FAIRYLAND.
Notwithstanding his fantastical babble to Macandrew, Gerald was a shrewd young man. He prosecuted his search for the unknown sender of the message, less to find a wife than to see the end of the adventure. At the enjoyable age of thirty, he was not particularly keen on getting married, although his friends persistently advised him to do so. But, as Haskins pertinently observed, it was absurd to marry merely for marrying's sake. "When I meet THE woman," said Gerald wisely, "I shall ask her to be my wife. Otherwise----" And a shrug would complete the unfinished sentence.
Tod was quite ready to leave the conclusion of the fishing adventure to his friend. Being in love with a particular girl, he thought of her only, and had no wish to search for another girl, even though she were an illiterate princess, who fluted like a nightingale. What with earning his living, and fighting Lady Euphemia, and wooing Charity Bird, and tricking Mrs. Pelham Odin, who was strongly opposed to that wooing, Macandrew's hands were quite full. Within two days he betook himself to London, keen upon seeing The Moon Fay ballet, in which Charity was dancing. But before his departure he unwittingly did Gerald a service by learning something about the Pixy's House, and that same something was less romantic than unpleasant.
According to Tod the thing came about by accident; but Haskins, who believed that everything was designed, even to the winking of an eye, insisted that Macandrew had been purposely lured into conversation with the laborer, who had mentioned Leegarth, and the Pixy's House. At a nine o'clock breakfast, on the very day of his departure, Tod mentioned to his friend that he had been taking a morning walk. "I had a beastly wakeful night last night," grumbled Tod, while Geary brought in a dish of trout and some hot rolls, "it made me sick tumbling and tossing, so I dressed and strolled out at six o'clock."
"Why didn't you waken me?" asked Haskins. "I would have come also."
"Not you. I'd have been cursed for an hour. Every one knows what an infernal sleepy-head you are, Jerry. However, I walked up the hill on to the moors, and had a glorious view of the surrounding country. I saw the stream where we fished, in the hollow two miles away--trees, and occasional glimpses of the water, you know. And ever so far away, there was a square-towered church with a cluster of red-roofed houses."
"Quite poetical, my Toddy," murmured Gerald, helping himself to eggs and ham, and rather bored by this geographical description.
"The morning made me poetical!" said Macandrew simply, "it was uncommonly ripping, you know. There was a laboring Johnny coming along, and I asked him the name of the church. He said it was Leegarth church, and Leegarth village."
"H'm! That's where Rebb's wealthy relative lives?"
Todd nodded. "As it was early I had a mind to walk over and look about, but I first asked the man if there was anything of interest to see. He grinned, and told me that I might call at the Pixy's House."