It all began with the collar-stud—at least I put it down at that.

You see, I was dressing rather nervously to go to a charity "At Home" at the Duchess of Kingslake's. I had not met the lady previously, but some young friends of mine had been invited to the "At Home," and they had persuaded the Duchess to ask me too.

I do not know many titled people, and had never before visited a real live Duchess, so I was just telling myself that I must really be on my very best behaviour, and above all, that I must not be late in arriving. The card had mentioned "4 to 6.30," and it was past three o'clock now.

I was just struggling to fix my collar, which was rather stiff and tight, when suddenly the stud popped out and rolled away to—where?

Down I got on my hands and knees, and groped about in every direction that I could think of. I lit a candle, and searched in every available hiding-place; but no—no collar-stud could be anywhere found.

And the time was going on. I rang the bell for Mrs. Putchy, my housekeeper.

"Please, Mrs. Putchy, send at once to the nearest hosier's and buy me a plain collar-stud, and kindly ask Mary to get back as quickly as possible. I am expecting the cab every moment."

"It is at the door, sir," said Mrs. Putchy; "and I don't know, I'm sure, where Mary will be able to get a collar-stud for you to-day. This is Thursday, you know, sir, early closing day."

Too true. It was indeed most unfortunate. In my neighbourhood all the shops close at two o'clock Thursdays, and it would have been as easy to buy a collar-stud as an elephant at Kensington just then.

What was to be done?

A sudden inspiration struck me.

I ran across to the study, and undoing my desk, I found a little yellow-covered book attached to a golden chain which I had picked up just after my friend Shin Shira had vanished the last time he had visited me.

It was the book which the fairies had given him, and contained directions as to what to do when in any difficulty. I hurriedly turned to the letter C, intending to look for "collar-stud"—but, to my great disappointment, there was no such word to be found.

"Of course not," I suddenly thought; "the people who live in the land from which Shin Shira comes don't wear such things," and I let my mind wander back to my little friend with his yellow silk costume and turban.

"Hullo! though," I exclaimed a moment later, "what's this?"

My eyes had caught the words "To obtain your wishes" at the top of one of the pages.

I hastily read what followed, and gathered from what was written that anybody could have at least two wishes granted by the fairies if he only went about it in the right way and followed the given directions closely. It appeared that one must hop round three times, first on one foot and then on the other, repeating the following words aloud, and wishing very hard—

Of course I immediately wished for a collar-stud, and I was just hopping round on my right leg for the third time, having begun with the left one, when Mrs. Putchy entered the room.

She looked rather surprised at seeing me engaged in what must have seemed to her rather an extraordinary occupation, but she is so used to strange things happening with me that she made no remark, except to point to a spot just in front of the fire-place, where, to my great surprise, I could see the very collar-stud which I had wanted.

"Extraordinary!" I exclaimed, as I picked it up. "I could have declared that it was not there a minute ago, for as you know, Mrs. Putchy, I searched everywhere for it."

"The cabman, sir, is getting impatient," said Mrs. Putchy, as she put down my coat and hat which she had thoughtfully brought to my room.

"Well, we won't keep him waiting long now," I smilingly said as I hurriedly completed my dressing, and a very few minutes later, the cab was quickly bowling me towards my destination.

The mansion near Grosvenor Square, at which the Duchess resided, was a very grand one, and red carpet was laid down the steps and across the pavement for the convenience of the guests, who were arriving in large numbers at the same time as myself. Fortunately, just inside the hall I met my little friends the Verrinder children; Vera, the little girl, looking very pretty in her white party frock; and her two brothers, Dick and Fidge, full of excitement and high spirits.

They fastened on me at once and dragged me most unceremoniously up to our hostess, who it appears was Vera's godmother, and introduced me in their own fashion.

"This is the gentleman who tells stories, godmamma," said Vera.

"And knows all about the Wallypug and the Dodo and Shin Shira, and all sorts of things," declared Dick.

"And if you ask him—" began Fidge, when the Duchess interrupted him.

"Really, children, you mustn't rattle on so. I am very pleased to meet your friend, and I trust that he will have an enjoyable afternoon," and the lady smiled graciously and held out the tips of her fingers for me to shake.

I bowed as politely as I knew how, and, following the children, was soon in the large drawing-room, which was already half filled with young people who had come to the "At Home."

It appeared that a very grand personage indeed was to be present. A real live Princess was coming to receive purses of money which the children had collected themselves, on behalf of the poor and sick in the East-end of London; and, after the purses had been given, there was to be a kind of concert and entertainment.

