168 WHISPERS FROM FAIRYLAND. [U1

 

had, which, if obeyed, would have made your life
happy—but advice you have never once asked. Im-
pelled by the insatiable desire for wealth which has
ruined so many of your race, you demanded riches,
and believed that in their acquisition you had ob-
tained everything which mortal man could desire.
By this time you have probably discovered your mis-
take in this respect. But it has not been your only
mistake. You were warned not to offend the ears
and good taste of the Silver Fairies by language
which they dislike, and you required a second warn-
ing. Worse still, however, you neglected the more
important injunction as to moving our ancient home,
and, in spite of warning, you have conveyed it to a new
dwelling in which no fairy could remain a single hour.
You might have understood that novelty and fashion
are things ill-suited to the life of a Silver Fairy. You
might have known that our home could not exist side
by side with the furniture in this room. By removing
it from your own old home you have sacrificed it and
our happiness as well as your own to the inordinate
love of riches, and you will now find that the latter
have vanished as well, and that you have gained
nothing, but lost everything, by the course you have
so foolishly adopted.’

As the Silver Fairy spoke these words with a stern
voice, poor old Simon felt his heart sink within him.
What a prospect lay before him! After a life of com-
parative prosperity he had risen suddenly to affluence,
and now saw himself about to be plunged into hope-
less poverty; for the debts which he had incurred
since his election, and the expenses of his altered