not contain gods and goddesses like the others. She told herself long
stories about them.

The beech avenue was her favorite for the spring, the lime for the
summer, the chestnut for the autumn, and the oak for the winter. She
knew every tree in all four, as a huntsman knows his hounds. And when,
in the great equinoctial storm of the previous year, three giant oaks
lay shattered and broken, the sight had caused her deep grief, until she
wove a legend about them and turned them into monsters for Perseus to
subdue with Medusa's head. One, indeed, whose trunk was gnarled and
twisted, became the serpent of the brazen scales who sleepeth not,
guarding the Golden Fleece.

"As the tree falls so shall it lie," seemed to be the motto of La Sarthe
Chase. For none were removed.

Halcyone stretched out her arms and beckoned to her fairy friends.

"Queen Mab," she called, "come and dance nearer to me--I can see your
wings and I want to talk to you to-day!"

And as if in answer to this invitation, the rays of the lowered sun
shifted to an opening almost at her feet, and with a cry of joy the
child began to dance in the gorgeous light.

"Come follow, follow me, ye fairy elves that be," she sang softly.

And the sprites laughed with gladness, and gilded her mouse hair with
gold, and lit up her eyes, and wove scarves about her with gossamer
threads, and beneath her feet tall bluebells offered their heads as a