She looked at the pictures that papa had drawn, and smiled when Teddy told her about them; but very soon she began to talk seriously with papa. She told him she had stopped in at Mrs. McFinney’s on her way home, and that she had been wondering whether something couldn’t be done for little Ellen McFinney’s lameness. She felt so sorry for her. Papa said the child ought to be sent to a hospital, and he thought that if that were done she could be cured. Mamma said that she thought so too; but that someone had been talking to little Ellen, and frightened her so that she cried whenever the hospital was talked of, and her mother would not send her unless she felt willing to go. Then mamma spoke of how lonely it must be for the little girl there in the house by herself all the day, while her mother was out at work, with so little to amuse her. “Mamma,” said Teddy, “why can’t little Ellen have some of my books to amuse her— some I had when I was sick? Because, you know, I’m well now, and don’t need them any more.” “That’s a very good idea,” said mamma, looking pleased. “You may choose the ones you will give her, and perhaps papa will leave them with her when he goes out for a walk this afternoon.” “Well,” cried Teddy, eagerly, “I think I’ll give her the _Ali Baba_ book and _Robinson Crusoe_, and I think, maybe, I’ll give her _Little Golden Locks_ too.” Mamma brought the books, and they tied them up in a neat package, and just as they finished there was a little rattle of china outside the door, and in came Hannah with Teddy’s luncheon, and a great yellow orange that Aunt Pauline had sent him. After luncheon mamma made Teddy lie down for a while to rest. The Venetian shutters were drawn, so that all the room was dimly green, and then mamma and papa went out and left him alone. Teddy lay there for what seemed to him a long time. The house was very still, and the afternoon sun shone in through the slats of the shutters in golden chinks and lines. Teddy wondered where mamma was, and why she didn’t come back, for it seemed to him that he had been alone almost all the afternoon, though really it had not been for long. Presently he heard someone humming cheerfully back of the counterpane hill, and as soon as he heard it he felt sure that the Counterpane Fairy must be coming. Sure enough in a few minutes she appeared at the top and stood looking down at him with a pleasant smile. “Oh, Mrs. Fairy, I knew that was you!” cried Teddy. “Did you?” said the fairy, sitting down on top of his knees. “And then did you think, ‘Now I shall see another story’?” “Oh, yes!” cried Teddy, eagerly. “I hoped you would show me one.” “Then I suppose I’ll have to,” said the fairy. “And what square shall it be this time?” “There’s one close by you,” said Teddy, “and it’s most every color, like a rainbow. Will you show me that story?” “Yes,” said the fairy, “I’ll show you that. Now fix your eyes on it.” Then she began to count. “FORTY-NINE!” she cried.