Mrs. Moon by one thin arm.

"Lemme go!" cried the child, shrilly.

Nancy, awakened by the moonlight streaming across the rose-cabbages of
her carpeting, had been lured out into the night. Halting at the
raspberry patch she had heard the little singer. Cautiously, lest
indeed she disturb fairies at their revels she had crept into the
orchard. From a hiding place she had watched the child's mad dance.

"Sh-h! I am the Moon-Queen! Let me dance with you!" Releasing the
little wriggling body Nancy threw off her slippers. "Come!" Waving
her hand she danced down through the apple trees, singing:

In their dress of yellow gold,
In their petals white,
I can see the fairy folk
Gathered here to-night!

From the shadow the child watched her, sullenly, suspiciously. But
with her loosened hair falling down over her pink dressing gown, Nancy
herself looked an eerie little sprite; in a moment the child's alarm
vanished. Of course she _knew_ that this must be Miss Sabriny
Leavitt's niece, but it was fun, anyway, to pretend that she _was_ the
Moon-Queen! And she must be very, very nice not to have "chased" her
at once! And she might stop dancing, too, any moment! So out she ran
to join Nancy, with hands outstretched, and together they capered and
danced around among the old trees until, quite out of breath, Nancy
fell upon the soft grass.

"Oh, goodness me, what _fun_! Now come here, Miss Fairy, and tell me
who you are? _Are_ you a fairy come from the Village of Tall Grass in
yonder field?"

The child, completely won, dropped at Nancy's feet.

"I'm Nonie Hopworth."

"Oh-h!" Nancy was genuinely surprised. "Are you Davy's sister?"

The child nodded. "Yep." She regarded Nancy closely. "You're
_different_, aren't you?"

Nancy caught her meaning. "Yes, I'm different--at least, I'm not
exactly like----"

"Miss Sabriny or--or B'lindy. _She'd_ have chased me! That's why I
come here to play at night. Anyway, it's easier to pretend at night.
Do you ever pretend, Miss?"

"Call me Nancy, do! Of course, I pretend, often! I love to."

"Ain't it fun--I mean isn't! I forgot. I play it 'most all the time."

Nancy looked curiously at the strange little figure, almost wraithlike
in the dim light. It was hard to believe that the winsome creature
could belong in Freedom--and to the "no-good" Hopworths.

There was grace in every movement of the thin little body not in the
least concealed by the