whereon a navy might ride secure, and whence at any moment the hairy
scalp of a sea serpent might be seen to emerge.

It is impossible, however, to play at tropical forests properly, when
homely accents of the human voice intrude; and all my hopes of seeing a
tiger seized by a crocodile while drinking (vide picture-books, passim)
vanished abruptly, and earth resumed her old dimensions, when the
sound of Charlotte's prattle somewhere hard by broke in on my primeval
seclusion. Looking out from the bushes, I saw her trotting towards an
open space of lawn the other side the pond, chattering to herself in her
accustomed fashion, a doll tucked under either arm, and her brow knit
with care. Propping up her double burden against a friendly stump, she
sat down in front of them, as full of worry and anxiety as a Chancellor
on a Budget night.

Her victims, who stared resignedly in front of them, were recognisable
as Jerry and Rosa. Jerry hailed from far Japan: his hair was straight
and black; his one garment cotton, of a simple blue; and his reputation
was distinctly bad. Jerome was his proper name, from his supposed
likeness to the holy man who hung in a print on the staircase; though
a shaven crown was the only thing in common 'twixt Western saint and
Eastern sinner. Rosa was typical British, from her flaxen poll to the
stout calves she displayed so liberally, and in character she was of the
blameless order of those who have not yet been found out.

I suspected Jerry from the first; there was a latent devilry in his
slant eyes as he sat there moodily, and knowing what he was capable of
I scented trouble in store for Charlotte. Rosa I was not so sure about;
she sat demurely and upright, and looked far away into the tree-tops
in a visionary, world-forgetting sort of way; yet the prim purse of her
mouth was somewhat overdone, and her eyes glittered unnaturally.

"Now, I'm going to begin where I left off," said Charlotte, regardless
of stops, and thumping the turf with her fist excitedly: "and you must
pay attention, 'cos this is a treat, to have a story told you before
you're put to bed. Well, so the White Rabbit scuttled off down the
passage and Alice hoped he'd come back 'cos he had a waistcoat on and
her flamingo flew up a tree--but we haven't got to that part yet--you
must wait a minute, and--where had I got to?"

Jerry only remained passive until Charlotte had got well under way, and
then began to heel over quietly in Ros