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Show tBQduty ami Ntc S P G: I H SYNOPSIS OF FIRST jH INSTALLMENT. IRj Nicholas Sarton. a small boy 9H With a queer temperament, lives with his father, whom he calls "Bristles" and his vivacious mother B whom he calls "Beauty" in a B London flat building. The ab- Hfl sence of any well-regul ited home life leave Nick much to himself and to the care of Polly, trc do-mestic do-mestic servant. Bristles and jSB Beauty quarrel frequently, cspe SB oially about the attentions Beauty IPW receives from her theatrical ac- HH1 quai ntances One evening Ens- ties takes Nick to the theatre to see Beauty act. It is the first time the ooy has ever been inside a theatre and he behaves acord- (Cortinued from Last Week) Copyright by Hit DarlD-Adsif Compaur. B All Rlcbt RfM-rvr.1 i (CHAPTER II. (Continued. i SHI t w ; BB It v a maD w'10 sat n a "" -oat waing a stick at them H Alter three taps t hfa stick tbey took up queer-looking instruments B and played ojueer music which k sounded at first like the roaring oi wild beasts, and then changed and B became very soft, like the singing of tbc birds in Battersea ParV B nftor (he shadows had crept down B from the trees, and tben cbangec B again; to that thousands of notes B tripped over one another, like the B leaves blown along a path on a B gu tj day. all singing as they B . tcnr;icd along B Presently, at the end of the great hall nearest to Nick, a curtain 1 wd i V' rybody had been staring B at rolled up in an invisible way. B ami the same time nearly all the B lights, in the great hall suddenly B died, so that the people's faces H could nly be seen through the blaik fog of darkness, more like a dream than ever, but here and there B a light still remained alive, just like o hful eye staring through the blackness. But now beneath the rolb'd-up curtain there was a little world of light, Just like Batt isoa Park on a Summer day, only more H real, because the fairies, which Nick could only see in Battersea Park B when he shut his eves, were here B frisking about among tbe trees, H even when he kept his eyes open, nnd there was one of them called B Puck whom he recognized at once B as a fallow he had met in a fairy B tele. He wore exactly the samo 1 Rrin, and made the same funny B jokes which you could not quite I unui-rstand but laughed at all the B r H "Why didn't you tell me the theatre was fairyland?" said Nick, H speaking to Bristles in a loud voice. B "Hush!" said Bristle, "you k mustn't talk till the curtain goes B down, old man." B So Nick sat very mum, but a H little later he nearly jumped out B of his seat, for there, coming from H behind a tree, wan Beauty, his H Beauty, dressed up like a fain,' and E followed by a lot of little fairies. B He was so excited that ho forgot JH all about not speaking, and b-an- H fng over the balcony, cried out in a 1 "Hullo, Beauty' Beauty!" H grabbed him by tha B waistcoat! and hauled him back Into B his chair, but not before Beauty B bad looki r. up and smiled at him, and not before there came a grea B flutter of laughter from the dark ness, though a laughing wind had blown across all the white B Kor a long time Nick sat as quiet a a mouse, watching all the pec-pie pec-pie of fairyland, who were doinfc H things which be could not understand, aud saying things B which meant nothing to n m. while he watched with grave eyes, and listened with straining ear;. Then, H presently, he felt himself getting B very excited. Borne big Peer was H trying to get Inside his head. It v.as when everybody was laughing B because a fat man like on'- of the H gaidcuers in Battersea Park H1 bemg changed into an as- Nick H could not set anything to laugh at. fBi It seemed to him very cruel te Bl change I man into an ass He be- B gan bo hate Puck for playing Mich a B trick But that was not the reason B why Tear was trying to get Into bis B head It was because of Beauty It B was because Beauty was fallmg In bbbh love witu tne ass. tie wanted to H warn her. It was frightfully dan- B gHiM'i She mlglr never go back 1 to be herself again. It was beastly H' to see the way she stroked '.he, ass, K uri uddled him, and kissed his H ugly nose. Supposing she went on B loving the ass? What would hap H pel) to BristlCB and Polly and him? H He could not bear it. lie fell K Something was going to bursl in H )ii- head, and that all the water H, his heart was ready to rush out of H eyet He suddenly shouted out H "Beauty, you mustn't love the ass! Please don't love the ass!" H Once again there came the noise H of a laughing wind blowing gustily H over tho white facev But Nick did H not hear the wind He wao ob Q bing bitterly against the white shir B- through the hole in