They walked on in silence until they came to the vicinity of the Monument, when Mr Auberly turned round and asked Willie which way they were to go now.
“Right back again,” said Willie.
“How, boy; what do you mean?”
“We’ve overshot the mark about half a mile, sir. But, please, I thought you must be wishin’ to go somewhere else first, as you led the way.”
“Lead the way, now, boy,” said Mr Auberly, with a stern look.
Willie obeyed, and in a few minutes they were groping in the dark regions underground which Mr Cattley and his family inhabited. With some difficulty they found the door, and stood in the presence of “the fairy.”
Thin though the fairy had been when Willie saw her last, she might have been called fat compared with the condition in which they now found her. She appeared like a mere shadow, with a delicate skin thrown over it. A bad transparency would have been more substantial in appearance. She lay alone on her lonely pallet with a farthing candle beside her, which cast a light sufficient only to make darkness visible. Being near the poor invalid, it caused her large dark eyes to glitter in an awful manner.
Willie at once forgot his companion, and running up to the fairy, seized her hand, and asked her how she did.
“Pretty well, Willie. It’s kind of you to come and see me so often.”
“Not a bit, Ziza; you know I like it; besides, I’ve only come to-day to show a gentleman the way.”