He replied in a low voice, "Och, Miss Marjorie, you are indeed no fairy, but a great good angel!"
Marjorie jumped up gayly and cried, "Then you will let him go with me, Shaun?"
"And sure you know well I will, Miss Marjorie. 'Tis a great good you will be doing for my lad. It is surely," he said.
Marjorie looked very serious then. And she bowed her head.
Her words were whispers as she said, "If it is a great good, then it is the first great good I have ever done. I have been very selfish, Shaun. Everyone has always done for me. This is the first time I have ever done something to give some one else pleasure. And, oh," she suddenly clasped her hands together and smiled radiantly, "it is a wonderful feeling! It has made me happy, Shaun."
She kissed his rough brown hand and turned on her dainty heel. She fled before Shaun could utter a sound.
"Well, begob, begorra!" he at last sputtered, scratching his head and wrinkling his nose. "Now isn't it a great wonder?"
Then, as if some breeze had contradicted him, he nodded his head and said loudly, "It is surely!"
It was several days before Marjorie's next visit to the lake.
Although the little boy John went thither daily and waited longingly, no girl fairy appeared. But he never doubted that she would come. He knew she would keep her promise. And she did.