They mustn't think of it as--sad. They must think
of it as--glorious--that he went--that way--."

Held close in his arms, she shook with sobs, silent, hard. He carried
her down to her room. The maids were gathered there--Nurse utterly
useless in her grief. It came to Derry, as he bent over Margaret, that
he had always thought of Nurse as a heartless automaton, playing Chorus
to Teddy, yet here she was, a weeping woman with the rest of them.

He sent all of the servants away, except Nurse, and then Margaret told
him, "He was in one of the French towns which the Germans had vacated,
and he happened to pick up a toy--that some little child might have
dropped---and there was an explosive hidden in it--and that child's toy
killed him, Derry, killed him--"

"My God, Margaret--"

"They had put it there that it might kill a--child!"

"Derry, the children mustn't know how it happened. They mustn't think
of him as--hurt. They know that something is the matter. Can you tell
them, Derry? So that they will think of him as fine and splendid, and
going up to Heaven because God loves brave men--?"

It was a hard task that she had set him, and when at last he left her,
he went slowly up the stairs.

The children had strung the Midnight Camels across the room, the
purple, patient creatures that Jean had made.

"The round rug is an oasis," Teddy explained, "and the jonquil is a
palm--and we are going to save the dates and figs from our lunch."

"I want my lunch," Margaret-Mary complained.

Derry looked at his watch. It was after twelve. The servants were all
demoralized. "See here," he said, "you sit still for a moment, and
I'll go down for your tray."

He brought it up himself, presently, bread and milk and fruit.

They sat on the oasis and ate, with the patient purple camels grouped
in the shade of the jonquil palm.

Then Derry asked, "Shall I tell you the story of How the Purple Camels
Came to Paradise?"

"Yes," they said, and he gathered little Margaret-Mary into his arms,
and Teddy lay flat on the floor and looked up at him, while Derry made
his difficult way towards the thing he had to tell.

"You see, the purple camels belonged to the Three Wise Men, the ones
who journeyed, after the Star--do you remember? And found the little
baby who was the Christ? And because the purple camels had followed
the Star, the good Lord said to them, 'Some day you shall journey
towards Paradise, and there you shall see