ng egg-shells."

"And do you mean," the King cried, "that you let them catch you with
that old trick? I thought you was clever."

"Let them catch me! I couldn't help what they did! I tried to help it,
but it's a spell that's too strong for me or for any of us. If I was
to get a soul by it, I couldn't help saying: 'What are you doing,
mother?' and then I couldn't help saying how long I had been on the
earth. Ah, didn't I always tell you mortals was more powerful than us,
if they only knew how? What are our spells and our charms to theirs?"

"And where is Terence, then?" the King asked.

"He's not come in yet," somebody answered.

"You know where he must be by this time," said Naggeneen. "He's back
with his father and his mother by now. Where else could he be?"

"There'll be no geometry to-night," the King said. "It's all done;
we've failed in that. We'll always be as we are, as you told us,
Naggeneen. So now be as you were yourself and give us a tune to dance
by. We was dancing when you came in, but it was no good music we had."

"I'll not play any more," Naggeneen said; "that's all done too. But I
have something more to tell you. Kathleen O'Brien can see us, whether
we like it or not. Some fool of you must have given her the ointment
when she was here, and now she has used it on her eyes. She saw me
when I meant to be invisible, and by the same token she can see any of
you any time, whether you want to be seen or not. Now you know it's
the rule that she must be blinded in some way. Any of you can do it
that likes. I've had enough and I warn you. She carries something that
none of you can face, if she uses it. But you can watch your chance
and do it when she's asleep or in some way off her guard."

An angry murmur ran around when Naggeneen said this. The King was
about to speak, but the Queen spoke first. "Never a one of you shall
harm her," she said. "Look what she did for me and the little Prince,
at that time when we can do nothing for ourselves. And how good her
grandmother has always been to us; and her mother, when she was alive.
I don't care if she sees everything we do; no one of us shall ever
harm her or anyone that belongs to her."

"You are right," the King said, "and it's ordered as you say."

"And she's not to be blinded, then?" said Naggeneen.

"She's not to be harmed," the King answered. "I forbid you ever to
touch her, Naggeneen, and none of us ever will."

"Don't fear for me," said Naggeneen