ortance of the consultation, "I did see
yesterday, Polly, on the walls, pictures of two long-tailed ponies,
speckled all over--"

"No, no, NO!" cried Polly, in an ecstatic desire to linger on the
charming details. "Not speckled all over!"

"Speckled all over. Which ponies jump through hoops--"

"No, no, NO!" cried Polly, as before. "They never jump through hoops!"

"Yes, they do. O I assure you, they do. And eat pie in pinafores--"

"Ponies eating pie in pinafores!" said Polly. "What a story-teller you
are, ain't you?"

"Upon my honour.--And fire off guns."

(Polly hardly seemed to see the force of the ponies resorting to
fire-arms.)

"And I was thinking," pursued the exemplary Barbox, "that if you and I
were to go to the Circus where these ponies are, it would do our
constitutions good."

"Does that mean, amuse us?" inquired Polly. "What long words you do use,
don't you?"

Apologetic for having wandered out of his depth, he replied: "That means,
amuse us. That is exactly what it means. There are many other wonders
besides the ponies, and we shall see them all. Ladies and gentlemen in
spangled dresses, and elephants and lions and tigers."

Polly became observant of the teapot, with a curled-up nose indicating
some uneasiness of mind. "They never get out, of course," she remarked
as a mere truism.

"The elephants and lions and tigers? O dear no!"

"O dear no!" said Polly. "And of course nobody's afraid of the ponies
shooting anybody."

"Not the least in the world."

"No, no, not the least in the world," said Polly.

"I was also thinking," proceeded Barbox, "that if we were to look in at
the toy-shop, to choose a doll--"

"Not dressed!" cried Polly, with a clap of her hands. "No, no, NO, not
dressed!"

"Full dressed. Together with a house, and all things necessary for
housekeeping--"

Polly gave a little scream, and seemed in danger of falling into a swoon
of bliss. "What a darling you are!" she languidly exclaimed, leaning
back in her chair. "Come and be hugged, or I must come and hug you!"

This resplendent programme was carried into execution with the utmost
rigour of the law. It being essential to make the purchase of the doll
its first feature--or that lady would have lost the ponies--the toy-shop
expedition took precedence. Polly in the magic warehouse, with a doll as
large as herself under each arm, and a neat assortment of some twenty
more on view upon the counter, did