who stood there.

'What sort of a doll did you wish, madam?' asked the girl.

'Oh, it must be a baby doll in baby clothes with real lace. My little
girl would not have one that wasn't dressed in real lace.'

'I'm afraid we haven't any with real lace, madam, but we have one or two
baby dolls,' said the girl, and she took down one or two from the
shelves.

'Oh no, those are hideous!' said the lady. 'The doll must have brown
eyes and red-gold hair.'

'I don't think we have any like that, madam. Here is one with blue eyes
and----'

'I didn't ask you for blue eyes,' said the lady rudely. 'If you can't
show me what I want I must go elsewhere.'

'One minute, madam; I believe there is just one doll such as you
describe, if it hasn't been sold.'

She looked about, and after a little while saw the doll she wanted on a
shelf. She reached up for it and tried to pull it down, but another
doll, rather larger, was leaning over it, so that she could not take one
without the other. She thought the two seemed very close, but she
disentangled them, and laid the baby doll on the counter. As she did so
the big doll fell forward on the shelf, with its arms hanging over as if
they were stretched out imploringly; but the girl never noticed it.

'I think this will be what you are wanting, madam,' she said.

The lady looked at it in a dissatisfied way.

'It hasn't got real lace on its clothes, but as its hair and eyes seem
right, I must take it, and tell my maid to sew some lace on to-night to
be ready for Gladys in the morning,' she said.

The girl tied it up in a parcel for her, and she left the shop. Very
shortly after this everyone went home, and all was still in the dolls'
department; and then suddenly there was a gentle little sniff, just as
if a very wee kitten were crying, and a little movement from the shelf
where the baby-doll had lain. Then a tiny little squeaky voice said:

'Well, you needn't make such a fuss about it; you knew the baby would
have to go some day.'

'I--I--can't help it,' sobbed a gentle little voice; 'I did love that
baby so.'

'You behaved very badly,' said a gruff voice; and the two dolls jumped,
for they knew it was the Gollywog speaking, and they were all afraid of
him. 'You did what no doll should ever do--you nearly showed you were
alive before human people.'

'I know it was very wrong of me,' said the gentle little doll meekly.
'But I did so want to keep that baby; I tried to lie on the top