"I want you to make believe I'm your Fairy Godmother," he said; "just for a minute, if you please."
Ella burst into a merry laugh. "I can't," she replied, "'cause you haven't got a sugar-loaf hat."
"Well, I don't see that that matters," said Dr. Carteret with an amused smile. "Come, shut your eyes, and don't look at me. Now tell me what you would like your Fairy Godmother to do for you."
"To make my arm well first," said Ella, entering into the spirit of the joke; "then to send me to school, next—"
"Gracious me!" replied the doctor. "Your Fairy Godmother has got something to do!"
"Oh, I haven't finished yet," laughed Ella; "I want a lot of things for Grannie, and something for Molly, and—"
"What about yourself, Cinderella?"
"Oh, I should like a nice warm blue frock, and a fur and a muff, and a red tam o' shanter. After that I don't want anything else, only my dear daddy, and I want him more than all."
At this moment Mrs. Russell herself came into the room, and the conversation was turned into another channel.
A little later on, "Cinderella's" Fairy Godmother left the house with a very thoughtful expression on his kindly face. Strange to say, instead of making his way straight back to the Hall, as he had originally intended, he went to Berryland Grange, where lived old Sir James Crofton, a man possessed of considerable wealth, and of one of the kindest hearts in the world. The result of Dr. Carteret's visit was very soon made apparent.