I was only in fun when I agreed to the
plan."

"I never agreed to the plan at all," said Mr. Frere. "I shall be truly
thankful to get to bed, and wake up to-morrow sober. I will never go out
to tea in Kensington again if this is the result."

"I am going to America," said Mr. Tovey, fixing his innocent eyes,
obscured by hair, upon Miss Ford.

"I am going to America," echoed the unseen Mayor from an unexpected
direction. Nobody had yet dared to tell him of the misfortune that had
overtaken him. "I'll give up this Mayor job to-morrer. Catch me stayin'
be'ind if--oh, by the way, that reminds me----"

"I didn't need reminding," interrupted Sarah Brown. "It seems to me that
everybody has forgotten why they came here. Please, Richard, do you know
of a spell to find a missing person?"

"Yes, several," answered Richard, who was always as eager as a
travelling salesman to recommend his wares. "There is an awfully
ingenious little spell I can show you, if you happen to have a
telephone book and a compass and a toad's heart and a hair from a black
goat's beard about you. Or again, if you stand on a sea-beach at low
tide on Christmas night with the moon at your back and a wax candle in
your left hand, and write upon the sand the name--by the way, who is it
you want to find?"

"The witch," answered Sarah Brown.

Richard's face fell. "Oh, only the witch?" he said. "I can tell you
where she is without any spell at all. She's with my True Love at
Higgins Farm, helping--oh, by the way, mother, I forgot to tell you. You
are a grandmother."

"RRCHUD!" said Lady Arabel. She sat down suddenly on the smooth grass
slope between the road and the garden hedge. "Ah, it is too cruel," she
cried, burying her face in her hands. "It is too cruel. Is this my son?
I meant so well, and all my life I did the things that other people did,
the natural things. Except just once. And for that once, I am so cruelly
punished.... I am given a son who is no son to me, who says only things
I mustn't understand ... who does only things I mustn't see...." She
paused, and, taking her hands from her face, looked round aghast at
Richard, who was sitting beside her on the bank, stroking her arm. "_A
faery son_ ..." she added in a terrified whisper, and then broke out
again crying: "Ah, it is too cruel...."

Richard continued to stroke her arm without comprehension. "Yes, mother,
and Peony, my True Love, insists on calling him Elbert," he said.
"Mother, list