The sloping garden was fringed with honeysuckle with flowers of all colours resting in their shady beds

I can see France

Laura was standing on the low stone bench

You know it is always there to be seen this late in the summer

Roger was collecting fairies from the grass knoll steps

His sister gave him a puzzled look

What are you doing Roger?

Collecting the fairies that have been blown off course by the recent storms

He placed the fairies into a glass box and handed it to his father who had joined them

Would you put this box on the next available ship to France or they will become rather ill

I will cable the noon ship and ask it to wait

May I come to Dover with you?

And me?

Well you both have ten minutes to get ready and do be careful not to tread on any fairies that might be hiding in the grass

The next morning Laura was up early and was walking across the mossy lawn at the bottom of the garden

She had removed her slippers as she liked the soft cold feel of the dew against her toes

In the distance she could see the coast of France

Its white cliffs were glistening in the early morning sunlight

The fairies have returned home I can see their movement against the sky

She shoved her sleepy brother towards the bench

Where?

Just look at the white cliffs what do you see Roger?

White cliffs

Do not be silly tell me what you see

Glistening white cliffs

Those are the happy French fairies we rescued yesterday

Her brother opened his hand

I found this

A small fairy fluttered upwards and settled on Laura’s shoulder

What is your name?

Mirabelle

Why did you not join the other fairies that we sent back to France yesterday?

I have injured my wing but it is getting better

Then you shall stay here until you are well and then father will arrange your passage to France

During her convalescence and in order to earn her keep Mirabelle sprinkled diamond dust on each of the flowers in the garden

If you sprinkle diamond dust on to the flowers in the garden then they will gleam on each day of the year no matter what the weather brings

Three weeks later the injured fairy was well enough to return to France and the children’s father arranged her passage

In a glass box with a velvet cushion

At five o’clock tomorrow morning be up with the swifts and look towards France for I will be home and of all the fairies flying around I will be the brightest

The following morning Roger and Laura were up at dawn and made their way across the damp lawn towards the bench

They looked at the distant coast of France which was even more beautiful that it had been before

Hundreds of fairies were weaving lyrical patterns in the sky

And high, high above the waters that separated their homes was one fairy

Hovering but almost still

She was playing a violin

And even from their distant station

Both children could hear her wonderful music