y."

Then the old man took a book with pictures in it down from a shelf,
and he went into the other room to the pantry. It was really
delightful in the old house!

But the toy soldier, who sat on a cabinet, suddenly spoke.

"I can't bear it any longer," he said. "The days are so dull and the
evenings are still duller. Here it is not at all like your home, where
your father and mother talk so pleasantly, and you and the other
children make such a delightful noise."

"Oh, you mustn't mind that," said the little boy. "This house is full
of old thoughts that come and visit and bring much company with them."

"I see nothing of them, and I don't know them because I am new," said
the toy soldier. "I cannot bear it!"

"But you must!" said the little boy.

Then in came the old man with the most pleased and happy face, and
bringing such delicious sweets, apples, and nuts. So the little boy
thought no more about the toy soldier.

He went home, happy. Weeks and days passed, and he nodded over to the
old house, and the old man nodded back. Then the little boy went over
again.

The old man went to find a treasure box that he had with secret
drawers, and the toy soldier took this opportunity of speaking once
more to the little boy.

"Do you still sing on Sundays?" he asked. "When the curtains are up I
can see you all over there at home distinctly. Tell me about my
brother. Does he still live? Yes, he is happy then. Oh, I cannot bear
it here any longer."

"You are given away as a present," the little boy said. "You will have
to stay. Can't you try and make the best of it?"

The old man came in now with the box. Secret springs released the
drawers and in these were cards, large and gilded, such as one never
sees now. Then he opened the piano. It had landscapes painted on the
inside of the lid. It was very hoarse but the old man could play on it
and he sang a song too.

"I will go to the wars! I will go to the wars!" shouted the toy
soldier as loudly as he could, and he threw himself off the cabinet
right down on the floor.

Where was he? The old man looked, and the little boy looked, but the
soldier was away and he stayed away.

"I shall find him!" said the old man, but he never did. The floor was
too open. The toy soldier had fallen through a crack, and there he
lay.

The little boy went home, and that week passed, and several weeks too.
The windows were frosted; the little boy had to breathe on them to get
a pee