"The child
the fairy left was still a child, for all her womanhood. She was
willful and capricious; she rode, she fenced, she hunted; she was as
unlike other women as could be. At last the King, who was her
guardian, grew weary of her caprices. So he commanded that she marry.
But what had the fairy done with the other child, the twin sister of
this wild Princess? Perhaps in this instance the good fairy died and
left her work unfinished, to be taken up and pursued by a conventional
newspaper reporter. Now this pro tem fairy, who was anything but good,
as the word goes, made some curious discoveries. It seems that the
good fairy had left the lost Princess in the care of one of a foreign
race. Having a wife and daughter of his own, he brought the Princess
up as his niece, not knowing himself who she really was. She became
wise, respected, and beautiful in mind and form. Fate, who governs all
fairy stories, first brought the newspaper reporter into the presence
of the lost Princess. She was a mere girl then, and was selling
lemonade at--at twenty-five cents a glass. She--"
"Jack," came in wondering tones, "for mercy's sake, what are you
telling me?"
"Phyllis, can you not look back, perhaps as in a dream, to an old inn,
where soldiers and ministers in a hurry and confusion moved to and fro?
No; I dare say you were too young.
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