I don't know when
mamma will be here. Won't you show me a story?"

"In a minute! in a minute!" said the fairy. "As soon as I can catch my
breath."

Teddy was so afraid that mamma would come in that he could hardly wait,
and when the Counterpane Fairy told him that she was ready and that he
might choose a square, he made haste and pointed out a silvery gray one.
Then the fairy began to count. "FORTY-NINE!" she cried.

* * * * * * * *

Teddy was walking down a long, smooth, gray road. There was a silvery
mist all about him, so that it was almost as though he were walking
through the sky, and the road seemed to begin and end in grayness.

He knew that somewhere behind him lay his home, and that in front was
the place where he was going, but he did not know what that place was.

At last he reached the edge of a wide gray lake as smooth and as shining
as glass. Beside him on the beach a little gray bird was crouching.
"Peet-weet! peet-weet!" cried the little gray bird.

It was so close to Teddy's feet that it seemed to him that with a single
movement he could stoop and catch it. Very softly he reached out his
hand and the little bird did not stir. "Peet-weet! peet-weet!" it cried.
Suddenly with a quick movement he clutched it. For a moment he thought
that he felt it in his fingers, all feathery and soft and warm, and then
the voice of the Counterpane Fairy cried, "Take care! you're rumpling my
cloak!"

Teddy dropped the bird as though it had burned him, and there it was not
a bird at all, but the Counterpane Fairy, who stood smoothing down her
cloak and frowning. "Oh! I didn't know that was you; I thought it was a
bird," cried Teddy.

"A bird!" cried the fairy. "Do I look like a bird?"

Teddy thought that she did, for her nose was long and thin, and her eyes
were bright like those of a sparrow, but he did not like to say so. All
he said was, "I wonder why I came here?" for now he knew that this was
the place that he had been coming to.

"I suppose you came to see the dreams go by," said the Counterpane
Fairy. "I often come for that myself."

"The dreams go by!" said Teddy. "I don't know what you mean."

"Do you see that castle over yonder?" asked the fairy, pointing out
across the lake. Teddy looked as hard as he could, and after a while he
thought he did see the shadowy roofs and turrets of a great gray castle
through the mist.

"I think I do," he said.

"Well," said the fairy, "tha