Haddie smiled.
"It's not either," he said. "You'll find out the name yourself. But come, we must be quick, for we can't stay very long. Hold my hand tight and then we can run faster."
I seemed to know that something more beautiful than anything we had seen yet was coming. I did not ask Haddie any more questions, even though I had a feeling that he knew more than I did. He seemed quite at home in this wonderful place, quite able to guide me. And his face was shining with happiness.
We ran a good way, and very fast. But I did not feel at all tired or breathless. My feet seemed to have wings, and all the time the garden around us grew lovelier and lovelier. If Haddie had not been holding my hand so fast I should scarcely have been able to resist stopping to gather some of the lovely flowers everywhere in such profusion, or to stand still to listen to the dear little birds singing so exquisitely overhead.
"It must be fairyland," I repeated to myself more than once, in spite of what Haddie had said.
But suddenly all thought of fairyland or flowers, birds and garden, went out of my head, as Haddie stopped in his running.
"Geraldine," he half whispered, "look there."
"There" was a little arbour a few yards from where we stood, and there, seated on a rustic bench, her dear face all sunshine, was mamma!
She started up as soon as she saw us and hastened forward, her arms outstretched.