I would n't be much surprised if we should see something of the kind . Is n't that the flash of an ivory shoulder through yonder gloom ? And did n't you see a queer little elfin face peering at us around that twisted gray trunk ? But one ca n't be sure . Mortal eyesight is too slow and clumsy a thing to match against the flicker of a pixy-litten fire . '' Hand in hand we wandered through that enchanted place , seeking the folk of elf-land , `` and heard their mystic voices calling , from fairy knoll and haunted hill . '' Not till the fire died down into ashes did we leave the grove . Then we found that the full moon was gleaming lustrously from a cloudless sky across the valley . Between us and her stretched up a tall pine , wondrously straight and slender and branchless to its very top , where it overflowed in a crest of dark boughs against the silvery splendour behind it . Beyond , the hill farms were lying in a suave , white radiance . `` Does n't it seem a long , long time to you since we left home this afternoon ? '' asked the Story Girl . `` And yet it is only a few hours . '' Only a few hours -- true ; yet such hours were worth a cycle of common years untouched by the glory and the dream . CHAPTER XXIX . WE LOSE A FRIEND Our beautiful October was marred by one day of black tragedy -- the day Paddy died . For Paddy , after seven years of as happy a life as ever a cat lived , died suddenly -- of poison , as was supposed . Where he had wandered in the darkness to meet his doom we did not know , but in the frosty dawnlight he dragged himself home to die . We found him lying on the doorstep when we got up , and it did not need Aunt Janet 's curt announcement , or Uncle Blair 's reluctant shake of the head , to tell us that there was no chance of our pet recovering this time . We felt that nothing could be done .
Lard and sulphur on his paws would be XXXXX no use , nor would any visit to Peg Bowen avail .
For against by in into of through till to worth