted to do something
for some one, and be loved a little. So she peeped all about the ship,
and at last, in one cabin better than the others, she found the toys and
clothes of the little child and its mother. She was very glad of that,
and, knowing how children love their own things and cry when they are
lost, she gathered up all that were not spoiled, and made Goldfin and
Silver-tail help her carry them to the shore, where people had gathered
to save whatever came from the wreck.

There was great rejoicing when these small treasures came ashore, and
they were carried to the house where the lady and the child were. This
pleased Nelly very much, and even the lazy mermaids found the new game
pleasant; so they went on floating things to the beach, even the heavy
bags with the poor sailors' clothes, wet books, and boxes, which
otherwise would have been lost. No one could see Goldfin and
Silver-tail, but now and then some child would cry out, when Nelly
lingered to look and listen through the foam and spray,--

"Oh, I saw a face over there,--a dear little face, very pretty but sad,
and a hand waved at me! Could it be a mermaid?"

Then some older person would say,--

"Nonsense, child! there are no mermaids. It is only the reflection of
your own face in the water. Come away, or the tide will catch you."

If Nelly had not been partly human this could not have happened; and
though no one believed in her, she took comfort in the thought that she
was not all a fish, and loved to linger where she could see the children
at play long after Goldfin and Silver-tail had grown tired of them and
gone back to their own affairs.

The longer she stayed the more sad she grew; for the land seemed
pleasanter now than the sea,--the green, dry, warm land, with the
flowers and trees, birds and lambs, and dear people to love and care for
her. Even school looked like a happy place; and when she thought of her
own home, where mother and Baby were, her heart was so full of longing
for them that her tears dropped into the sea, and she held out her arms,
crying sadly,--

"Oh, mamma, dear mamma, forgive me, love me, and help me to come back to
you!"

No one answered, no one came; and poor Nelly sank sobbing down to cry
herself to sleep in her pearl-lined bed, with no good-night kiss to
comfort her.

Every day she longed more and more to go home, and grew more and more
tired