Footmen were walking about with tea and cakes of all sorts, and the time passed very pleasantly, till presently there was a commotion at the door, and Her Royal Highness the Princess entered and was led to the end of the room, where a tiny little girl presented a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

The Princess made a gracious little speech, saying how glad she was to come on behalf of the poor people to receive the purses of money which the children had collected; and then as they passed up one by one and laid their purses on the silver tray beside her, she had a smile and a little happy nod for each of them.

It was a very pretty sight, but soon over, for the Princess, who is devoted to good works, had to hurry away to another work of charity in a distant part of London.

We were all sorry when she went, but were not allowed to get dull, for almost immediately afterwards the concert began.

Several ladies and gentlemen sang, and a wonderful boy-pianist played some music of his own composing; a little girl played the violin delightfully; and a very humorous gentleman was giving a musical sketch at the piano and making us all laugh very much, when I suddenly noticed that the Duchess, who was sitting by herself on a settee, had raised her lorgnette and was staring curiously, and rather apprehensively, at something beside her.

It was yellow in colour and seemed to grow larger every minute. I had imagined at first that it was a cushion, but now it suddenly occurred to me that it was Shin Shira appearing.

Of course! and a minute or two later there he sat, cross-legged, composedly fanning himself on the settee beside the Duchess.

I could see her draw her skirts aside and regard the little Yellow Dwarf in a puzzled and bewildered manner; and, as soon as the musical sketch was concluded, she called one of the footmen to her and told him to "remove that extraordinary-looking person immediately."

Vera and the boys, however, had caught sight of Shin Shira, and flew forward to claim acquaintance with him.

"It's Shin Shira, you know, godmamma. He's a friend of the gentleman who came with us—and—""He was not invited," said the Duchess, looking with great disfavour at the little Yellow Dwarf, "and it was exceedingly impertinent of your friend to bring him without an invitation—I am displeased."

"Madam," said Shin Shira, getting down to the floor and bowing low in the Oriental manner, "you are mistaken in thinking that I came with a friend. I—er—appeared, because I was obliged to do so—I—"

The Duchess came over to where I was sitting.

"Do you know this person?" she inquired, pointing with her glasses towards Shin Shira. "Who and what is he? Did you bring him here, and if so why?"

"I am acquainted with the gentleman, Duchess," I admitted, "but he did not come with me. I can tell you, however, that now he is here he can be made very useful in entertaining your guests—he is a conjurer of very remarkable powers, and I've no doubt whatever but that he would be only too happy to exercise them for the amusement of the company."

"That is a different matter," said the Duchess, evidently somewhat mollified. "You may introduce me."

I went to fetch Shin Shira, and had soon performed the necessary ceremony."The Duchess would be very much obliged if you would perform some conjuring tricks, as I know you will do with pleasure," I whispered.

"Delighted, I'm sure," replied the little Yellow Dwarf; "that is one thing which I flatter myself I can do very well, owing to my fairy powers," and so it was arranged that he was to begin immediately.

I cannot possibly tell you of all the wonderful things he showed us. He made flowers grow straight up from the carpet, and turned a gentleman's walking-stick into a kind of Christmas-tree, upon which hung a little present for every child in the room: a fan for each of the ladies, and a suitable gift for each of the gentlemen.

This was a most popular trick, it is needless to say, and the numerous ladies and gentlemen who had by this time joined the party were as delighted as were the children themselves.

Shin Shira had become quite a centre of attraction, and the Duchess smiled at me approvingly.

"Your friend is a great acquisition," she remarked, coming over to the settee on which I was seated. "Look! look! whatever is he going to do now?"

I was as interested and puzzled as herself, for, knowing of the extraordinary powers which my

little friend possessed, I could never be sure what to expect from him in the way of the marvellous.

This time it was really a most interesting trick.

First of all he turned an inkstand into a large clear crystal bowl, and placed it on a little table which stood in front of him. Then he asked for anything to be given to him which the owner wished to disappear.

Several gentlemen gave their watches, and one or two ladies laughingly took off their bracelets and handed them to Shin Shira, who immediately placed them in the crystal bowl.

To our utter astonishment, each article as it was placed into the bowl vanished from sight, and Shin Shira turned the bowl upside down to show that nothing was inside.

"It's really most marvellous," murmured the Duchess, taking off a most valuable diamond ornament and handing it to the Yellow Dwarf. "Please make this disappear too. I shall value it more highly than ever if I know that it has been through such a wonderful adventure."

Shin Shira bowed, and taking the jewelled ornament from the lady, he dropped it into the bowl, where it at once shared the same fate as the other articles.

