188 A MISCHIEVOUS FAIRY 



hind a tree and stooped down on the ground. In 

 front of me something made a white gleam, like 

 a little piece of paper. I leaned over to see just 

 what it was, and as sure as anything I saw a little 

 flower, white like a ghost and shaped like a pipe. 

 Of course it must be the one Francis had told the 

 story about. 



Before I took it up from the earth I looked 

 around to see if there were any others. Instead 

 I spied a great Pyxle stool not far away, as Tommy 

 calls mushrooms, with a beautiful bright, red top, 

 and quite near it were two little baby ones also 

 with red tops. Then I saw another curious white 

 thing. It looked like the piece of coral Sallie's 

 father once brought her from Mexico. 



Surely this was a wonderful part of the woods 

 for finding flowers. Here things were more like 

 the early spring. There were no weeds, and the 

 earth was not covered with all kinds of green 

 leaves. I soon found some other white flowers, 

 prettier even than the Ghost-flower. 



Three of them grew together, on little plants 

 that stood up so stiff and straight they made me 

 think of trees, although they were only half as tall 

 as a lead pencil. Pretty white lines ran through 

 their stiff green leaves, but really the prettiest part 

 of all was the sweet-smelling flower. It hung over 

 from the top of the stem, and was as white as 

 wax. The petals were curved back. I don't know 

 why, but it made me think of fairies and the flow- 



