“'O, yes; and I will love you and live with you forever!' “'Till when?' “'Till I have learned it, and can take it home with me.' “'Dear child,' said she, 'the fairies have no homes but yours, and we can only come down to them on your feet. Without you we are only eyes without a smile. But if we cannot come down to you of ourselves, how happy are we when one comes to us who can carry us back with her! How did you come hither?' “'I sailed up on the stream.' “'Then take me down with you,' she said, sinking upon my face with a kiss, into which she dissolved like a mist, and I closed my eyes to clasp her to my heart forever. “When I opened them, the stream was rippling at my feet, and my brother was raising his face from mine with a smile that left me in doubt if I was not still in Fairyland. 'Now tell me, Violet Eyes,' said he, 'all about the fairies.' “'How do you know I have been there?' I asked. “'Have you never heard that whoever looks first into the eyes of one who has been there, catches a glimpse of Fairyland? But tell me quick, before you forget. You know you promised to break the twigs as you went, to mark the place for me.' “'O, I forgot all about it!' said I. “'Never mind,' said he; 'but tell me what you remember.' “So I told him all I could, and much more than I have told you now, for he had such a comical look on his face when I was describing the best part of it all,--after betraying me, too, as he had, into telling it, with the greatest appearance of interest,--that I resolved I never would tell it again; so you must blame him, and not me, if I have left the best part out.” “O, we all know the best part of a story is always left out!” said Kate, “particularly by those who have taken the most pains to put every thing in. But there goes the school bell. I wonder if the fairies ever come down so far into the world as to visit the school room. Fancy Ella dancing with her fairy queen, with an 'Algebra' under one arm, and an 'Elements of Criticism' under the other.” “There is nothing so heavy that the fairies cannot make it dance,” said Ella. “The trouble is to get their assistance. And what a capital story it would make,--the fairies coming at night and setting our books to waltzing on the school room floor! There is no end to the funny contrasts it suggests.” “The best stories always come when it is too late to tell them,” said Anna. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Magician's Show Box and Other Stories, by Lydia Maria Child