one kisses. Not the first time she had been kissed, unless all the
young men in Brittany were blind or white blooded. All this
pretended innocence and simplicity! It was just put on. If not,
she must be a lunatic. The proper thing to do was to say good-bye
with a laugh and a jest, start up his machine and be off to
England--dear old practical, merry England, where he could get
breakfast and a bath.

It wasn't a fair fight; one feels it. Poor little prim Common
Sense, with her defiant, turned-up nose and her shrill giggle and
her innate vulgarity. And against her the stillness of the night,
and the music of the ages, and the beating of his heart.

So it all fell down about his feet, a little crumbled dust that a
passing breath of wind seemed to scatter, leaving him helpless,
spellbound by the magic of her eyes.

"Who are you?" he asked her.

"Malvina," she answered him. "I am a fairy."



III. HOW COUSIN CHRISTOPHER BECAME MIXED UP WITH IT.



It did just occur to him that maybe he had not made that descent
quite as successfully as he had thought he had; that maybe he had
come down on his head; that in consequence he had done with the