rt a crockery shop."

She glanced at him curiously. It was hard to reconcile this slim young
man of fashion with the shabby boy of the other night. But there were
the lad's eyes, smiling into hers!

"I should like, too, if you don't mind, to find a toy for a very little
girl. It is her birthday, and I had forgotten."

"It is dreadful to forget," Miss Emily told him, "children care so
much."

"I have never forgotten before, but I had so much on my mind."

She brought forth the Lovely Dreams--"They have been a great success."

He chose at once a rose-colored cat and a yellow owl. The cat was
carved impressionistically in a series of circles. She was altogether
celestial and comfortable. The owl might have been lighted by the moon.

"But why?" Derry asked, "a rose-colored cat?"

"Isn't a white cat pink and puffy in the firelight? And a child sees
her pink and puffy. If we don't it is because we are blind."

"But why the green ducks and the amethyst cows?"

"The cows are coming tinkling home in the twilight--the green ducks
swim under the willows. And they are longer and broader because of the
lights and shadows. That's the way you saw them when you were six."

"By Jove," he said, staring, "I believe I did."

"So there's nothing queer about them to the children--you ought to see
them listen when Jean tells them."

Jean--!

"She--she tells the children?"

"Yes. Charming stories. I am having them put in a little pamphlet to
go with the toys."

"She's Dr. McKenzie's daughter, isn't she? I saw her last night at the
play."

"Yes. Such a dear child. She is usually here in the afternoon."

He had hoped until then that Jean might be hidden in that rear room,
locked up with the dolls in a drawer, tucked away in a box--he had a
blank feeling of the futility of his tea-cup--

Then, suddenly, the gods being in a gay mood, Jean arrived!

At once his errand justified itself. She wore a gray squirrel jacket
and a hat to match--and her crinkled copper-colored hair came out from
under the hat and over her ears. She carried a little muff. Her
eyes--the color of her cheeks! A man might walk to the world's end for
less than this--!

He was buying, he told her, pink pussy cats and yellow owls. Had she
liked the play last night? He was glad that she adored Maude Adams.
He adored--Maude Adams. Did she remember "Peter Pan"? Yes, he had
gone to everything--glorified matinees--glorified everything! W