he paling; and then the door swung slowly back upon its
hinges.

Davy walked through the door-way and found himself in the oddest-looking
little country place that could possibly be imagined. There was a little
lawn laid out, on which a sort of soft fur was growing instead of grass,
and here and there about the lawn, in the place of flower-beds, little
footstools, neatly covered with carpet, were growing out of the fur. The
trees were simply large feather-dusters, with varnished handles; but
they seemed, nevertheless, to be growing in a very thriving manner, and
on a little mound at the back of the lawn stood a small house, built
entirely of big conch-shells, with their pink mouths turned outward.
This gave the house a very cheerful appearance, as if it were constantly
on a broad grin.

[Illustration: "THE SAVAGE WAS SITTING IN THE SHADE OF ONE OF THE
DUSTERS."]

To Davy's dismay, however, the savage was sitting in the shade of one of
the dusters, complacently reading the little red book, and he was just
wondering whether or not he would be able to get out of the place
without being seen, when the little creature looked up at him with a
tremendous smile on his face, and Davy saw, to his astonishment, that he
was the Goblin, dressed up like an Ethiopian serenader.

"Oh! you dear, delicious old Goblin!" cried Davy, in an ecstasy of joy
at again finding his travelling-companion. "And were you the savage that
was chasing me just now?"

The Goblin nodded his head, and, exclaiming "My, how you did cut and
run!" rolled over and over, kicking his heels about in a delirium of
enjoyment.

"Goblin," said Davy, gravely, "I think we could have just as good a time
without any such doings as that."

"_I_ couldn't," said the Goblin, sitting up again and speaking very
positively; "it's about all the fun I have."

"Well, then," said Davy, "I wish you wouldn't be disappearing all the
time. I think that is a very disagreeable habit."

"Rubbish!" said the Goblin, with a chuckle. "That's only my way of
getting a vacation."

"And where do you go?" inquired Davy; but this proved to be a very
unfortunate question, for the Goblin immediately began fading away in
such an alarming manner that he would certainly have gone entirely out
of sight if Davy had not caught him by the coat-collar and pulled him
into view again with a gentle shake.

"Oh, I beg your pardon!" said Davy, who was greatly alarmed by this
narrow escape. "I really d