ing friend would come and talk with him there: thus the pretty fountain was called by her name,

the Fountain of Egeria. In after-days, it was ornamented with beautiful marble statues; but they are all broken now, and around the dripping water grows only the beautiful, green maiden'shair.

"While they sat there talking by the fountain, Numa learned some very great things of Egeria. She would tell him how to be very wise and good, and about the best way of governing the people. And she was very useful to him besides; for one day he had a dinner-party, and invited to it some of his most distinguished men. They came, and they sat down to dinner; but every thing was as plain and simple as possible. There was nothing handsome on the table, nor any thing very good to eat; but all at once, while they were sitting there, the earthen dishes and the spoons and all the table-things began to grow brighter and brighter, and in a minute, lo! they were all changed to the most beautiful, sparkling gold;

and all the meats and other food were made nice and delicious! This was all done by Egeria; for the good, kind goddess, watched over the king, and loved to do him favors.

"King Numa was so peaceable and virtuous, that he lived to a very old age, and then had no hard sickness when he died, but just dropped away as easily as if he were going to sleep."

"Then what did Egeria do?" asked Vial; for she had quite forgotten herself in the interest she felt. "That is the second question," said the secretary. But Glassée did not mind the interruption, and went on to say that Numa had written some learned books while he lived, and they were all buried with him when he died. Egeria was very mournful when he was gone, and lamented, and shed so many tears for him, that some persons said that she wept herself all away, and became a fountain."

"Oh," said Misty, "how sorry she must have been!" and she seemed to be half melting away herself into a fountain of tears. "But I think,"

said the stout-hearted Pebble, "that she ought to have been more brave than that.'

"It was very strange," said the queen, "that she should have loved a mortal so much: she' might have cared for him, and protected him; but what was he to her? He was only like a little child in comparison. She knew every thing, and could do almost every thing; but he,scarcely any thing at all. After all, I suppose it was because he was so like a simple-hearted child, and pure and good, that she loved him so well."

It was fortunate that Glassée had ended her story for that day; for, just as the queen was finishing her important speech, the gardener happened along that way to do something upon the garden-wall, near the ivy and the laurustinus bushes; and, in half the twinkling of an eye, each elfin being had disappeared, and hidden itself away, as if it had never been!

CHAPTER IV.

THE THIRD DAY.

ON the third day the fairies were able to assemble upon their flowery bank as usual, and were quite impatiently waiting for Glassée to begin; but she was the most tardy of all that day. Since the night before, she had been a long way over mountain and field to put some poppy-juice upon the eye-lids of a sick child to make it sleep; and she had scarcely returned before lounging-time. When she arrived, she seemed still rather fatigued: so the queen made her keep quite silent for a while. But soon she looked all fresh and bright again; for a fairy is not long tired out.

Then she commenced :

kings in all but I am not going to tell about them; they are not very pleasant stories. They had a great many wars, and fought against many other cities and towns, and almost always conquered them, and often brought their people to Rome to live. very large city. At length, there was a king who was proud and tyrannical, and his sons were so too: therefore the people determined they would not have kings any longer; and they drove this bad king and his family away, and chose consuls every year to govern them. Sometimes the consuls were good men, and sometimes they were not so good; but, among the Romans in general, there were many men who were very brave, and, useful to their country. One of these was Cincinnatus, who lived in the country, in a little cottage, on a farm. He had an affectionate with, and was very happy at home, and liked nothing so much as to live there in quiet, and plough and cultivate his fields, to make the grains and

This caused Rome to become a