ty before you went
away; but now it is too late."

The Condensed Pirate said nothing. He felt rather guilty about the
matter. He might have waited a little, and yet he could not have told
them about it. They might have objected to be condensed.

"May we stay just a little while and look at things?" asked Corette.

"Yes," replied one of the fairies; "but you must be very careful not to
step inside the grounds, or to stumble over on our place. You might do
untold damage."

So the two little big people stood and admired the fairy cottage and
all about it, for this was indeed the sight they came to see; and then
they took leave of their kind entertainers, who would have been glad to
have them stay longer, but were really trembling with apprehension lest
some false step or careless movement might ruin their little home.

As Corette and the Condensed Pirate took their way through the woods to
their home, they found it very difficult to get along, they were so
small. When they came to a narrow stream, which Corette would once have
jumped over with ease, the Condensed Pirate had to make a ferry-boat of
a piece of bark, and paddle himself and the little girl across.

"I wonder how the fairies used to come down to us," said Corette, who
was struggling along over the stones and moss, hanging on to her
companion's hand.

"Oh! I expect they have a nice smooth path somewhere through the woods,
where they can run along as fast as they please; and bridges over the
streams."

"Why didn't they tell us of it?" asked Corette.

"They thought it was too little to be of any use to us. Don't you
see?--they think we're big people and wouldn't need their path."

"Oh, yes!" said Corette.

In time, however, they got down the mountain and out of the woods, and
then they climbed up on one of the fences and ran along the top of it
toward Corette's home.

When the people saw them, they cried out: "Oh, here come our dear
little fairies, who have not visited us for so many days!" But when
they saw them close at hand, and perceived that they were little
Corette and the Pirate who had reformed, they were dumbfounded.

Corette did not stop to tell them anything; but still holding her
companion's hand, she ran on to her parents' house, followed by a crowd
of neighbors.

Corette's father and mother could hardly believe that this little thing
was their daughter, but there was no mistaking her face and her
clothes, and her voice, although the