gic things did happen, it seemed. Look
how all the people had vanished out of the house--out of the world too,
perhaps.

'Suppose every one's vanished,' said Philip. 'Suppose I'm the only
person left in the world who hasn't vanished. Then everything in the
world would belong to me. Then I could have everything that's in all the
toy shops.' And his mind for a moment dwelt fondly on this beautiful
idea.

Then he went on. 'But suppose I vanished too? Perhaps if I were to
vanish I could see the other people who have. I wonder how it's done.'

He held his breath and tried hard to vanish. Have you ever tried this?
It is not at all easy to do. Philip could not do it at all. He held his
breath and he tried and he tried, but he only felt fatter and fatter and
more and more as though in one more moment he should burst. So he let
his breath go.

'No,' he said, looking at his hands; 'I'm not any more invisible than I
was before. Not so much I think,' he added thoughtfully, looking at what
was left of the cherry pie. 'But that dream----'

He plunged deep in the remembrance of it that was, to him, like swimming
in the waters of a fairy lake.

He was hooked out of his lake suddenly by voices. It was like waking up.
There, away across the green park beyond the sunk fence, were people
coming.

'So every one hasn't vanished,' he said, caught up the tray and took it
in. He hid it under the pantry shelf. He didn't know who the people were
who were coming and you can't be too careful. Then he went out and made
himself small in the shadow of a red buttress, heard their voices coming
nearer and nearer. They were all talking at once, in that quick
interested way that makes you certain something unusual has happened.

He could not hear exactly what they were saying, but he caught the
words: 'No.'

'Of course I've asked.'

'Police.'

'Telegram.'

'Yes, of course.'

'Better make quite sure.'

Then every one began speaking all at once, and you could not hear
anything that anybody said. Philip was too busy keeping behind the
buttress to see who they were who were talking. He was glad _something_
had happened.

'Now I shall have something to think about besides the nurse and my
beautiful city that she has pulled down.'

But what was it that had happened? He hoped nobody was hurt--or had done
anything wrong. The word police had always made him uncomfortable ever
since he had seen a boy no bigger than himself pulled along the ro