ISABEL _begins by asking_: Grandmother, how old are you?

GRANDMOTHER _replies_: How old do you think, my dear?

ISABEL _guesses_: A hundred?

Almost, _says_ GRANDMOTHER: Why, I can remember when all your
mothers and fathers were little boys and girls like you. Your mother,
Margaret and Sally, and your father, Jack and Tom and Helen, and your
father, Isabel, and your mother, Ned and Frank, were my little boys and
girls, you know; and on Christmas Eve I used to sit with them in the
nursery, just as I am sitting with you now. That is why I told them
to go downstairs and leave me alone with you for a little while
tonight--for the sake of old times. Yes, they used to sit around me
just like this, and then I used to tell them a story.

A story! A story! _cry_ ALL THE CHILDREN.

_And_ GRANDMOTHER _says_: Shall I tell you one? _The
children all nod_. Let me think, _says she_.

_The Wind Fairies are heard outside, making the wind-noise, like
this_:


z--z--z z--z--z z--Z--Z--Z--z--z--z
z--z--z z--z--z z--Z--Z--Z--z--z--z