"It's all through that money that was sent to the Duchess, Daddy." "All through that, Sally." "Then I love money, Daddy," said Sally; "and I'd like to be a lady, so that the Duchess and me might live always by the sea. How far does it stretch? More than we can see?" "Thousands, and thousands, and thousands of miles more. Away into other countries, where it's night at the present moment while it's daylight here." "I don't understand it," said Sally, with a sigh of ecstasy, "and I don't want to. Oh, we're going away from it!" "We're going to the cottage I spoke of my little woman," said the wagoner; "it's not three hundred yards off--just down this lane." Down the lane they drove, and drew up at a small house with a garden before and behind. The front of the cottage was covered with ivy, and the windows in their framework of glossy leaves looked wonderfully pretty. "This is nice, too," said Sally, disposed to enjoy everything. "There's beauty everywhere, Sally," said Seth, with a touch of his old philosophy, "if we'll only look out for it." "This comes without looking out for it," replied Sally; "and that's why I like it. Ain't it better than anything ever was, Duchess?" The Duchess nodded an assent, and in another moment the whole party were in the little parlour, and Seth and the wagoner were talking to the mistress of the house. The bargain was soon struck, the terms asked for board and lodging being much less than Seth had ventured to hope they would be. They were to have the two rooms on the first floor for sleeping apartments, one looking over the front the other over the back of the house. "Daddy must have this," said Sally, as they stood in the front room; "it's the best." "That's the reason why you and the Duchess shall sleep in it. I came into the country for your sakes, children, not for my own." Everything in the place was sweet and fresh; and the garden at the back of the house contained apple and pear trees and currant-bushes, as well as flowers. "My good man," said the mistress, "will be glad to have two such pretty children in the house for a little while. We've none of our own. It'll brighten us up a bit." The woman was sad-looking and spoke in a sad tone; and Sally wondered how it was possible that one who lived in the fairy-house, with flowers and fruit trees and the sea within a stone's throw of them, should need brightening up. She was sure if such a paradise were hers, that there would never be a dull hour in it. While the woman was attending to the children upstairs, assisting them to wash after their long day's ride, and showing them all the wonders of the fairy house, Seth and the wagoner had a conversation in the room below. It was a friendly one, resulting from the wagoner's refusal to accept payment for the ride. "It'll be a pleasure to me," said the wagoner, "not to take the money. I don't want it, having enough and to spare, as I've already told you. I don't mean to say I do it for your sake----"