"No," murmured Norah hurriedly. "If I were a queen, I could order those things and everything else. I wish"—the clock struck three—"I were a——"
"Three!" called out the fairy.
"——a Queen!" screamed Norah, just the second after.
"Too late!" said the fairy. "Farewell!" And she moved towards the door.
Norah's eyes filled with tears. "Please come back!" she pleaded.
"I can't."
"Oh, why can't you?"
"I don't know why, but I can't," replied the little old woman.
This sounded strangely in Norah's ears, and what sounded stranger still were the next words she heard uttered; these were simply—
"Thanks, awfully!"