THE FAIRIES 



the best beloved, was left to us till later years. It is 

 to her that my thoughts most readily return. 

 She was a store-house of anecdotes and legends. Never 

 would she speak, nor allow anyone to speak 

 before her, of the fairies otherwise than as 

 "the good people"/ and then it was with 

 bated breath. It was established as a fact 

 among us that in her girlhood she had had 

 communication with them. Certainly, we be- 

 lieved, she had seen them one evening dancing 

 in a ring / but never could she be got to tell 

 us in detail anything about these experiences. 

 The very mystery of her silence confirmed our 

 theory. 



What a delightful volume one could have made 

 out of the tales that fell from her lips upon our 

 small listening ears by the nursery fire / or in the 

 linen room with its uncurtained window and its vision of 

 the Three Kings and the Star. 



From many memories one floats back to me. It made a 

 great impression : 



"... And when Tim Brenahan was on his way home 

 that evening, wasn't it round by the wall he went, and 

 didn't he see two great cats sitting on the top of it with 

 their tails hanging over ? And didn't one cat say to the 

 other, as plain as can be, and didn't he hear it, just as you 

 do be hearing me : 



"Says one, 'And what's the news this evening?' And 

 says the other, ' No news at all,' says he. ' Only that 



q 241 



