[Illustration: The child watched them with an increasing sense of fascination, for she knew that it would not be very long before she lost her friends, who would fly far, far away.--_Page 8._] Our Winnie and The Little Match-Girl BY EVELYN EVERETT-GREEN AUTHOR OF ‘THE MASTER OF FERNHURST,’ ‘IN CLOISTER AND COURT,’ ‘IN SHADOWLAND,’ ‘ODEYNE’S MARRIAGE,’ ETC. John F. Shaw & Co., Ltd., _Publishers_, 3, Pilgrim Street, London, E.C. CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE I. WATCHING THE SWALLOWS 7 II. WINIFRED’S TROUBLE 18 III. A STRANGE JOURNEY 31 IV. THE FIRST ATTEMPT 50 V. LITTLE PHIL 61 VI. WINIFRED’S BROTHERS 72 VII. WINIFRED’S PARTY 89 VIII. SUNDAY 107 IX. THE LAST FLIGHT 119 THE LITTLE MATCH-GIRL. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE A LITTLE MATCH-SELLER 127 CHAPTER II. IN THE STUDIO 138 CHAPTER III. WONDERFUL DAYS 149 CHAPTER IV. AT BROOKLANDS 160 CHAPTER V. DARK DAYS 171 CHAPTER VI. CONCLUSION 182 OUR WINNIE, OR “WHEN THE SWALLOWS GO.” CHAPTER I. WATCHING THE SWALLOWS. Winifred sat by the nursery window, upon the wide cushioned seat, leaning her little pale face against the glass and gazing with big blue eyes towards the rosy sky, where the sun was setting in a blaze of golden glory. It was a pretty view the great oriel window commanded--garden and shrubbery just below, and beyond the close laurel hedge, low-lying pasture lands dotted with pine trees, and a large piece of water, which lay shining like molten gold in the glow of sunset radiance. The swallows were enjoying the beauty of the evening as much as living things could do. They were darting this way and that in the bright, soft sunshine; now flying high, now low, and ever seeming drawn by irresistible attraction towards the shining surface of the water, which lay smiling and placid, without even a ripple to break its glassy smoothness. Winifred was very much interested in the swallows. In the springtime she had watched them with the utmost absorption as they built their nests and hatched their chattering broods amid the many eaves and jutting lead-pipes of the old-fashioned manor-house in which she lived. When the summer came, and the young birds had left the nests, she still fancied she knew “her swallows” from all the rest, and was always interested in their movements; fond of foretelling the weather according as to whether they flew high or low, and making stories about them and their cleverness which would rather have astonished an ornithologist.