"Ha! Hum!" said a grave and somewhat pompous voice, "our friend here might readily become a very dangerous person if he exercised his remarkable gifts in private, and made things disappear in this extraordinary fashion, and then refused to produce them again. Eh? Ha! Hum!"

"Yes—ha! ha! very good. Ha! ha!" laughed a number of people who were standing near to the guest who had spoken.

"That's the Lord Chief Justice," explained a gentleman who stood near me. "That's why everybody is laughing; it's considered very improper not to laugh when the Lord Chief Justice makes a joke—however feeble it is."

I hardly listened to what he was saying, though, for I had suddenly noticed something which caused me a good deal of anxiety.

Shin Shira was beginning to look very thin and vapoury about the head, and, while I was watching him, to my horror, he began to vanish piecemeal till he had entirely disappeared from sight, after giving me a strange, apologetic look.

The people clapped and stamped and laughed, evidently imagining that it was all part of the trick—but I—I knew differently, and scarcely dared realise what it all meant for me.

For a few minutes everybody waited patiently for him to appear again, and clapped and stamped in great good humour. Presently, however, they began to get rather tired and impatient, and, after we had waited for about twenty minutes, the delay began to get very awkward.

"Why doesn't he come back?" inquired the Duchess, in an impatient voice, coming over to where I was standing. "The delay is becoming very embarrassing."

I turned very red, I am afraid, for I hardly liked to explain that the probability was that he would not come back at all.

"Several of my guests are wanting to go early, and they must have their jewellery before they depart," she continued. "Can you not tell him to hurry up?"

"I—I—I—am—afraid n—not," I stammered.

"But you must," insisted the lady. "He's your friend, and you brought him here, and I shall look to you to—"

"Oh, Duchess! I'm sorry to interrupt your charming party, but will you please ask the clever little gentleman who made my diamond and ruby bracelet disappear if he would kindly return it, as I really must be going," said a lady, hurrying up. "And my emerald chain, dear Duchess." "And my gold and pearl locket," chimed in several other voices.

"Yes, you simply must fetch him back somehow," said the Duchess, clutching my arm nervously. "You see my guests are beginning to get alarmed. You must!—you must!"

"B-but I can't—it's impossible," I endeavoured to explain.

The Duchess grew pale. "Do you mean to say," she gasped, "that the man has really disappeared—and—and taken the things with him? It's too terrible—too dreadful! What am I to do? And all my guests! What will they think of me? Oh! Do—do—do something! I don't mind so much about my beautiful diamond pendant, but do somehow get back the things belonging to my guests. You brought him here. You must!"

The grown-up guests were whispering together in little anxious and indignant groups, and things were beginning to look very serious—so serious that I sank into a chair and buried my head in my hands, trying to think of some possible way out of the difficulty.

The Duchess was almost in tears, and several ladies were trying to console her, when suddenly I thought of a means of escape. Of course! the wish! I had another wish left according to what the little book had told me. I had wished for a collar-stud, and had found my own. Perhaps if I wished for the jewellery——The thought no sooner entered my head than I jumped up and began hopping on one leg repeating—

"Oh, he's mad, he's gone mad. Hold him, somebody!" cried the Duchess when she saw me hopping about in what must have appeared to her a most eccentric manner; but, though several gentlemen came up and caught hold of me, I managed to get round three times on one leg, and three times on the other, repeating the magic rhyme, and then I wished—wished as hard as ever I could—for the jewellery to be found, before I sank down exhausted with my struggle.

Then a most remarkable thing happened, for the gentleman who had been pointed out to me as the Lord Chief Justice, and who had apparently been more indignant than anyone else at the disappearance of the jewellery, suddenly began behaving in a very strange manner too, diving his hands first into one pocket and then into another and muttering—"Strange! remarkable! Most extraordinary!" and finally drawing out from every part of his clothing watches, chains, rings, bracelets and jewellery of all kinds, till every missing article, including the Duchess's diamond pendant, was restored to its proper owner.

There was a pause at first, and then everybody began to talk at once—laughing and protesting that "of course they all knew it was part of the trick, and they weren't really anxious at all," and so on, and I knew that the situation was saved.

Even the Duchess beamed and admitted that it was "really quite the most marvellous performance she had ever seen," and thanked me over and over again for having introduced such a remarkable conjurer to her party. The guests were all equally delighted, and amidst the laughter and chatter that followed, the Verrinder children and myself made good our escape, and I felt very thankful that the fairies' "wish" had got me out of what at one time bid fair to have been a very awkward predicament.

The Duchess called on me the next day to thank me again, and to ask where she might write to my little friend to thank him also. This information, however, I was naturally unable to impart.