Come in to the parlour at once--and this little girl, who is she ?" "She isn't a little girl, she's a young lady," said Master Phil, putting on his lordly air, "and she's to come into the parlour and have some supper with me, and then some one must take her home to her auntie's house--that's what I say." More to please Phil than from any wish for "supper," for she was really in a fidget to get home, Griselda let the little boy lead her into the parlour.

But she was for a moment perfectly startled by the cry that broke from him when he opened the door and looked into the room.

A lady was standing there, gazing out of the window, though in the quickly growing darkness she could hardly have distinguished the little figure she was watching for so anxiously.
The noise of the door opening made her look round.
"Phil," she cried, "my own little Phil; where have you been to?
You didn't know I was waiting here for you, did you ?" "Mother, mother!" shouted Phil, darting into his mother's arms.
But Griselda drew back into the shadow of the doorway, and tears filled her eyes as for a minute or two she listened to the cooings and caressings of the mother and son.
Only for a minute, however.

Then Phil called to her.
"Mother, mother," he cried again, "you must kiss Griselda, too! She's the little girl that is so kind, and plays with me; and she has no mother," he added in a lower tone.
The lady put her arm round Griselda, and kissed her, too.

She did not seem surprised.
"I think I know about Griselda," she said very kindly, looking into her face with her gentle eyes, blue and clear like Phil's.
And then Griselda found courage to say how uneasy she was about the anxiety her aunts would be feeling, and a messenger was sent off at once to tell of her being safe at the farm.
But Griselda herself the kind lady would not let go till she had had some nice supper with Phil, and was both warmed and rested.
"And what were you about, children, to lose your way ?" she asked presently.
"I took Griselda to see a place that I thought was the way to fairyland, and then we stayed to build a house for the fairies, in case they come, and then we came out at the wrong side, and it got dark," explained Phil.
"And _was_ it the way to fairyland ?" asked his mother, smiling.
Griselda shook her head as she replied-- "Phil doesn't understand yet," she said gently.