"Am I to stay long, mamma?" she asked.
"That I do not know; it depends upon yourself."
"And what is the fairy's name, mamma?"
"She bade me not tell you her name; she wishes you to call her simple Motherkin."
"How very queer!" said Laura. "I cannot do it."
"You will do better to obey her, my child."
"Is she cross? Is she ugly?"
"You may think her plain, but she is neither cross nor ugly."
The road here became almost blocked with bushes, and the wind in the tops of the tall pine-trees made strange music.
"I would rather go home, mamma," said Laura, in a coaxing voice.