The Magic Nuts

'Oh, go on, go on, please,' said the two little girls. 'It is so interesting, and it has been just as you said; we have seen the pictures of it all gliding before us, as the thr...

'The time has come for cracking them,' said Leonore, and as she uttered the words the tapping in the corner of the room was repeated more loudly and rapidly, as if to say, 'Quit...

Fraulein was right. Both driver and horses woke up wonderfully as the first straggling houses of the village came in sight; it would be impossible to describe the extraordinary...

'All right,' he said, 'you don't know, and you don't pretend you do. And _I_ don't want to know. Here in our country,' and he waved his hand in a lordly fashion, 'we have nothin...

Greatly wondering, Hildegarde and Leonore followed the fairy to the end of the large hall, where there hung by silver cords from the roof two little seats, cushioned with the so...

Little Leonore pressed her face against the window of the railway carriage and tried hard to see out. But it was no use. It all looked so dark and black, all the darker and blac...

Where were you taught your song, little bird? Who sent you to kiss us, you breezes of May? There are secrets, yes secrets you never have heard, Whispered breezes and bird as the...

'No,' Hildegarde replied, 'it isn't that at all'; and with her clever little fingers she carefully drew out what was in reality a small sheet of thin brown paper or tissue of so...

It _was_ market-day, to Leonore's great delight, and scarcely less to that of her governess. The scene was a busy and amusing one, and added to that was the charm of everything...

If Fraulein heard what Leonore said, she did not seem surprised, for though she did not, of course, know about the little girl's curious dream, she knew that Hildegarde's coming...

They were at the opposite side of the garden from that by which they had entered it, and just before them was a large white tent. A faint sound reached them--a rustle and murmur...

But the children's plans for the next day did not come to pass. Unluckily, Leonore had caught cold. It was nothing very bad, but she was subject to sore throats sometimes, which...

VIGNETTE _On Title page_ THE UNSELFISH MERMAID _Frontispiece_ "TAKE THESE," SHE SAID, "FOR GOOD LUCK" _To face page_ 20 PORTRAIT OF HILDEGARDE 33 "I MUST GIVE YOU ONE OR TWO WAR...