“So you know now? He told you? Well, now you know, then, that I didn’t lie. There was something of fairy in the orchard house; Father had finished his new book there. It’s all fairies.”
“And you are going away now, for good? Before Aunt Katherine comes back?”
“If you will let me.” Needless to say this was spoken sarcastically.
“But of course. Now that I’ve seen your father! No harm can come to you now, not when you’ve got our talisman, alive, real, to look after you.”
Elsie looked at Kate, puzzled. “What do you mean? Your talisman? You do say the queerest things!”
Then Kate told her about the boy in the silvery, dragony, flowery picture frame. When she had finished, it was a new Elsie that faced her.
“And your mother, too, felt like that?”
“Yes, Mother, too. Why not?”
“Why—because——”