The girl did not speak for a moment , then held out the small loaf and some bacon intended for her dinner . ` Take this , ' she said ; ` to-day at any rate you shall dine well , ' and the old woman took it , gazing at Tephany the while . ` Those who help others deserve to be helped , ' she answered ; ` your eyes are still red because that miser Barbaik has forbidden you to speak to the young man from Plover . But cheer up , you are a good girl , and I will give you something that will enable you to see him once every day . ' ` You ? ' cried Tephany , stupefied at discovering that the beggar knew all about her affairs , but the old woman did not hear her . ` Take this long copper pin , ' she went on , ` and every time you stick it in your dress Mother Bourhis will be obliged to leave the house in order to go and count her cabbages . As long as the pin is in your dress you will be free , and your aunt will not come back until you have put it in its case again . ' Then , rising , she nodded to Tephany and vanished . The girl stood where she was , as still as a stone . If it had not been for the pin in her hands she would have thought she was dreaming . But by that token she knew it was no common old woman who had given it to her , but a fairy , wise in telling what would happen in the days to come . Then suddenly Tephany 's eyes fell on the clothes , and to make up for lost time she began to wash them with great vigour . Next evening , at the moment when Denis was accustomed to wait for her in the shadow of the cowhouse , Tephany stuck the pin in her dress , and at the very same instant Barbaik took up her sabots or wooden shoes and went through the orchard and past to the fields , to the plot where the cabbages grew . With a heart as light as her footsteps , the girl ran from the house , and spent her evening happily with Denis . And so it was for many days after that . Then , at last , Tephany began to notice something , and the something made her very sad . At first , Denis seemed to find the hours that they were together fly as quickly as she did , but when he had taught her all the songs he knew , and told her all the plans he had made for growing rich and a great man , he had nothing more to say to her , for he , like a great many other people , was fond of talking himself , but not of listening to any one else . Sometimes , indeed , he never came at all , and the next evening he would tell Tephany that he had been forced to go into the town on business , but though she never reproached him she was not deceived and saw plainly that he no longer cared for her as he used to do . Day by day her heart grew heavier and her cheeks paler , and one evening , when she had waited for him in vain , she put her water-pot on her shoulder and went slowly down to the spring .
On the path in front of her stood the fairy who had given her the pin , and as she glanced at XXXXX she gave a little mischievous laugh and said : ` Why , my pretty maiden hardly looks happier than she did before , in spite of meeting her lover whenever she pleases . '
Barbaik Bourhis Denis Plover Tephany days evening first sabots water-pot