She certainly was lovely, in a gown of queen’s lace over wild rose petals. On her feet were tiny lady slippers; on her head a lovely violet. Her hair was of yellow-white thistle-down. When she spoke, her voice sounded like a laughing bell. “So you’ve found them at last, Jack,” she laughed. “You’ve found human beings who can hear us and can see us. Let’s tell what we can do for them.” “Yes,” said the little fellow in green, taking Bouncing Bet’s hand and speaking to the girls. “Please be seated.” As the girls sat down on the grassy slope, Jack began to speak: “We know you are wondering whether we are really the flowers, ‘Jack-in-the-Pulpit’ and ‘Bouncing Bet.’ No, we are the fairies of those flowers. Every kind of flower has its fairy. They try to talk with the human beings they see, but very few can hear them or see them. Now, that you can see us and hear us, we would like to take you with us into Fairy Flower Land——” “And tell you all we can in one short afternoon about wild flowers,” finished Bouncing Bet. “Jack, lead the way.” CHAPTER XXXIX GOOD AND BAD WEEDS AT that, the little fellow picked up a tiny stick, which he used as a cane, and started ahead, Bouncing Bet following with a happy hop-skip-and-jump step. Mary Frances and Eleanor were surprised that they had to hurry to keep up to the tiny little beings. At length they came to a high hedge. “Touch me with your hand,” said Jack to Mary Frances, holding out his arm. “Touch me with your hand,” said Bet to Eleanor. “Now, when I say ‘three,’ all jump,” commanded Jack. “One, two, three!” Over the top of hedge they went as though they had wings, and found themselves in the midst of a wonderful garden. “Oh,” cried Mary Frances, “I never, never saw so many wild flowers blooming at once.” “This is a fairy garden,” answered Bouncing Bet, “and the fairies keep it for just such friends as you, who are anxious to learn about wild flowers.” “But we can tell you only the shortest flower stories to-day.” Jack caught up the conversation. “Just take a seat please, and I’ll begin.” The girls sat on a pretty rustic bench under a tree, and Jack and Bet leaped upon a branch in front of them. Then Jack began: “GOOD AND BAD WEEDS” “Of course you know that all the flowers cultivated in your gardens have come from wild flowers. “Through years of care, the wild flowers have improved so that it would be almost impossible to trace each of the plants in your gardens to the wild flowers from which it was started. “There are many hundreds of wild flowers, but none more beautiful than those growing in America. There are many different kinds which were growing here when America was discovered, but the seeds of many more were carried over from Europe in grain for the colonists.