“When the beggar girl went to be Queen,” Nancy added a postscript to her story for their benefit, “of course she took right hold of the housekeeping in the palace. And after that it was always done right. Because if you keep house in a fairy way, it is fun. That’s what the Fairy Godmother brought Goldie to the palace for—to make things jollier all around.”
(“Good for you, Nancy!” Beverly squeezed her hand on the sly.)
The mothers were talking and whispering together in the back of the hall, pleased to see their children so happy. Some of them had recognized Anne.
“It’s that Poole girl!” one exclaimed in amazement. “That proud piece! I didn’t know she could unbend so far.”
“It’s the childher done it,” observed Mrs. Maguire with her hands on her hips, nodding wisely. “If she loves the childher, she’ll be all right, believe me; rich though she may be, and spoiled, no doubt. Look at her now wid me Bridget in her arms! She’ll spoil that swate dress of hers, entirely! But I daresay she can get another one aisy-like.”
The children were loth to go away. But finally the hall was cleared, after Anne had made promises to come to see them all in turn, and Nancy had agreed to tell them some day what happened to the Beggar Girl who became Queen, and who taught the people how to put magic into chores.
The teacher of the little village school lingered for a word with the Round Robin. “Well!” she congratulated them. “You certainly did give those children a good time. I don’t believe you realize all it means to them. They haven’t much to exercise their imagination on, of course. It was a great idea to give them an illustrated fairy-story.”
Nancy said she thought they were unusually attractive children.
“I wish I could do more for them,” said Miss Merritt wistfully. “In the winter after you all go away there’s nobody but me who can spare time to do much for them. I wish I knew more! I wish I knew about medicines, for instance. We are healthy folks here, on the whole; but things do happen, of course. You know, we haven’t any doctor here in the winter. Doctor Black goes away when the summer people do.”
Anne looked at her in horror. In Mr. Poole’s house the doctor was always running in and out at the least “symptom” exhibited by one of the family. Her step-mother was continually ailing.