incited by the Fairies, and hoped he would know better in future.

Mary was glad when she heard him say that, as she had never approved of the way he had latterly treated the poor people; and the first thing he did when he got home was to order the dog to be chained up, and the porter to allow the poor people to come to the house as formerly; and he sent away the policeman with a present, but without telling him that it was the Squire himself he had taken up. So no one knew, except Mary and the Sheriff, what had happened; but the poor soon found out that they might come to the house, and Tommie's kitchen was as much frequented by them as before.

And now I must tell you

How Tommie was led by the Fairies to do a third foolish thing, and how the Brownies did not find their account in a trick they tried upon him.

A few months after this a great joy came to Tommie and Mary, and that was the birth of a little son. Tommie wished it to be called William, after Mary's father, but Mary said that it must be called Tommie, after her husband; so the child was christened not even Thomas, but Tommie, and it soon came to be called Wee Tommie to distinguish it from its father, for Wee is the Scotch for "little." Tommie told Mary to be very careful always to say the Lord's Prayer over him in the morning, and to bless him and the bed he lay on before she left him alone, so as to protect him

from the Fairies, which Mary was most careful to do every morning. Tommie and Mary resolved to bring up Wee Tommie very simply and hardily; and Tommie said he would take care that he was not left to run about idly without learning his lessons, as he had been when he was a little boy, and so have to undergo such sharp treatment before he could be made to learn anything. So, as soon as ever Tommie grew old enough to run about by himself, and to begin to learn lessons, he was dressed in a little jacket and kilt, like the village boys, and fed upon porridge and milk, and made to run about without shoes and stockings like them; and Tommie trained him to habits of strict obedience to his parents, and to be a manly and truthful little fellow, and was gentle and steady with him, encouraging

him when he did right, and punishing him. when he did wrong; and as soon as he was old enough, made him learn lessons, and taught him so well that Wee Tommie was soon much farther on than most little boys of the same

age.

When Wee Tommie was seven years old his parents resolved that he should be educated at the village school, as they both had been, so Tommie took him there one morning, and put him under the schoolmaster. Wee Tommie was so accustomed always to learn his lessons well, and was always so well prepared, and was such a frank and manly little fellow, that he became a great favourite both with the schoolmaster and the school children, and when his papa asked him if he said his lessons well, he could always answer, "Yes, papa," and if he

asked him if he had been punished, he could always answer, "No, papa."

Well, one day when Tommie had gone out as usual with his gun, and, after shooting till he was tired, had lain down on one of the Fairy Knowes, and remained lying quietly there for a long time, thinking over all that had happened to him with the Fairies, he heard voices on the top of the Knowe, which he soon recognised to be those of the Fairies, and listened very attentively to what they said. He heard the tiny musical voice of the Queen of the Fairies say, "I am afraid we shall never get hold of Wee Tommie, his mamma protects him so well, and he is so good a boy; but I shall never be happy unless we get him." To which a voice he recognised as that of a Brownie answered, "The best of women sometimes