ents that the bride had from her husband, was a
looking-glass, set with precious stones. People thought that it was a
curious wedding-present, and wondered if Norah were exceptionally vain.
But Karl declared that if it had not been for a looking-glass he might
never have known his wife, a remark which sounded more mysterious than
ever.

Many conjectures were made concerning it, but none of them were half so
strange as the truth. Another present was a brooch set in diamonds in
the shape of a crescent moon.

As they were now wealthy, Karl was able to indulge his passion for
mechanical inventions, and Hotel Fancy was full of the most delightful
surprises: fountains in unexpected places in the spray of which little
balls danced up and down, a rare gramophone that played the most soft
and pleasant music, every variety of electric light and so on.

Norah was a little disappointed that her friends the dwarfs did not come
to the wedding; but what could she expect if her mother-in-law and
uncles and aunts and cousins were all asked as well! Could she expect
that the dignified Mr Query would condescend to become an object of
general curiosity? I have heard that the little men called and left
their cards some days after the wedding, when Norah and Karl were away
on their honeymoon, and that Mr O'Brian treated them as royal visitors,
and that they left charmed with his hospitality, and astounded at the
many entertaining and marvellous things that were to be seen in Hotel
Fancy.

KAeTHCHEN AND THE KOBOLD

Half-way up the long steep hill that leads from Soden to Koenigstein, a
rough road branches off to the left, plunging suddenly into a valley,
and passing through the little village of Altenhain. As you walk down
this steep rocky incline, the Taunus Mountains rise up grand and high in
ever-changing panorama.

At the bottom of the hill lies Altenhain, an ordinary enough Taunus
village, save for the beautiful shrine that stands on the high road.
There a Crucifix hangs between two enormous poplar trees, one of the
most beautiful natural altars in the world. The trees are tall and
pointed like church spires, the trunks venerable with age. May the
lightning spare these grand old trees, and the winds play gently through
their boughs!

In this village lived a schoolmaster with his wife and family consisting
of a daughter, twelve years old, and a baby boy. They were not really
poor; for, besides their income, they had a pie