rience of it presently; but first I am
curious to know how he came to bring those good fairies to you. And
three too; just like in the tales; everything always goes by threes."

"I never thought of that," she said reflectively, and then continued,
once for all giving up the idea that talking much was rude. "I've got
them pressed between the leaves of my prayer-book. They were three
beautiful red roses when he brought them; I never saw such three roses
before. I turned them to the light and tried to make them happy whilst
they were with me, but to be sure I knew I could not keep them alive
long, so when they seemed ready to die, I put them in the book. They
were under my pillow when I was very, very ill. I must have been bad,
for one night the doctors thought I was going to die, and Soeur Louise
wouldn't let Soeur Amelie take her turn to sit by me. But I knew I was
not going to die; I even knew I was going to get quite well, because the
three good roses told me so--I hope you won't laugh at me, monsieur, for
calling a rose a fairy, but I----"

"Now really, mademoiselle, you couldn't for a moment imagine that I
should be so matter-of-fact and heartless as to laugh."

"Well, what do you think of her, monsieur?" broke in Monsieur Tamiasse.
"What does she look like now? There's her record in that third Division,
Casier G, No. 721. There we have her from the first day when she was
brought to us, to the day when we thought she was going to be carried
away from us, and so on up to date. She is not a bad specimen of the
sort we turn out at the Lyons City Hospital, is she? Not that we always
succeed. We are beaten more than once by the grim old gentleman with the
scythe. But we are always ready to fight him, and we manage sometimes to
get hold of his hour-glass and turn it upside down. Well, to-morrow we
hand this young lady over to my friend Mademoiselle Chevillard. She will
be here at twelve o'clock. Will you come and give your sanction to the
transfer?"

"Certainly," I said, and took my leave.

And as I went home I thought the world was not so bad after all, with
its Sisters of Charity, its bright, devoted little Econome, and its
Madeleine with her friends the fairies.

To-morrow came, and with it the transfer. I sanctioned it with all my
heart, for Mademoiselle Chevillard at once struck me as just the person
we could entrust our ward to. She and the Econome were settling the
business part of the transaction, and I turne