"Done!"
"I'll put it in the collection bag for you next Sunday," I added
hastily.
"Well, I was thinking of Veronica's future. I was wondering what she
was going to be."
"When we went to the Crystal Palace," I said gently, "I rather
gathered that she wanted to be the proprietor of a merry-go-round.
They were dragons with red-plush seats."
"She might go into Parliament," said Kathleen dreamily; "I expect
women will be able to do everything by the time she's grown up. She
might be a Cabinet Minister. I don't see why she shouldn't be Prime
Minister."
"Her hair's just about the right length now," I said. "And perhaps she
could give me congenial employment. I wouldn't mind being Minister of
Transport. There's quite a good salary attached. But of course she may
have ideas of her own on the subject."
Feeling curious, I went in search of Veronica. I found her at a
private dance given by the butterflies and hollyhocks at the other end
of the lawn. When she saw me she came to meet me and made her excuses
very politely.
"We've just been wondering what you're going to be when you've stopped
being a little girl," I said.
"Me?" said Veronica calmly. "Oh, I'm going to be a fairy. You don't
want me to be anything else, do you?" she added anxiously.
Even the Prime Minister's post seemed suddenly quite flat.
"Oh, no," I said. "I think you've made a very good choice." But she
was not quite satisfied.
"I shall hate going away from you," she said. "Couldn't you come too?"
"Where?"
"To Fairyland."
"Ah!" I said, "that takes some thinking about. Could we come back if
we didn't like it?"
"N-no, I don't fink so. I've never heard of anyone doing that. But
you'll love it," she went on earnestly. "You'll be ever so tiny and
you can draw funny frost pictures wiv rainbows and fold up flowers
into buds and splash dew-water over everyfing at night and ride on
butterflies and help the birds to make nests. Fink what _fun_ to help
a bird to make a nest! You'll _love_ it!"
"Is that all?" I said sternly. "Are you keeping nothing from me? What
about witches and spells and being turned into frogs? I'm sure I
remember that in my fairy tales."
"Oh, nothing that _matters_," she said quickly. "You can always _tell_
a witch, you know, and we'll keep out of their way. An' if a nasty
fairy turns you into a frog a nice one will always turn you back quite
soon. It's all right. You mustn't worry about _that_. There won't be
any fun if you don't come too, darlin'," she ended shamelessly.