hich had grown
across the door, and turned the handle timidly.

For a moment she thought the door was locked; then she heard a queer
sort of grating sound and something fell on the other side of the wall.
Una pulled once more, and the door opened slowly towards her.

What the little girl saw on the other side of the wall was so lovely
that she gave a gasp of delight, and then stood, quite still, looking
through the small doorway.

As far as she could see was a long bower of lovely pink and white
flowers. Hundreds of bees hummed amongst the blossoms; but to Una the
buzzing sounded like hundreds of tiny voices, and she thought she heard
the fairies talking.

"Fairies! Fairies!" she called softly. But no one answered, and very
soon the little girl stepped through the doorway and walked down the
apple-blossom path, looking from side to side to see if there were any
fairies hiding near.

On she went, until the pink and white bower turned into a wide walk
with masses of gay May flowers on either side, and this in turn ended
in a big square garden with stone walks and bright flower-beds, and a
fountain sparkling in the midst.

In the stone basin of the fountain were pretty gold and silver fish.

"Fairy fishes!" Una thought, for she had never seen goldfish before,
and she was still bending over the basin when she heard a tap, tap, tap
on the stone pathway, and, turning quickly, saw a very small, very old
lady coming towards her.

[Illustration: "She was still bending over the basin when she heard a
tap, tap, tap."]

"A fairy godmother," thought Una. "I didn't know they lived in
Fairyland."

Then she went to meet the old lady, giving a quaint little curtsey and
waiting for her to speak.

"Well, little girl," said the old lady kindly, "and who are you?"

"I'm Una," said the child gravely.

Then she gave a sudden jump in the air.

"Oh, fairy-godmother, how kind of you--there's my puppy dog!" she
cried, as a fat retriever puppy gambolled down the path and flung
itself playfully upon her.

The old lady looked amused.

"A fairy godmother, am I?" she said, smiling. "What can I do for you,
then?"

"Oh, such a lot of things!" said Una. Then a surprised look came into
her face: "Why, here's an old gentleman!" she said. "I didn't know
there were fairy godfathers too. Do you live in Fairyland together?"

The old lady laughed outright.

"Dear child, do you think this is Fairyland?" she asked.

"_Isn't it_