Briatles's waist II coat. Brietles kept on saying Hiush, old man," and carried him down corridor, then wen: r.ome again with him in a hansom han-som cab. But long before they had reached Battersea Park Nick wtS asleep, with his head against hp whllo shirt-front, which was all stained with his tears. Nick was never quite sure what things happened between this visit to the theatre and tho coming of the Beast, because be-cause he could not keep count of the days, r.nd things had a habit t r getting muddled in his mind just like his toys pot muddled In the cupboard all heads and arms and legs mixed up together - that t was difficult, to sort them out again. But some time passed, with it- day., of new discovery ana its nights of new dreams, before thai one day when ho was called out or the kitchen to conio and be polite In the drawing room. He did not want to go in the very least, for he hated being polite, po-lite, and he wag quiir happy In tbe kitchen with Polly, to whom li onld talk just as he liked, or with "0 whom he could he silent when he liked, and who at this time of his life, was his best and most faithful friend. For he bad trained her up in tho way she should go. and by this time she had learned that she was not to laugh at him when he made discoverlos, and that she must not tell him wrong thin In n he asked straight questions, and 'hat be was quite to be trusted n lrr.nl of the kitchen firo, with the rolling pin. the flat Iron (in i's cold moodR), Ihe coflee grinder, tho mangle, and other thlDcs which he preferred to his own toys because the trere more real and more use ful. When he wai called from th-kitcheu th-kitcheu on this day. he was just making a private loaf for himself out of a piece of dough left over from a rabbit pie, now baking In tho oven, and had just stuck the tot) on with u French nail (because it would keep wobbling' off). It was thereforo most annoying that he should be summoned to make himself him-self tidy and go to shake hands w i.li a visitor. "It's absurd." said Nick, "I don't want to shake hands with the visitor, vis-itor, and I can't see why tho visitor wants to shako hands with me." "Oh. there are lots of things you can't see just yet," said Polly. "Do as you're told, Is the motto for Mnall boys. Blest If It uln't the motto for grown-ups, too. I havo to do as I'm jollv well told. Master Nick " "Yes, but you're a servant," said Nick. "You're paid for It I don't see why I should do as I'm told without being paid for It." "You'll get paid If you don't, my 1 t Si , , , i - 'mVnKBm You Beast!" Said Nick in a Voice That Seemed to Rush Out of His Throat. poppet!" said Pollly, and Nick knew that she meant Just 'ho opposite, which was a way she had. So Nick rubbed tbe flour off his waistcoat with tbe kitchen tablecloth, table-cloth, squirted some water onto his hands from the tap in the sink, wiped them with a duster, smoothed down his hair with a boot brush in the scullery Polly was Dusy with a pudding and presented himself In the drawlngroom. That Is to isay. be opened the door very softly, got down upon his hands and knees, and crept under tho gatelegged tattle, from which hiding place he rould reconnoitre tho visitor before be-fore making himself polite. It was then for the first time that he saw tho Beast. He called him that instantly. In his own head, because there was something beast-like about the man who sat smiling at Beauty from the peacock armchair. He had a soft, pointed brown beard and a fluffv brown moustache, which seemed very beastly to Nick, who was accustomed ac-customed to men with bald faces, like Bristles, who cut the stubble off his chin every morning an soon as It began to sprout above the soil. He had brown eyes, which smiled and smiled, like a yellow tiger at the Zoo. and when he smiled and smiled he showed two rows of very sharp white teeth, Just like the yellow tiger's teeth, though not, so big And h wore a brown velvet coat, which, when Nil h ever touched it, after this first meeting) made his blood run cold In a horrible way. He hated tho Beast from the very first time he ever set eyes on him. "Nick, dearest," said Beauty, "come and say how-do-you-do to Mr. Danvers." 'I will sav it here," said Nick, and from beneath the table he said, verv oolitelv, "How do-von-do?" The Beast laughed. It was a quiet, oily laugh. But he spoke, words which made Nick quito sure he hated him. "I am afraid you have spoiled the boy, Mrs. Barton." "Nothing could spoil him." said Beauty, and then clapned her hr.cds. 