were; so she said nothing more, and Bee went quietly away, not hearing
the words Nelson muttered to herself, "Sly little thing. I don't like
those quiet ways."

When Bee got to the nursery, she was very glad she had come. Fixie was
sitting in a corner looking very desolate, for Martha was busy looking
over the linen, as it was Saturday, and his head was "a'ting
dedfully," he said. He brightened up when he saw Bee and what she had
brought, and for more than an hour the two children sat perfectly
happy and content examining the wonderful beads, and making up little
fanciful stories about the fairies who were supposed to live in them.
Then when Fixie seemed to have had enough of the beads, Bee and he
took them back to Rosy's room and put them carefully away, and then
returned to the nursery, where they set to work to make a house with
the chairs and Fixie's little table. The nursery was not carpeted all
over--that is to say, round the edge of the room the wood of the floor
was left bare, for this made it more easy to lift the carpet often and
shake it on the grass, which is a very good thing, especially in a
nursery. The house was an old one, and so the wood floor was not very
pretty; here and there it was rather uneven, and there were queer
cracks in it.

"See, Bee," said Fixie, while they were making their house, "see what
a funny place I've found in the f'oor," and he pointed to a small,
dark, round hole. It was made by what is called a knot in the wood
having dried up and dropped out long, long ago probably, for, as I
told you, the house was very old.

"What is there down there, does you fink?" said Fixie, looking up at
Bee and then down again at the mysterious hole. "Does it go down into