CHAPTER VII

THE WITCH’S DOWNFALL

WHAT want you here, young sir?’
she croaked out, as she stood
opposite the boy. ‘Why do
you come tumbling and turning
under my tree like a mountebank? I ama
peaceful person and love to be left in quiet.
What would you with me??

This address was so civil and so very
unlike what he had expected that the boy
almost forgot himself so far as to answer it
in the same tone, for he had always been
taught to give a polite and civil reply to any
one who accosted him. Fortunately, how-
ever, he remembered in good time that the
fairy had given him clear directions what to