E-text prepared by Stephen Hope, Fox in the Stars, Mary Meehan, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 20901-h.htm or 20901-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/9/0/20901/20901-h/20901-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/9/0/20901/20901-h.zip) IN APPLE-BLOSSOM TIME A Fairy-Tale to Date by CLARA LOUISE BURNHAM With Illustrations Boston and New York Houghton Mifflin Company The Riverside Press Cambridge Copyright, 1919, by Clara Louise Burnham All Rights Reserved [Illustration: Lifted the Girl in after it] CONTENTS I. The Princess II. The Ogre III. The Prince IV. The Good Fairy V. The New Help VI. The Dwarf VII. A Midnight Message VIII. The Meadow IX. The Bird of Prey X. The Palace XI. Mother and Son XII. The Transformation XIII. The Goddess XIV. The Mermaid Shop XV. The Clouds Disperse XVI. Apple Blossoms ILLUSTRATIONS _Drawn by B. Morgan Dennis_ Lifted the Girl in after it Tingling with the Increasing Desire to knock down his Host and catch this Girl up in his Arms "Geraldine Melody belongs to me. Her father gave her to me" DRAMATIS PERSONAE In the Order of their Appearance The Good Fairy _Mehitable Upton_ The Princess _Geraldine Melody_ The Ogre _Rufus Carder_ The Dwarf _Pete_ The Slave _Mrs. Carder_ The Prince _Benjamin Barry_ The Grouch _Charlotte Whipp_ The Queen _Mrs. Barry_ IN APPLE-BLOSSOM TIME CHAPTER I The Princess Miss Mehitable Upton had come to the city to buy a stock of goods for the summer trade. She had a little shop at the fashionable resort of Keefeport as well as one in the village of Keefe, and June was approaching. It would soon be time to move. Miss Upton's extreme portliness had caused her hours of laborious selection to fatigue her greatly. Her face was scarlet as she entered a popular restaurant to seek rest and refreshment. She trudged with all the celerity possible toward the only empty table, her face expressing wearied eagerness to reach that desirable haven before any one else espied it. Scarcely had she eased herself down into the complaining chair, however, before a reason for the unpopularity of this table appeared. A steady draught blew across it strong enough to wave the ribbons on her hat. "This won't do at all," muttered Miss Mehitable. "I'm all of a sweat." She looked about among the busy hungry horde, and her eye alighted on a table at which a young girl sat alone. "Bet she'll hate to see me comin', but here goes," she added, slipping the straps of her bag up on her arm and grasping the sides of the table with both hands.