They stopped beside the pool where Merrimeg had once tried to wash the black from her face. The trees were wide apart here, and Merrimeg, looking up, could see the bare spot in the sky directly overhead, where the lost star belonged.
“I’m taking you to the gnomes’ house,” said Merrimeg. “We’ll soon be there. It’s two gnomes who’ve been very good to me; I know where they live. They’re the ones to help us.”
“Is one of them named Malkin?” said Florrie.
“Then it’s no use,” said Pennie. “We’ve been there already.”
“They were asleep,” said Florrie, “and we woke them up, and they didn’t like it a bit. They wouldn’t get up for any foolish old star,--that’s what they said. But they told us about you, and that’s how we came to hunt you up. But the horrid gnomes wouldn’t do a thing for us; they wouldn’t even get up.”
“They’re not horrid,” said Merrimeg. “Oh dear, I don’t know what we’re going to do now.”
She looked down sadly into the dark water of the pool, trying to think what to do next. She gave a little jump of surprise, and looked harder. Far, far down, away down deep under the water of the pool,----
“Look!” she cried, and pointed her finger at it.
The starlight fairies leaned over, and looked down into the pool.
“It’s our lost star!” cried Pennie. “Dropped down from the sky to the bottom of this pool.”
“Then,” said Merrimeg, “you’d better go down and get it.”
“Oh no! oh no! oh no!” cried the three fairies together.
“We mustn’t get our wings wet!” said Pennie.
“We’d never be able to fly home if our wings got wet,” said Winnie.
“But _you_ have no wings,” said Florrie to Merrimeg.
“_She_ shall go down for our star,” said Winnie. “You will, won’t you?”
“The water’s deep and dark,” said Merrimeg.
“The water’s cold and gloomy,” said Merrimeg.
“I wonder if I could do it,” said Merrimeg.
“Oh please!” cried Winnie. “Oh dearest Merrimeg, please get my star.”
“I’ll see how deep it is,” said Merrimeg, and she threw a stone into the middle of the pool. The water rippled away as the stone sank, and the star could not be seen any longer.
“Oh!” cried Winnie. “Now you’ve sent my star away! It’s gone!”
But the water became quiet in a moment, and there was the star again, shining bright at the bottom of the pool.