she saw familiarly, recognising the dim children that played
within and beyond the shadow of the blinds. But the child Matthew
Henry's frightened her. She and Ruth had lost a brother once. He had
died in infancy, a scrap of childhood, almost forgotten.... Yes,
Matthew Henry's eyes too had a playroom behind them; and there too a
shadowy child played at hide and seek.

Her voice shook a little as she picked up the old song--

At daybreak she dressed her,
Her wet hair she wound,
When she saw a lithe shepherd,
Stood under the mound.

He stood among the wreckage
With crook and with hound,
Alone in the morning,
That most did astound.

"O tell to me, lithe shepherd,
What king owns this ground?"
"No king, ma'am, but Zenobia,
A Queen of renown."

"Lithe lad, she is shipwrecked;
Myself saw her drown."
"Then 'tis you are Queen of Saaron
If you will step down.

"I have sheep, goat, and cattle
And a clear three pound,
If you'll mate with me and settle
In goods we will abound."

"Well-a-way!" sighed Zenobia,
"I have lost Carthage town,
But I like this lithe shepherd
So handsome and brown.

"If I marry you," said Zenobia,
"Farewell to renown!
If I marry you," said Zenobia,
"I mate with a clown.
But I'll marry you for all that,
With a down-derry-down!"

"And," said Linnet, as the song concluded, "they married and had twelve
children--six boys and six girls. Mother told me about it."

But Matthew Henry turned to the singer gravely. "Is it true?" he asked.
"And are you really Queen Zenobia?"

"Come and see," said Vashti, rising. "The sands are bare between us and
Brefar, and if Linnet is brave enough we will take a boat and she shall
be shown the cave where Jan's father caught the mermaid."

"But we must get back again," objected Annet.

"I will see that you get back again."

"The sands may not be safe."

"When you told us yourself that they were quite safe!" protested
Matthew Henry. "And you said you would lead us over and back without
any danger at all."

"The fact is," said Vashti, quietly, "Annet feels herself responsible
for you, and thinks that very likely I am a witch."

The child faced her bravely, biting her lip upon the inward struggle.

"You are not a witch," she said. "Your eyes are too good. And, besides,
there are people in Brefar who will t