the lawn that was
spread knee-deep, with a web of mist there gleamed for his eager eyes
the splendour of a fairy palace. Red and orange and gold, the lights
of the fairy revels shone from a hundred windows and filled him with
wonder that he should see with wakeful eyes the jewels that he had
desired so long in sleep. He could only gaze and gaze until his
straining eyes filled with tears, and set the enchanted lights
dancing in the dark. On his ears, that heard no more the crying of
the night-birds and the quick stir of the rabbits in the brake, there
fell the strains of far music. The flowers in his arms seemed to sway
to it, and his heart beat to the deep pulse of the night.

So enraptured were his senses that he did not notice the coming of
the girl, and she was able to examine him closely before she called
to him softly through the moonlight.

"Boy! Boy!"

At the sound of her voice he swung round and looked at her with
startled eyes. He saw her excited little face and her white dress.

"Are you a fairy?" he asked hoarsely, for the night-mist was in his
voice.

"No," she said, "I'm a little girl. You're a wood-boy, I suppose?"

He stayed silent, regarding her with a puzzled face. Who was this
little white creature with the tender voice that had slipped so
suddenly out of the night?

"As a matter of fact," the girl continued, "I've come out to have a
look at the fairies. There's a ring down in the wood. You can come
with me if you like, wood-boy."

He nodded his head silently, for he was afraid to speak to her, and
set off through the wood by her side, still clasping the flowers to
his breast.

"What were you looking at when I found you?" she asked.

"The palace--the fairy palace," the boy muttered.

"The palace?" the girl repeated. "Why, that's not a palace; that's
where I live."

The boy looked at her with new awe; if she were a fairy---- But the
girl had noticed that his feet made no sound beside her shoes.

"Don't the thorns prick your feet, wood-boy?" she asked; but the boy
said nothing, and they were both silent for a while, the girl looking
about her keenly as she walked, and the boy watching her face.
Presently they came to a wide pool where a little tinkling fountain
threw bubbles to the hidden fish.

"Can you swim?" she said to the boy.

He shook his head.

"It's a pity," said the girl; "we might have had a bathe. It would be
rather fun in the dark, but it's pretty deep there. We'd bette