“No,” she said aloud, “I think we’re here now―but when we’re there, we’re―
“Don’t you want to go?” asked Sewing Bird.
“Of course!” said Mary Frances, although she’d no notion where.
“Well, that’s good,” said the little bird.
[Illustration: “Of course!” said Mary Frances]
“Sounds as though we were off,” said Mary Frances.
“Not yet,” said Sewing Bird. “Here!” And she jumped up and pecked Mary Frances between her shoulders.
The little girl had the strangest sensation. She suddenly felt as light as air,―as though her body weighed nothing. Her nose felt strange, and she thought she ought to find her handkerchief.
“It was in my pocket, I am sure,” she said, and started to find her pocket. Imagine her surprise when she couldn’t find her hand.
“Why, where can it be?” she thought. “I’ll see if I can move my arm!”
She raised one arm, and then the other, and away she flew. Out the window―and across the blue sky―she, nearly as blue as the sky itself, if she had known it.
“How lovely!” she tried to say aloud, but what she heard herself singing was:
“To float away, Far, far away, In clouds of blue And every hue― I flit my wing And sing and sing!”
“I’m so glad, dear little friend, My trouble now is at an end; ’Twas indeed my task of love To turn you to a burnished dove.”
She looked around, and there was Sewing Bird flying beside her, and another tiny little blue bird, keeping close to Sewing Bird.
“What a dear little Bird of blue! Is she, dear friend, A friend of you?”
[Illustration: “What a dear little Bird of blue!”]
“A friend she is Indeed of me― But more of you― It’s Miss Marie!”
[Illustration: “She makes a beauteous bird”]
“My dear sweet dolly, I declare! She makes a beauteous bird― And rare!”
“Now, turn again To the right wing― To Thimble Land We safely bring,”
sang Sewing Bird. And Mary Frances, the Dove; and Mary Marie, the Blue Bird; and Sewing Bird Fairy Lady stood before a golden gate.
[Illustration: “To Thimble Land We safely bring”]
“You’ll have to become a Thimble Person to enter,” smiled Fairy Lady, and she touched Mary Frances’ right wing with her bodkin wand; and Mary Frances felt herself stiffen and stiffen.
“What am I now, please?” she asked Fairy Lady.
“How curious it feels,” said Mary Frances. “And Mary Marie―what is she?” she asked.