frog that lives behind that buttercup----give him my compliments----Sylvie's compliments----can you say
compliments'?"
The Beetle tried and, I suppose, succeeded.
"Yes, that's right. And tell him he's to give you some of that salve I left with him yesterday. And you'd
better get him to rub it in for you. He's got rather cold hands, but you mustn't mind that."
I think the Beetle must have shuddered at this idea, for Sylvie went on in a graver tone. "Now you needn't
pretend to be so particular as all that, as if you were too grand to be rubbed by a frog. The fact is, you
ought to be very much obliged to him. Suppose you could get nobody but a toad to do it, how would
you like that?"
There was a little pause, and then Sylvie added "Now you may go. Be a good beetle, and don't keep
your chin in the air." And then began one of those performances of humming, and whizzing, and restless
banging about, such as a beetle indulges in when it has decided on flying, but hasn't quite made up its
mind which way to go. At last, in one of its awkward zigzags, it managed to fly right into my face, and,
by the time I had recovered from the shock, the little Fairy was gone.
I looked about in all directions for the little creature, but there was no trace of her----and my 'eerie' feeling
was quite gone off, and the crickets were chirping again merrily----so I knew she was really gone.
And now I've got time to tell you the rule about the crickets. They always leave off chirping when a Fairy
goes by----because a Fairy's a kind of queen over them, I suppose----at all events it's a much grander
thing than a cricket ----so whenever you're walking out, and the crickets suddenly leave off chirping, you
may be sure that they see a Fairy.
I walked on sadly enough, you may be sure. However, I comforted myself with thinking "It's been a very
wonderful afternoon, so far. I'll just go quietly on and look about me, and I shouldn't wonder if I were to
come across another Fairy somewhere."
Peering about in this way, I happened to notice a plant with rounded leaves, and with queer little holes
cut in the middle of several of them. "Ah, the leafcutter bee!" I carelessly remarked----you know I am
very learned in Natural History (for instance, I can always tell kittens from chickens at one glance)----and
I was passing on, when a sudden thought made me stoop down and examine the leaves.
Then a little thrill of delight ran through me ----for I noticed that the holes were all arranged so as to
form letters; there were three leaves side by side, with "B," "R," and "U" marked on them, and after some
search I found two more, which contained an "N" and an "O."
And then, all in a moment, a flash of inner light seemed to illumine a part of my life that had all but faded
into oblivion----the strange visions I had experienced during my journey to Elveston: and with a thrill of
delight I thought "Those visions are destined to be linked with my waking life!"
By this time the 'eerie' feeling had come back again, and I suddenly observed that no crickets were chirping; so
I felt quite sure that "Bruno was somewhere very near.
And so indeed he was----so near that I had very nearly walked over him without seeing him; which would
have been dreadful, always supposing that Fairies can be walked over my own belief is that they are
something of the nature of Will-o'-the-wisps: and there's no walking over them.
Think of any pretty little boy you know, with rosy cheeks, large dark eyes, and tangled brown hair, and
then fancy him made small enough to go comfortably into a coffee-cup, and you'll have a very fair idea
of him.