"I knew it; I am glad you tell the truth." "How did you know it?" asked Norah in surprise. "I am your fairy godmother. I'll take that paint-box, please." Norah brought it and gave it to her with the greatest pleasure, and pressingly inquired if she might carry anything anywhere. But that was not required. Then she stood waiting expectantly. And her heart seemed to turn a somersault of delight when her fairy godmother spoke the following words:-- "I am satisfied. Now you may wish for whatever you like. But you must make up your mind before I count three." Norah's eyes had followed her glance at the clock, which pointed to one minute to three; but her mind, from the flutter of excitement she was in, became a complete blank. "One!" said the fairy solemnly. This brought the little goddaughter to her senses, and she began to mutter confusedly-- "Shall I wish for a gold carriage, like Cinderella's, or a pet lamb, with a blue ribbon and a bell round its neck, or a frock embroidered in diamonds, or----" "Two!" said the fairy. "No," murmured Norah hurriedly. "If I were a queen, I could order those things and everything else. I wish"--the clock struck three--"I were a----" "Three!" called out the fairy. "----a Queen!" screamed Norah, just the second after. "Too late!" said the fairy. "Farewell!" And she moved towards the door. Norah's eyes filled with tears. "Please come back!" she pleaded. "I can't." "Oh, why can't you?" "I don't know why, but I can't," replied the little old woman. This sounded strangely in Norah's ears, and what sounded stranger still were the next words she heard uttered; these were simply-- "Thanks, awfully!" Then Norah exclaimed at once, "That's Wilfrid's voice!" She pushed aside the hood. "Why, you're Wilfrid!" she cried, amazed. "And you're April Billy!" he shouted with glee, throwing off the long cloak. "You said you'd do anything and give anything for a reward, and now you've had to do so without one!" And, bursting out laughing, he ran off with the sum and the paint-box. Norah sat down on a footstool and burst out crying. She was angry and disappointed, and she sobbed bitterly as she thought how she had been tricked into doing Wilfrid's horrid sum, how she had been made to give away her treasured paint-box which he had envied for months, and, worst of all a thousand times, how she had no fairy godmother after all! PART II THE LITTLE FLOWER GIRL But Norah was a plucky little girl, and at times a wise little girl. And, moreover, she had a sort of feeling that it all served her right for being silly, and dissatisfied, and too selfish to lend her paint-box. Wilfrid certainly was a tease, but he was really a dear good brother, and always lent her his things, and did his best to champion her and get her out of a scrape. Still, she felt she would like to pay him out, all the same--he'd had such a lovely time being fairy godmother!