ot at that time been brought to
our little town.)

The illustrator had placed two of these unfamiliar trees at the edge
of a sea-shore along which negroes were passing. Recently I was curious
enough to hunt in the little yellow, faded book for that picture, and
truly I wonder how that illustration had the power to create the very
least of my dreams unless it were that my immature mind was already
leavened by the memory of memories.

"The colonies!" Ah! how can I give an adequate idea of all that awoke
in my mind at the sound of these words? A fruit from there, a bird or a
shell, had instantly the greatest charm for me.

There were a number of things from the tropics in little Antoinette's
home: a parrot, birds of many colors in a cage, and collections of
shells and insects. In one of her mamma's bureau drawers I had seen
quaint necklaces of fragrant berries; in the garret, where we sometimes
rummaged, we found skins of animals and peculiar bags and cases upon
which could still be made out the names of towns in the Antilles; and a
faint tropical odor scented the entire house.

Antoinette's garden, as I have said, was separated from ours by a very
low wall overgrown with roses and jasmine. And the very old pomegranate
tree growing there spread its branches into our yard, and at the
blooming season its coral-red petals were scattered upon our grass.

Often we spoke from one house to the other:

"Can I come over and play with you?" I would ask. "Will your mamma allow
me?"

"No, because I have been naughty and I am being punished." (That
happened very often.)--Such an answer always grieved me a great deal;
but I must confess that it was more on account of my disappointment over
the parrot and the tropical things than because of her punishment.

Little Antoinette had been born in the colonies, but, curiously enough,
she never seemed to value that fact, and they had very little charm for
her, indeed she scarcely remembered them. I would have given everything
I possessed in the world to have seen, if only for the briefest time,
one of those distant countries, inaccessible to me, as I well knew.

With a regret that was almost anguish I thought, alas! that in my life
as minister, live as long as I might, I would never, never see those
enchanting lands.

CHAPTER XV.

I will now describe a game that gave Antoinette and me the greatest
pleasure during those two delicious summers.

We pretended to be two cate