"
"Wouldn't it be delightful if such things could ever happen here?"
exclaimed Mabel, while her beautiful eyes shone with pleasure at the
very thought.
"I should think so," said I. "It is said, too, that if there are
gnomes and elves in the neighborhood, they always gather around you
when you talk about them."
"Really?" And Mabel sent a timid glance in among the large mossy
trunks of the beeches and pines.
"Tell me something more, Jamie," she demanded, eagerly.
Mabel had such a charming way of saying "Jamie," that I could never
have opposed a wish of hers, whatever it might be. The professor
called me James, and among my friends I was Jim; but it was only Mabel
who called me Jamie. So I told her all I knew about the nixies, who
sang their strange songs at midnight in the water; about the elves,
who lived in the roses and lilies, and danced in a ring around the
tall flowers until the grass never grew there again; and about the
elf-maiden who led the knight astray when he was riding to his bride
on his wedding-day. And all the while Mabel's eyes seemed to be
growing larger; the blood burned in her cheeks, and sometimes she
shuddered, although the afternoon was very warm. When I had finished
my tale, I rose and seated myself at her side.
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