f."

However, she joined Hugh in the search, and many a day when they were
out they peeped together not only into the toy-shops, but into the
windows of the queer old curiosity shops, of which, in the ancient town
which was Jeanne's home, there were many. And at last one day they told
Marcelline what it was they were so anxious to find. She shook her head.
There was no such toy in _this_ country, she said, but she did not laugh
at them, or seem to think them silly. And she advised them to be content
with the prettiest balls they _could_ get, which were of nice smooth
buff-coloured leather, very well made, and neither too soft nor too
hard. And in the sunlight, said Jeanne, they really had rather a shiny,
goldy look.

For several days to come these balls were a great interest to the
children. Early and late they were practising at them, and, with
patience and perseverance, they before long arrived at a good deal of
skill. Jeanne was the quicker in the first place, but Hugh was so
patient that he soon equalled her, and then the interest grew still
greater.

"I really think, Cheri," said Jeanne, one evening, when they had been
playing for a good while, "I really think our balls are _getting_ to be
rather like fairy ones. Every day they go better and better."

"Perhaps it is our hands that are getting to be like fairy ones," said
Hugh. "But it is growing too dark to see to play any more."

They were playing in the tapestry room, for Marcelline had told them
they would have more space there, as it was large, and Hugh's little bed
in the corner did not take up much room. It was getting dusk, for the
days were not yet very long, though winter was almost over, and they had
been playing a good while. As Hugh spoke he gave the last ball a final
throw high up in the air, higher than usual, for though Jeanne sprang
forward to catch it, she missed it somehow. It dropped to the ground
behind her.

"O Cheri!" she cried, reproachfully, "that is the first time I have
missed. Oh dear, where can the ball have gone to?"

She stooped down to look for it, and in a minute Hugh was down beside
her. They felt all about, creeping on their hands and knees, but the
missing ball was not to be so easily found.

[Illustration: 'IS THIS A NEW PART OF THE HOUSE?'--p. 201.]

"It must have got behind the tapestry," said Hugh, pulling back as he
spoke, a corner of the hangings close to where he and Jeanne were,
which seemed loose. And at the sa