shyly, "If I could only see you when you fly--Madame Plynck!"

Sara was very proud of herself after she had said that. She had never
called anybody "Madame" before, but she had read it in books, and it
seemed just the title for a creature so beautiful and gentle and
stately as the Plynck. It seemed so suitable that it gave her courage
to repeat, "If I could only see you fly!"

"But I don't do it often, you see," answered the Plynck, quietly.

"Why--!" exclaimed Sara. "I thought you just said--" Not for worlds
would she have seemed rude or impolite to the Plynck, but she was
completely puzzled.

The Plynck looked very kind. "I said I make it a rule," she said,
gently. "I didn't say--you explain it to her," she said suddenly to
her Echo in the pool, who had been looking on with rather an amused
expression.

The Echo fluffed out her deep blue plumes a little and took up the
task. "What are rules for, my dear?" she began.

"Why--to keep, I guess," ventured Sara, a little flustered. "Aren't
they?"

The Echo glanced up at the Plynck with a twinkling smile. "Do you hear
that?" she asked. "Bless the child! She says rules are made to keep!"
She laughed to herself a little longer, then she turned to Sara more
soberly. "As far as your country is concerned, my dear, you are
doubtless right, and I suppose it's important for you to keep that