features like unto those of a young lord; and—down in the hedge, a poor, tangled, ill-kept little maid, gazing upon him even as she would have gazed upon a Prince in a Fairy story.

"Oh, he is a Prince!" gasped Sally. "He is like a Fairy Prince. He is my Fairy Prince!"

Then the poor child flushed and trembled. The idea of having dared to think of young Lionel Grandison, son of Sir Percival and Lady Gabrielle Grandison, as belonging in the leastest degree to her, made her tingle with a kind of awe.

"Nobody knows it but just me," thought Sally, "and I will have him for my Fairy Prince. I can, way down in my heart-place; oh, I must, and I will."

She was very quiet for a few moments after that.

Then, all at once, something woke up in Sally. Something that had never awakened before. It was a sudden thought and knowledge of what she was herself.

"Only just a know-nothing!" she whispered, "a poor little old know-nothing!" and she hung her head. "Can't read! Can't write! Can't spell! Can't anything but just scrub and dub. Oh, he wouldn't speak to me, he wouldn't look at me! How sick my heart feels, and how tired I am!"

Then something else woke up in Sally. Something stirred in her heart for the first time. She tugged at her wretched little dress as she repeated:

"He said that the lad or the girl that was determined to get learning could find a way. Did you hear that, Sally Dukeen?"

CHAPTER IV.
THE FAIRY PRINCE

Very proud, very rich, very aristocratic was Sir Percival Grandison. Very proud and handsome was the Lady Gabrielle Grandison, who came of the ancient house of Earlscourt, England. Proud and well educated was Lucretia, only daughter of Sir Percival and Lady Gabrielle. Rich, haughty, and pretty was Rosamond Earlscourt, niece of Lady Grandison, and a kind of ward, for Rosamond had no parents, and spent much time at Ingleside.

Last, but not least, first, in fact, in our story, comes Lionel, only and deeply beloved son of the Grandison household.

Lionel, no doubt, like the rest of the family, was proud of his good lineage. He had deep blue eyes, fair hair, a slightly beaky nose, and curved mouth, which gave his features a look of great pride. He walked, too, with the air of a prince, bravely flinging his young crest to the soft airs and stanch patriotism of his native Southern colony.

Yet no one called Lionel proud. If anything went wrong at "the quarters," where were the cabins of the black servants, the boys and girls were beginning to go with their troubles to "Mars' Lion" sooner than to "ole Mars" or "Mistis."

They were all boys and girls, those black people, until they were past fifty; then they were generally called "mammy," "aunt," or "uncle."

And there was not a rood of ground, a horse, colored person, gate or wall, but was an attraction to Maid Sally, so long as it belonged to Ingleside.

And were it but said that Master Lionel was coming along, she would manage to lurk near the corner, or catch a glimpse from the window of Sir Percival's grand young son.

It was June, hot, balmy, fragrant June. And only of late had Sally found the place in the hedge where she could venture through. But now it would indeed have been a strong power that could have kept her long away from the charmed spot.

It mattered nothing that before the early supper she must build up the smart wood fire, get down the great spider, and stew herself along with the sizzling rashers, or mix the ash-cake or corn pone; oh, no matter for anything that must be done before supper, because now, as soon as it was over, off she could run to her enchanted ground!

But on the night when ended the Fairy tale we have seen that a new Sally began springing into life. Ah, it was true, the child could scarcely read, could neither write nor spell, and all at once—Sally cared!

And if it were strange, it yet were true, that she grew dignified, and correct in manner and speech, as she asked herself new, hard questions. She had come, oh, very slowly and very soberly, back through Shady Path and Lover's Lane, to the piece of woods lying to the left of Slipside Row.

Pretty soon Mistress Cory Ann's sharp voice would call her in, and order her to bed in the close attic. Sitting on the warm, mossy turf, under the great pine-trees, she talked aloud in quaint, old-fashioned speech:

"Now, what, prithee, Sally, are we to do? Neither reading, writing, or spelling are properly known to Sally Dukeen, and what are the words that have just come to my ears?"

She repeated in low tones, and with a good show of memory: "'Who would wish to live without being useful? How can one be fitted to live properly without learning? It is the learning that comes through study and books that one must have to rightly understand things. The lad or the maid who is determined to learn can find the way! The lad or the maid who pushes through everything that would hinder, and will get learning, is the one to succeed and to be admired.'"

Then up glowed the picture again: the manly figure on the wall, the glory of the setting sun lighting up the proud young face, the clothes he wore, his lace-shadowed hands, the shining ring on his finger. All the scene flamed up before her keen imagination as the child glanced down at her brown little hands, her scanty dress, and her rough, bare feet.

And the child-sorrow that is very hard to bear, burst forth in a deep, choking sound, as slipping to the ground, face down, Sally cried out:

"O Fairy Prince! Fairy Prince! You stand so high, so high above my place on the ground. You are in the sun at the top of the garden wall. I am under the hedge in the shadow, out of sight. Thou art the eagle, Fairy Prince, and I the brush bird. You live at Ingleside, I at Slipside Row. You have a proud, fine name. I am only poor Sally Dukeen. What can I do? What can I do?"

She shook all over with the sobs that came hard and fast.

Ah, but it was because Sally was more of a little maid and woman than she knew, that she cried and shook with sobs under the pine-trees. She had not noticed nor known that the brown fingers in her lap were pointed at the ends, and had deep, round nails. She did not know that the bare brown feet had high, arched insteps that meant good blood somewhere not far back in her poor little history. She did not know that the lank form under her shabby dress had graceful lines and supple curves that would fill out some day and stand for something better than Slipside Row knew of.

She did not know that it was because a new Sally was becoming ashamed of the old one that she was crying so bitterly.

After a time the little maid lay so still that she did not hear Mistress Cory Ann calling her to come into the house. But as there was no reply, and it was getting late, Mistress Brace thought that Sally had gone to bed already, and so she troubled her head no more about her. She bolted the loose front door, put out the dim candles, and was soon asleep.

And Sally was sound asleep, too. Flat on her face, lying on the soft, dry moss, she slept as sweetly under the quiet stars as though she had been on her small husk mattress. The gentle winds stirred the red gold of her curly hair, and cooled her heated cheeks. She might have slept on until morning had it not been that an owl, perched high in one of the