Coming up to Belinda softly, who was sitting with her eyes closed, he exclaimed loudly and suddenly in her ear: "Belinda, Belinda!

Mademoiselle Cerise has on a dress precisely like yours!"

"No!" she said, and opened her eyes in a moment. She gazed around anxiously for Mademoiselle Cerise, but the Sailor-Boy placed himself right before her and looked at her as adoringly as he knew how.

"Oh, Belinda," he said, "how I love you!"

"Do you?" said she with great surprise. "Well, you don't love me more than I love you."

"You make me very happy, my la.s.s," said he. "But why are you astonished at my saying I love you? Have I not told you so before?"

"I thought you were quizzing," she answered.

"The sad expression of my face should have told you I was not quizzing,"

he replied.

"How could I tell what your expression was when I never saw it?" she asked with some reproach.

"You did not see it because you always closed your eyes when I spoke to you," he replied. "What made you do that?"

Belinda thought a moment

"It was merely a habit I had fallen into," said she.

"You should never become a slave to a habit," replied the curly-headed Sailor-Lad. He spoke reprovingly, as he thought of his many heart-aches.

She did not like to be reproved, so she changed the subject.

"You made a mistake," she said. "Mademoiselle Cerise's dress is very pretty, but it is not _precisely_ like mine; the pattern is larger and a little louder, and the color is lighter and a little harsher."

"Well, perhaps," said the Sailor-Lad. He spoke very cheerful now, he felt in such good spirits.

"I am very glad that the Sailor-Boy was happy at last," said the little girl. "I was afraid Belinda never meant to open her eyes."

"It certainly looked like it at one time," answered the little Marionette. "However, it was all right in the end, for she opened them in time to prevent her Sailor-Boy's heart from breaking."

"I wonder why she kept them closed so long."

"I wonder," reflected the little Marionette. And she smiled.

"Force of habit, I suppose, as she herself said," she remarked after a pause. "We all have our little ways. Now what sort of story would you like to-morrow?"

The little girl thought deeply for a few moments. Then she said: "You have told me a story about a sailor, so I should like the next one to be about a soldier."

"A soldier--a soldier--" the Marionette answered. "I don't think I know one about a soldier--Yes, stay; there is the story of the Officer and the Elephant. That is about a soldier."

"An Officer and an Elephant! How nice!" exclaimed the little girl eagerly. "I am quite certain it must be very funny."

"I don't think the Officer found it so," the little lady replied, giving a sweet, little tinkling laugh.

"Didn't he?" asked her listener with much interest.

"I wish you would tell me all about it now," she continued; "I want so much to hear it."

"Not now," replied the little Marionette, "it is getting too late; all the animals in the Noah's Ark are fast asleep. Listen, they are snoring loudly. Come to-morrow at the same time. Be punctual, for the story is a long one."

"Yes, I will," promised the little girl.

CHAPTER IV

The next day she was as good as her word, arriving to the very minute. It was the little Marionette who was not in time. It was quite five minutes before she tripped up the counter and greeted her little friend. The little girl looked at her with some reproach.

"It is _you_ who are late, not I," she said.

"Is it?" replied the little Marionette. "Well, I _am_ ashamed. However, here I am now, so I will begin at once to tell you my tale."

And settling herself down, and smoothing out her beautiful brocade dress, she began without further ado, the story of: "The Officer and the Elephant."

THE OFFICER & THE ELEPHANT

Amongst all the Toys in the toy-shop, none were so disliked and feared as the twelve Wooden Soldiers who, with an imposing Officer at their head, proudly faced the world in double file.

In the first place, they were intensely proud and vain. They showed this in everything they did. For example, their drill was of the most simple description. It merely consisted in their moving backwards and forwards from one another on a platform of sticks, which could be drawn out or in at pleasure.

This, it will easily be believed, required no great skill or knowledge.

Yet, to judge from the pride expressed upon the faces of the Wooden Soldiers as they went through this simple movement, one would have certainly imagined it was exceedingly difficult.

Their foolish pride was also displayed in their manner towards others.

No one ventured to ask them even the most civil of questions for fear of receiving a rude answer. Father Christmas one afternoon happened to inquire at the Commanding-officer what time it was.

"Time," he replied, "for little boys to be in bed."

"You might," said the patriarch gravely, "have shown a little respect for the length of my beard and the whiteness of my hairs. 'Tis hardly the way to speak to a man of my years and standing. One, too, who with the decline of the year expects to be at the top of the tree."

But the Officer merely laughed loudly and shrugged his shoulders.

From this instance, which is only one example of many, you will easily understand how the Wooden Soldiers came to be disliked in the toy-shop.

As for the fear they inspired, this was partly owing to the long swords they wore, and partly owing to the boasting way in which they vowed they could use them.