ed burden. At
last they reached an open glade; a dark, motionless figure was
standing in the moonlight.

"It is he--it is my Jack!" cried the fairy, springing forward with
a faint cry of welcome.

"O Jack, I have brought your old friend Paul Stukely back to you.
You must take care of him as well as of me, for he has been in
deadly peril tonight."

Chapter 7: The Protection Of The Protected.

"Nay, wife, why sit up for him? Since he has taken to these roving
habits at night there is no depending upon him. I must put an end
to them if they are to disturb you so. The boy is safe enough. Why
are you anxious about him tonight?"

It was Farmer Devenish who spoke these words to his wife, half an
hour after the rest of the household had retired to rest, and he
found her still sitting beside the fire, which she had piled up
high on the hearth, as if she meant to remain downstairs for some
time; which indeed she distinctly told him was her intention, as
she did not wish to go to bed until Jack had come in.

"He asked me to sit up for him tonight," she answered, "and he
never did so before. I was glad of it; for I have been uneasy for
the boy, wondering what could take him out so often at night."

"Oh, he's going courting, you may depend upon it," laughed the
farmer in his hearty way; "and courting some young lass not of our
village, but one who lives a pretty step from here, I'll be bound.
I've held my peace, and let the boy go his own way. He'll speak out
when the time comes, depend upon it."

"I believe he will speak out this very night," answered the mother.
"He told me he had a surprise in store for me, and begged that I
would sit up till his return, and stand his friend with you, if you
should be displeased at his choice. One might have thought he was
bringing his bride home with him, to hear him talk; but he would
never get wedded without speaking first. He is a good lad and a
dutiful, and his parents have the right to be told."

The farmer's curiosity was piqued by what he heard, and he resolved
to share his wife's vigil. Jack, their only son, was very dear to
them, and they were proud of him in their own hearts, and thought
such a son had never lived before. Both were anxiously looking
forward to the day when he should bring home a wife to brighten up
the old home, since it had lost the sweet presence of the daughter
Joan; and they neither of them believed that Jack's choice would
fall upon anyone unwor