ich?" she whispered.

As the parting of the ways was reached, he pointed. And she saw a
sign--a sign with an arrow directing travelers to the right. Under the
arrow, plainly lettered, were the words:

_To the Bear's Den_.

Gwendolyn looked her concern. "Do we _have_ to go that road?" she asked
him.

He nodded.

The next moment, with a loud rumbling of the eyes, Jane came alongside.
"Oh, dearie," she cried, "you couldn't hire _me_ to go. And I wouldn't
like to see _you_ go. I think too much of you, I do _indeed_."

"Hold your tongue!" ordered the little old gentleman, crossly.

Jane obeyed. Up came a hand, and she seized the tongue-tip in her front
mouth. But since there was a second tongue-tip in that back face, she
still continued her babbling: "Don't ask me to trapse over the hard
pavements on my poor tired feet, dearie, just because you take your
notions.... Come, I say! Your mother's nobody, anyhow.... You don't know
what you're sayin' or doin', poor thing! You're just wanderin', that's
all--just wanderin'."

"I'm wandering in the right direction, anyhow," retorted Gwendolyn,
stoutly. And to the little old gentleman, "I'm sorry we're going this
way, though. I'm 'fraid of Bears,"--for the sign was past now; the four
were on the level thoroughfare.

The Policeman seemed not to have remarked her anxiety. "And after the
Den, what do we pass?" he questioned.

"The Big Rock," answered the Man-Who-Makes-Faces.

"Do we have to turn it?" The other spoke with some annoyance. "What's
likely to come out? I suppose it won't be hiding that Bird."

"There's a hollow under the Rock," said the little old gentleman. "We'll
find _something_." His face grew grave.

"And--and after we go by the Big Rock?" ventured Gwendolyn.

The little old gentleman smiled. "Ah, then!" he said, "--then we come to
the Pillery!"

"Oh!" She considered the reply. Pillery--it was a word she had never
chanced upon in the large Dictionary. Yet she felt she could hardly ask
any questions about it. She had asked so many already. "It's kind of you
to answer and answer and answer," she said aloud. "Nobody else ever did
that."

"Ask anything you want to know," he returned cordially. "I'll always
give you prompt attention. Though of course, there are _some_ things--"
He hesitated.

"Yes?"--eagerly.

"That only fathers and mothers can answer."

"Oh!"

"Didn't you know that?" demanded the Policeman, surprised.

"Tee! hee! hee! hee!" s