till and sorrowful that Jerry laughed harder. Then the clown
started laughing out loud, holding his sides until it became a laughing
duet between them.

Jerry was happy again. He had forgotten all about Danny's perfidy and
the tears of Celia Jane and the stolen "ticket to paradise."

The clown's features suddenly fell calm and he jumped to his feet and
pirouetted on his heels with little graceful leaps in the air, as though
he were light as a feather and going to take flight. Jerry was sure that
that was the clown's way of rejoicing at having made him laugh.

Then the clown was suddenly sitting in front of Jerry again. "So you've
found the secret," he remarked in a very human and pleasant voice.

"What secret?" asked Jerry.

The clown whispered in his ear, "The secret of laughter."

"The secret of laughter?" repeated Jerry wonderingly.

"Shush!" warned Whiteface, looking cautiously about. "Don't let anybody
know you've found it till it's had time to get used to you. It might
like somebody else better and leave you for that somebody else, though I
don't see how the secret of laughter could like anybody better than you.
You're such a brave little boy."

"What will the secret of laughter do?" Jerry asked in a low tone.

"It will make you happy," replied Whiteface. "Nothing is as bad as you
think it is if only you can keep the secret of laughter at your side. It
will make you forget your sorrow and laugh and laugh till the sorrow
slinks away."

"Never to come back?" asked Jerry.

The clown's mouth drooped again and his shoulders sunk forward.

"That's the tragedy of it," he said. "Sorrow takes such a firm hold on
us sometimes, especially when one is grown up, that it comes back even
after the secret of laughter has driven it away. But it is different
with children; with them the secret of laughter almost always drives
sorrow away for good and all and leaves them happy."

"How can it make them happy?" asked Jerry.

"By making them forget."

"Forget what?" pursued Jerry, puzzled.

"What made them cry," responded the clown, "as you have."

Then his face clouded and his white, chalky brows frowned.

"You have forgotten, haven't you?" he asked eagerly.

"Y-y-yes," replied Jerry, "almost."

"Almost!" exclaimed Whiteface, very much disappointed. "Then it has come
back if you haven't forgotten it altogether. I wonder what it can be if
the secret of laughter can't drive it away?"

He looked up so questioning