“I’m glad you did,” answered Cap’n Bill, dropping his eyes in some confusion as he remembered his former description of the mermaids.

“Now that you are here,” continued the Queen in a cordial, friendly tone, “you may as well remain with us a few days and see the wonderful sights of our ocean.”

“I’m much obliged to you, ma’am,” said Trot, “and I’d like to stay ever so much, but mother worries jus’ dreadfully if we don’t get home in time.”

“I’ll arrange all that,” said Aquareine with a smile.

“How?” asked the girl.

“I will make your mother forget the passage of time so she will not realize how long you are away.  Then she cannot worry.”

“Can you do that?” inquired Trot.

“Very easily.  I will send your mother into a deep sleep that will last until you are ready to return home.  Just at present she is seated in her chair by the front window, engaged in knitting.”  The queen paused to raise an arm and wave it slowly to and fro.  Then she added, “Now your good mother is asleep, little Mayre, and instead of worries I promise her pleasant dreams.”

“Won’t someone rob the house while she’s asleep?” asked the child anxiously.

“No, dear.  My charm will protect the house from any intrusion.”

“That’s fine!” exclaimed Trot in delight.

“It’s jes’ won-erful!” said Cap’n Bill.  “I wish I knew it was so.  Trot’s mother has a awful sharp tongue when she’s worried.”

“You may see for yourselves,” declared the Queen, and waved her hand again.  At once they saw before them the room in the cottage, with Mayre’s mother asleep by the window.  Her knitting was in her lap, and the cat lay curled up beside her chair.  It was all so natural that Trot thought she could hear the clock over the fireplace tick.  After a moment the scene faded away, when the queen asked with another smile, “Are you satisfied?”

“Oh yes!” cried Trot.  “But how could you do it?”

“It is a form of mirage,” was the reply.  “We are able to bring any earth scene before us whenever we wish.  Sometimes these scenes are reflected above the water so that mortals also observe them.”

“I’ve seen ’em,” said Cap’n Bill, nodding.  “I’ve seen mirages, but I never knowed what caused ’em afore now.”

“Whenever you see anything you do not understand and wish to ask questions, I will be very glad to answer them,” said the Queen.

“One thing that bothers me,” said Trot, “is why we don’t get wet, being in the ocean with water all around us.”

“That is because no water really touches you,” explained the Queen.  “Your bodies have been made just like those of the mermaids in order that you may fully enjoy your visit to us.  One of our peculiar qualities is that water is never permitted to quite touch our bodies, or our gowns.  Always there remains a very small space, hardly a hair’s breadth, between us and the water, which is the reason we are always warm and dry.”