laughed at him terribly. He took a fancy to “Auntie” Holly, who seemed to be a sister too; but they both went away the sameafternoon and he did not see them again. Three days before his father and mother were to come home “Auntie” June also wentoff in a great hurry, taking the “grown-up” who coughed and his piece of putty; and Mademoiselle said: “Poor man, he wasveree ill. I forbid you to go into his room, Jon.” Little Jon, who rarely did things merely because he was told not to,refrained from going, though he was bored and lonely. In truth the day of the pond was past, and he was filled to the brimof his soul with restlessness and the want of something — not a tree, not a gun — something soft. Those last two days hadseemed months in spite of Cast Up by the Sea, wherein he was reading about Mother Lee and her terrible wrecking bonfire. Hehad gone up and down the stairs perhaps a hundred times in those two days, and often from the day nursery, where he sleptnow, had stolen into his mother’s room, looked at everything, without touching, and on into the dressing-room; and standingon one leg beside the bath, like Slingsby, had whispered:

“Ho, ho, ho! Dog my cats!” mysteriously, to bring luck. Then, stealing back, he had opened his mother’s wardrobe, andtaken a long sniff which seemed to bring him nearer to — he didn’t know what.

He had done this just before he stood in the streak of sunlight, debating in which of the several ways he should slidedown the banisters. They all seemed silly, and in a sudden languor he began descending the steps one by one. During thatdescent he could remember his father quite distinctly — the short grey beard, the deep eyes twinkling, the furrow betweenthem, the funny smile, the thin figure which always seemed so tall to little Jon; but his mother he couldn’t see. All thatrepresented her was something swaying with two dark eyes looking back at him; and the scent of her wardrobe.

Bella was in the hall, drawing aside the big curtains, and opening the front door. Little Jon said, wheedling,