"Oh fie! No. What do you think it was, Nelly?"
"Wasn't it old Pan and Sylvanus, who were astonished to hear such a noise in their woods?"
"No, you haven't got it right either. What do you say, Janie?"
"Well, I guess it was the shadows of evening, coming down the hill-side."
"That's it—and we were very much surprised to find it so, for the time had passed very quickly and pleasantly. We gathered up our things, and started for home. But first we stopped under the old acorn-tree, and sung 'a song to the oak, the brave old oak.' We didn't know the right tune, and so we sung it to the air of 'there is nae luck about the house.' It wasn't the music we cared so much about, as the beautiful words, they were so pretty and appropriate.
"Well, we did not go into the woods much, after this, for we had a great many other things to take up our minds. Charlie and I went to school, and father needed Alfred to help him all the time.
"I have told you how we found the hollow and how much we enjoyed ourselves there; now I will tell you what became of it."
"What became of it! Why! did it catch afire and burn up?"
"No."
"Did it blow away in a strong north wind?"