The pretty scene represented a little grove, in which the school girls had gathered to summon the queen of the fairies, who might grant the dearest wish of each.

The first fairy to appear was Green Feather, an elfin page or messenger, and Reginald made a perfect sprite, in his green suit, and cap with a long, green quill.

He took the message which the girls wished to send to the queen, and then hurried away to summon her, while the school girls chanted a magic verse which should aid her to appear quickly.

  “Fairy queen, we wait for thee,
   Willing subjects we will be. 
   Come!  Thou’lt find us at thy feet,
   We would beg, ay, and entreat
   That our wishes thou wilt hear,
   When thou dost indeed appear. 
   Now we draw a magic ring,
   ‘Come, fair queen,’ we gaily sing.”

With a silver-tipped wand they drew a circle upon the ground, and scarcely was it finished when Jeanette ran out from between the mimic trees, and sprang into the circle, a dazzling figure, all white and silver, and blue.  Upon her long, dark hair rested a tiny gold crown, and in her hand she carried a gold wand which was wound with strings of pearls.

  “Thou, with voice so silvery clear,
   I your dearest wish will hear.”

As Jeanette spoke the lines she held her wand above Dorothy’s head.

  “Song!  Ah, let me always sing
   For the peasant, or the king,
   For the ones I hold most dear,
   For all hearts that I may cheer,”

sang Dorothy, in her clear, light little treble, and very winning she looked, as she extended her hand toward the fairy whom she implored to grant her wish.

  “Sing you shall, in tones so clear
   That the very birds shall hear,
   And, in envy, cease their lay
   While your melody holds sway.”

As Jeanette chanted the verse, she waved her wand, and Dorothy, entering the circle beside her, sang a fairy song which delighted all who listened.

The woman beside Uncle Harry seemed ill at ease, crumpling her programme, and moving restlessly upon her seat as if the little play bored her.

Uncle Harry stooped, and picked up the fan which had dropped from her lap.  She looked at him as if she thought that he had intended to steal it, then, relenting, she screwed her thin lips into something like a smile.

“Thank ye,” she said, as she took the fan, and glanced at his pleasant face.

Uncle Harry wished that she would speak again.

“I wish she’d give us some of her ‘views,’” he whispered to his wife, “Arabella says she has plenty of them.”

“Oh, Harry, hush, unless you want her to hear you.”

“I wouldn’t mind,” he whispered, his blue eyes twinkling with merriment.

Just at that moment, the fairy queen seated herself upon her woodland throne, and as the girls knelt before her, the red curtain rolled slowly down, hiding the little stage.