"Perhaps I really ought to keep it a little longer. How would it do if I should tell you my secret some time next week?" he asked.
"Oh, no, no!" they cried, "tell it now!"
"Well, then, there's to be a fair 'way down in the village, a real country fair, and I'm intending to hire a barge, and take all of the very young ladies over with me to see the fun. I mean ladies as young as you, and Nancy, and Flossie. I shall invite all the wee ladies that are stopping at the hotel, and I shall take all who accept."
He looked into their bright faces, and laughed when Dorothy said:
"As if any little girl wouldn't accept!"
"You mustn't expect it to be a grand affair. It will be, as I said, a real old-fashioned country fair, but there will be a jolly ride over there, and the return trip, and I fancy you will enjoy it all," he said, "and I shall have the delight of giving pleasure."
A friend who had been looking for Uncle Harry, now appeared on the winding path, a clump of large trees having hidden his approach.
The two young men started off for a long tramp, and Dorothy and Nancy walked slowly back to the hotel.
"The prince did look like Uncle Harry," said Nancy, "and the picture of the naughty old fairy that enchanted the sleeping beauty, looks like the lady that came this morning, and was so very cross."
"Then that is the same one who stopped to ask the way, for she looked just like that. I'll always think, every time I look at her, that she's the black fairy."