at Mrs. Coppert, who had stopped in the middle of the road.

'Are you Mary Brown?' asked the prince, taking the Magic Counter in his
hand. For although he had never spoken to her, it is very likely he had
heard her story from Evangeline.

'Yes,' answered Mary, 'I'm Mary Brown, and this is Mrs. Coppert. She
wants to take me back to William Street and I don't want to go. And I
shan't have to go now, because you must send Mrs. Coppert away and take
me back to Sister Agatha.'

Then the prince looked at Mrs. Coppert and she made a curtsey. 'I
understood,' said the prince, 'that Miss Royal had arranged everything
satisfactorily with you.'

'It ain't very satisfactory to part with one you've been more than a
mother to,' answered Mrs. Coppert, and Mary thought her voice sounded as
if she were going to cry. 'You come along of me,' she added, seizing
Mary's arm again. But the prince would not allow this, and in fact Mary
did not feel in the least frightened now, because she had given him the
Magic Counter, you see! He lifted Mary Brown in his arms and carried her
towards the house, and as she looked back over his shoulder, she saw
Mrs. Coppert following some distance off. When the prince carried Mary
into the park Mrs. Coppert began to run, and her large face looked
redder and more shiny than ever. The prince carried Mary in at the front
door, and a lot of people who were pushing balls about on the green
table with long sticks left off to laugh at him.

But suddenly Evangeline appeared amongst them; Mary did not know where
she came from, but of course Evangeline could appear when and where she
pleased; and instead of laughing when she saw the prince with Mary in
his arms, she ran towards him looking very glad and whispering something
that Mary could not hear. Then Evangeline took her upstairs to the
bedroom, where she found Sister Agatha. Sister Agatha took Mary on her
knees and said she had done wrong to leave the garden, but she kissed
her instead of scolding her any more, and Mary liked it much better.

'Only you must never go away like that again,' she said. 'Because we did
not know what had happened to you, and you frightened us very much. But
still,' Sister Agatha added, 'even if Mrs. Coppert had taken you to
London, we should have come to fetch you away again.'

XII

EVANGELINE SAYS GOOD-BYE TO MARY BROWN

Mary felt greatly relieved to hear that Sister Agatha would have fetched
her away again if Mrs. Cop