THE MERMAID’S TEA SERVICE. 19 
sea shouts and laughs and beckons to me, even 
my shells are full of sea songs;” and she held 
a chambered shell to her ear, talking of its 
plaintive murmur, so like the breaking of 
Waves upon a far-off coast. : 
A few minutes later she was asleep, the 
shell still held to her ear, and a smile upon her 
lips—a sign of the pleasantness of her voyage 
over sleep’s mysterious sea. 
This is what she saw: A quaint little crea- 
ture came up out of the waves and stood upon 
the sand. It looked like a bit of a crumpled 
veil, a weird little wraith made up of frills 
and rutiles, but with a foot so large as to sug- 
gest a mistake had been made in the adjust- 
ment. 
Undine, with her love for all manner of 
sea tenants, smiled a welcome, then waited 
curiously, uncertain what might be the next 
propriety in view of her guest being incognito, 
Presently a voice, finer than the vibration of a 
spider’s silken string, came to Undine between 
the noise of the waves, and the little visitor 
announced : 
“7 built that pearly palace you are holding 
in your hand ; J painted its walls and tinted the 
ceiling of its chambers. It was my home for 
years, how many you can tell by counting the 
