friendly and serious.

Nevertheless, Everychild was not at all sure that he was glad to see
her. The mask she wore really did give her a very strange appearance.
Still, he faced Hansel with a certain proud bearing. "That is it," he
said.

And then he turned about again to look at the Masked Lady, for he had
noted that there was something strange about her appearance. She had
left her spinning wheel somewhere. Now she carried the crook of a
shepherdess. One hand rested lightly on the limb of a tree. And there
were sheep not far away. Some were lying on the grass resting; and
some were moving about, their eyes and noses seemingly very much
alive--and their tails. They wiggled their tails with the greatest
energy.

"I didn't expect to see _you_ here," said Everychild.

The Masked Lady replied, again with that queer smile about her lips, "I
am very often near when you think I am far away."

And then Everychild perceived another person standing not far from the
Masked Lady: a little man wearing large spectacles and thread-bare
clothes. He was looking at nothing whatever save a note-book which he
carried in his hand, and he was scribbling intently. Occasionally he
lifted his hand high and touched the note-book with his pencil, and
drew the pencil away with a precise movement. This was when he was
making a period.

"And the--the gentleman," said Everychild. "Is he somebody who belongs