"Papa! papa!" she cried, "two big men are in the house. They have taken everything in the silver closet. Take a stick and drive them away."
Up jumped papa, seizing a pair of great pistols, and made a rush for the stairs, with Bessy behind him.
They had not reached the first step when the two men darted out of the room below.
But on seeing papa with a pistol in each hand, they dropped the bag and ran toward the open hall door, and were out of sight in a moment.
Mamma, awakened by the noise, came hurrying out to see what was the matter, and found Bessy crying in the corner, and papa rushing through the house with a pair of pistols. Bessy's mother clasped her very closely in her arms.
In a little while papa came back, looking very serious. The men had disappeared, and Watch lay dead on the mat outside of the door.
By the time they had emptied the bag, and put everything in its place, it was quite daylight, and Bessy knew the fairy had been frightened away. So she climbed up in her mother's lap and began sobbing softly. Then, when her mother coaxed her to tell what ailed her, she pointed to the shoes, and told her about the old fairy in the lane and the key.
Bessy had to tell that story ever so many times that day. And for a long time her mamma did not leave her alone in the evenings; so that Bessy never saw the fairy godmother again.