what they are,' said Mary; 'they're the magic counters you
give to people when you want them to do things.'

'I'm afraid those don't grow by the roadside,' answered Evangeline;
'these are primroses, Mary.'

'What are primroses?' asked Mary with wondering eyes.

'You see,' said Evangeline, 'every winter the earth grows hard and cold;
but when it feels the sun shine on it again it smiles, and to show you
how glad it is, it puts forth all these bright little flowers.'

'I see,' answered Mary, still looking as if she did not understand at
all.

'Perhaps you would like to pick some,' said Evangeline. She stopped the
ponies, and at the same moment the two boys sprang to the ground and
stood very stiffly at their heads. Sister Agatha and Mary got out of the
carriage and, stooping by the roadside, plucked primrose after primrose,
whilst the three dogs sniffed about as if they wanted to make a meal off
the sweet, yellow flowers.

Then they got into the carriage again, and Evangeline flourished her
whip. The boys climbed up into the back seat, and Mary felt she should
not mind being driven along that sunny road for ever, or at least until
tea-time. She had never smelled the air so sweet nor seen the sky so
blue.

Presently they reached some shops and small houses, and the people came
out to stand at the doors and bow to Evangeline as she passed.

'Why do they do that?' asked Mary.

'If you saw a fairy-queen driving four cream-coloured ponies past your
house, don't you think you would bow to show how pleased you felt?' said
Sister Agatha.

'I suppose I should,' answered Mary, as they came to a gate with a
cottage beside it. Out from the cottage a funny little old woman came
with a face the colour of a russet apple; she curtseyed so low that her
chin seemed almost to touch the ground, and she wore a red cloak. In one
hand she carried a stick, and Mary wondered whether she was a witch. She
opened the gate, and stood bowing as Evangeline drove through it, and
when Mary looked back at her afterwards the little old woman was bowing
still.

Now, the road ran through a large park, and in the distance Mary saw a
great white house, a part of which shone very brightly in the sunshine.

'Is that the palace?' asked the child.

'Yes,' answered Sister Agatha, 'that is your fairy's palace.'

'Why does it shine so much?' asked Mary.

'Oh, that's to welcome the queen, you know!'

'What are those things?' exclaimed Mary the next