'Well, you and Hildegarde can come after us in another chariot if we do,' said Aunt Anna, laughing.
But Leonore remained serious.
'Please tell me, Aunt Anna,' she said, 'as you were at Hildegarde's christening, was there any one there who might have been a fairy?'
Aunt Anna hesitated.
'There was an odd story,' she replied, 'about a beautiful lady who was met coming away from the nursery, when the baby had been left alone in her cot for a moment or two. And when the nurse went back she found her smiling and crowing and chuckling to herself as if she were six months instead of only a few days old, and in her little hand she was tightly clasping——'
'What?' asked Leonore breathlessly.
'Three nuts,' replied Aunt Anna impressively. 'Three common little brown hazel-nuts. That part of the story is true, for Hildegarde has the nuts to this day, I believe—at least she had them the last time she was here.'
'She must have picked them up somehow,' said Fraulein.
Aunt Anna shook her head.