"You are the little girl from the Grange, are you not?" asked the old lady; then, remembering some rather queer tales she had heard of the new people at the Grange, she asked no more questions, but said that tea would soon be ready, and invited Una to stay and have it with them.
After all it was almost as nice as being in Fairyland, Una thought, as they sat under a large cherry tree covered with snowy blossoms, and drank tea out of the thinnest of china cups, each one shaped like a different flower, with a beetle or a bird or a butterfly for the handle. The clearest of honeycomb was on the table, which the old gentleman had sent for especially for Una; and the black puppy sat at her side all tea-time, opening his wet, black mouth for tastes of bread and butter, and rubbing his head against her knee if she forgot to give him any.
When tea was over Una looked at the sun.
"Oh, dear," she said, "the sun is getting quite low, and Marie will think I am lost."
"Dear, dear! We ought to have thought of that," said the old lady. "Will not your father be anxious also?"
"Papa is away from home for a few days," said Una.
Then she made a little curtsey.
"May I go now, please?" she asked; and the old lady walked with her as far as the little door.
"Come another afternoon to Fairyland," she said, as she stooped to kiss the little girl.
Una promised readily, and only remembered when she was half way through the wood that her father did not like her to visit at strange houses.