t little girl
whispered, "He was only a Brownie, and knew no better." Now they were
growing quite big children, who would be men and women some time; when
they hoped they would never do any thing wrong. (Their parents hoped the
same, but doubted it.)

In a serious and careful manner they folded up the clothes, and laid
them one by one in the basket without any mischief, until, just as the
two biggest boys were lifting their burden to carry it away, they felt
something tugging at it from underneath.

"Halloo! Where are you taking all this rubbish? Better give it to me."

"No, if you please," said they, very civilly, not to offend the little
brown man. "We'll not trouble you, thanks! We'd rather do it ourselves;
for poor Gardener is very ill, and his wife is very miserable, and we
are extremely sorry for them both."

"Extremely sorry!" cried Brownie, throwing up his cap in the air, and
tumbling head over heels in an excited manner. "What in the world does
extremely sorry mean?"

The children could not explain, especially to a Brownie; but they
thought they understood--anyhow, they felt it. And they looked so
sorrowful that the Brownie could not tell what to make of it.

He could not be said to be sorry, since, being a Brownie, and not a
human being, knowing right from wrong, he never tried particularly to do
right, and had no idea that he was doing wrong. But he seemed to have an
idea that he was troubling the children, and he never liked to see them
look unhappy.

So he turned head over heels six times running, and then came back
again.

"The silly old woman! I washed her clothes for her last night in a way
she didn't expect. I hadn't any soap, so I used a little mud and
coal-dust, and very pretty they looked. Ha, ha, ha! Shall I wash them
over again to-night?"

"Oh, no, please don't!" implored the children.

"Shall I starch and iron them? I'll do it beautifully. One--two--three,
five--six--seven, Abracadabra, tum--tum--ti!" shouted he, jabbering all
sorts of nonsense, as it seemed to the children, and playing such antics
that they stood and stared in the utmost amazement, and quite forgot the
clothes. When they looked round again, the basket was gone.

"Seek till you find, seek till you find,
Under the biggest gooseberry-bush, exactly to your mind."

They heard him singing this remarkable rhyme, long after they had lost
sight of him. And then they all set about searching; but it was a long
w