s round him, Tilsa? It's time, isn't it?'

'Hush!' said Tilsa severely.

The Flamp went on: 'And I doubt if any one is keener on company than I
am. Over in the city yonder, you know, they have a season called
Christmas, when every one is supposed to be friends with every one else;
and I thought to myself, That's the time for me. I won't ask for much, I
thought, but if just one night in the year they'll look pleased to see
me, and say, 'How do?' why I'll be very grateful to them and a deal
happier during the months that follow. It wasn't much to ask, was it?
But I suppose I didn't go to work the right way, or perhaps I had two
legs too many. Anyway, they misunderstood me: thought I'd come to do
them harm or something, and tried shooting me and poisoning me and
barricading themselves in. Wouldn't even give me a moment's sight of a
kid's face. I didn't try any other night. It seemed to me that if at a
season of goodwill they would behave like that, my chances at an
ordinary time would be less than nothing. But men can't understand
animals. Children can, though they're apt to grow out of it. Thank
goodness, there's _some_ children that stay childlike to the end,
however old they may be.' He brushed his paw across his eyes again.

Soon he went on: 'So I've had to live alone, with no company but my own
voice. Maybe you heard me singing as you came. It wasn't much of a song,
I admit, for elegance of rhyme and metre don't seem to come easy, but a
song like that is more comfort than you'd believe.' He paused again.

Then he turned radiantly to his visitors. 'And you've trudged all the
way from the city just to be kind to me, have you? Well, that is good of
you! Bless your hearts, no one knows how much a deed like that means.
Why, it's as good as smush even to know that any one is thinking of you
kindly, let alone doing things. I haven't felt so cheery and comfortable
for years. But you must be hungry. Now tell me what you would like to
eat and I'll try and get it for you, and afterwards you must tell me all
about yourselves.'

Tilsa looked at Tobene, and Tobene at Tilsa.

Then Tobene spoke to the Flamp for the first time. 'You said just now
that something was as good as smush. Please, what is smush? because if
it's something to eat, I should like that.'

The Flamp laughed all over: 'Splendid,' he cried, 'splendid! Something
to eat? I should rather think it is. You couldn't have made a better
choice. You shall have smush.