As for the rest, some went alone, some with their nurses, some with
each other. Little Bessie Rider was the last; and, when the nurse
did not come for her as had been promised, Mrs. Legrange bid Susan
lead her home, leaving 'Toinette in the drawing-room till her
return.

"And I must go and lie down a little before I dress for dinner,"
continued she to 'Toinette. "So, Sunshine, I shall leave you here
alone, if you will promise not to touch anything you should not, or
to go too near the fire."

The little girl promised; and, with a lingering kiss, her mother
left her.

Alone in the twilight, 'Toinette sat for a while upon the rug,
watching the bright coals as they tinkled through the grate, or
rushed in roaring flame up the chimney.

"I wish I was a fire-fairy, and lived in that big red hole right in
the middle of the fire," thought 'Toinette. "Then I would wear such
a beautiful dress just like gold, and a wreath on my head all
blazing with fire; and I would dance a-tiptoe away up the chimney
and into the sky: and perhaps I should come to heaven; no, to the
sun. I wonder if the sun is heaven for the fire-fairies, and I
wonder if they dance in the sunset."

So 'Toinette jumped up, and, running to one of the long windows, put
her little eager face close to the glass, and looked far away across
the square, and down the long street beyond, to the beautiful