silly enough to tell them about the airship, and they
thought I was humbugging them."

"How absurd!" Norah exclaimed. "But what are we to do now, Karl?" she
continued in a doleful voice. "I _must_ have some money; we are still in
debt for the greater part of our furniture; and the house is heavily
mortgaged."

"If I could only get a good post!" said Karl sighing deeply. "I had
reckoned on those dwarf chaps!"

"We shall never be able to marry," said Norah, now in the depths of
despair; "our house will have to be given up, and our things sold by
auction, and I, O I shall have to marry a horrid, rich old peasant who
will treat me as a servant, and father will be obliged to work in the
fields." With this she burst into tears.

It was quite dark now save for the new moon whose pale crescent shone in
the sky. Norah observed it in spite of her tears.

"The new moon!" she exclaimed. "O do let us turn all the money that we
have in our pockets. How much have you got Karl?"

"About 10 shillings," he replied.

"O you are richer than I am; I have only 8d. in my purse; nevertheless
let us turn what we have, and it will be sure to bring us a fortune."

Karl laughed. "You little fairy," he said, and looked at her with
admiration; then involuntarily his eyes strayed in the direction of the
fir-grove. He thought he could see something moving there. Norah looked
too. "Karl," she said excitedly, "I do believe it is the dwarf men after
all; who else could it be?"

At the same moment they caught sight of a queer form with a turned-up
nose and peaked cap clearly outlined against the sky, and recognised Mr
Query.

"Hullo!" said Karl.

"[text missing in original] to you," he said in a droll manner.

"Now, Mr Dwarf," said Karl, anxious to proceed to business, "what about
our little agreement as to electric light, etc.?"

"The committee has decided against it," said Mr Query emphatically.
"What do we want with your new-fangled inventions; you would bring your
workmen with you; they would discover our treasures, and turn the whole
place into a mine, and of course we should be obliged to decamp."

"Well, there is something in what you say," said Karl to whom this idea
had already occurred, "but we could avoid that catastrophe!"

"As for you," continued the dwarf turning to Norah, "we have discovered
that you are a human being also, and no fairy; therefore we shall not
require your services any longer."

"What a horrid way to giv