320 Hans Brinker

XLI
THE FAIRY GODMOTHER

HE sun had gone down quite out of sight, when our hero,

with a happy heart, but something like a sneer on his coun-
tenance as he jerked off the wooden “ runners,” trudged hope-
fully toward the tiny hut-like building, known of old as the
« Tdiot’s Cottage.”

Duller eyes than his would have discerned two slight figures
moving near the doorway.

That gray, well-patched jacket, and the dull blue skirt,
covered with an apron of still duller blue; that faded, close-
fitting cap; and those quick little feet in their great boat-like
shoes, —they were Gretel’s, of course. He would have
known them anywhere.

That bright, coquettish, red jacket, with its pretty skirt
bordered with black ; that graceful cap bobbing over the gold
ear-rings ; that dainty apron; and those snug leather shoes that
seemed to have grown with the feet, why, if the Pope of
Rome had sent them to him by express, Hans could have
sworn they were Annie’s.

The two girls were slowly pacing up and down in front
of the cottage. Their arms were intertwined, of course ; and
their heads were nodding and shaking as emphatically as if all
the affairs of the kingdom were under discussion.

With a joyous shout, Hans hastened toward them.