There was a good deal going on in the Baby Walk , where Maimie arrived in time to see a magnolia and a Persian lilac step over the railing and set off for a smart walk . They moved in a jerky sort of way certainly , but that was because they used crutches . An elderberry hobbled across the walk , and stood chatting with some young quinces , and they all had crutches . The crutches were the sticks that are tied to young trees and shrubs . They were quite familiar objects to Maimie , but she had never known what they were for until to-night . -LSB- Illustration : There was a good deal going on in the Baby Walk -RSB- She peeped up the walk and saw her first fairy . He was a street boy fairy who was running up the walk closing the weeping trees . The way he did it was this : he pressed a spring in the trunks and they shut like umbrellas , deluging the little plants beneath with snow . ' O you naughty , naughty child ! ' Maimie cried indignantly , for she knew what it was to have a dripping umbrella about your ears . Fortunately the mischievous fellow was out of earshot , but a chrysanthemum heard her , and said so pointedly , ` Hoity-toity , what is this ? ' that she had to come out and show herself . Then the whole vegetable kingdom was rather puzzled what to do . -LSB- Illustration : An afternoon when the Gardens were white with snow -RSB- ` Of course it is no affair of ours , ' a spindle-tree said after they had whispered together , ` but you know quite well you ought not to be here , and perhaps our duty is to report you to the fairies ; what do you think yourself ? ' ' I think you should not , ' Maimie replied , which so perplexed them that they said petulantly there was no arguing with her . ' I would n't ask it of you , ' she assured them , ` if I thought it was wrong , ' and of course after this they could not well carry tales . They then said , ` Well-a-day , ' and ` Such is life , ' for they can be frightfully sarcastic ; but she felt sorry for those of them who had no crutches , and she said good-naturedly , ` Before I go to the fairies ' ball , I should like to take you for a walk one at a time ; you can lean on me , you know . ' At this they clapped their hands , and she escorted them up the Baby Walk and back again , one at a time , putting an arm or a finger round the very frail , setting their leg right when it got too ridiculous , and treating the foreign ones quite as courteously as the English , though she could not understand a word they said . They behaved well on the whole , though some whimpered that she had not taken them as far as she took Nancy or Grace or Dorothy , and others jagged her , but it was quite unintentional , and she was too much of a lady to cry out . So much walking tired her , and she was anxious to be off to the ball , but she no longer felt afraid .
The reason she felt no more fear was that it was now night-time , and in the dark , you remember , XXXXX was always rather strange .
English Maimie Nancy Persian Walk afternoon elderberry quinces right to-night