'Come out from the table, Nick." But Nick did not budge. He made up his mind not to budge on any account for such a beastly kind of Beast "Do yon hear me, Nick?" But Nick put his fingers in his j ears, sa that he couH not hear. It was tben that something happened. i.methlng inconceivable inconceiv-able to Nick. His leg was grasped as in a vise by a long, white hand. An enormous '" force was tuging at lint. Though he clutched it tho carpet the great force was stronger than all his strength. ' and with a sudden Jerk, he was lifted right out from beneanth the table and set down on his legs iu front of tha smiling man with the ( soft, brown beard. "Small boys must not disobey their lady mothers," said the man, smiling so that ho showed mil his teeth again. "Now. will you 6a; how-do-you-do like a little gentleman?" gentle-man?" But Nick did not say how-do-you-do like a little gentleman. He looked at Beauty, whose eyes were rather troubled and whose face had put on its flaming poppy color. Then he looked at the bearded man straight into his smiling eyes. The something that lurked deep down in Nick's heart leaped up Into his head, just as It had leaped up when he threw the scissors at Polly's face Bue he did not throw anything at the isitor. There was nothing in his hands to throw He tared at him over so quietly and then ?ail in a voice that seemed to rush out of his throat: "You beast'" Then he turned around and walked very slowly out of the room, while something went buzzing buz-zing In his ears, so that he did not hear the bearded man's quiet laugh, nor Beauty's cry of anger. Tlje time came when Nick had to eay "How-do-you-do" to Mr. Reginald Regi-nald Danvers (whom he only called the Beast In private, to Peter Rabbit, Rab-bit, the Squirrel, the Red Engine, and tho hassock with two ears, after hi first public announcement of the name), several times a week. For Mr. Danvers came to Beauty' i - j flat, high up In the sky. on many afternoons a week, and when hu did j not come to the flat, he came some-where some-where else, wherever Beauty happened hap-pened to be.. He turned up in the most surprising places, and always mo quietly and unexpectedly, that Nick believed ho must carry a magic carpet about with him, so that he could wish himself in the right place. Sometimes he would turn up round aoout the Owl-house in Battersea Park, if Beauty M iiad gone there for a walk with B 'lck, which she never used 1o do H before th coming of the Beast, E and sometimes Nick would see hit smile and his brown beard coming j across the rustic bridge over tbe M lake (above the big stones where jv the water rats bob In and out), 1 and sometimes he would be sitting with his brown felt hat at the K back of his head, smiling into the faco of tho sun, opposite tho ducks' W feeding place. He also seemed sur- M in uru iu ee- ivuuiv, amj aiwHvn said the namo thing 'W "Now who would have thought of sy meeting you! What a stroke of J luck'" m And he always patted Nick on tho shoulder, and said, "Well, lit- jl a tie man. and how are you?" but J never waited for an answer, be 1 cause he was in such a hurry to m talk to Beauty. IkI Nick noticed that Beauty's face was sometimes like a flaming If poppy when she met Danvers, and that afterward there was a queer shining light in her eyes, and that she forgot all about Nick himself! H as long as Danvers was with her. Afterward, as though she was sorry or having forgotten him such a lot. srro would hug him tight to her and ; kiss him quite a number of time, I and lean her forehead up against his fare, as though to make sure ehe should not forget him again. Danvers knew that Nick hated B him, and Nick knew that he knew. I But Danvers was always trying to j make Nick like him. and Nick B bated him for that worse than mm ever. Ho used to bring boxes of sweets out of the pockets of his velvet coat, and say: "Here's something for you, little man " And sometimes he would stop In Wm front of a toy shop and wave his VM stick at the window, and say: "Do yon see anything you want, Nick, my lad?" Of course there were heaps of things which Nick wanted, but B when the Beast asked him he shook j his head and said: "No. thanks," so that Danvers was surprised and laughed with a bad sound in his throat. But he had to take :h-- 1 Rocking Horse. It was imposslblo not to take It. because It came In tz Bt the front door on the shoulders B of a man who puffed and panted rr and said: "Them steps Is the very V devil," and dumped down the big W parcel, from which a tall stuck out at one end and a horse's noso at the other. "Goodness alive, what's this?'' cried Polly. B Even Beauty came out of her bed- - fl room in her dressing gown at the noise of the parcel being dumped In the hall. "Why, it's a rocking horse!" said j Beauty. "Whoever can have sent Polly solved the mystery bv i peering at a label tied to the horse's I 'To Nick, from Mr. Danvers.'1 -m "Oh. I see'" said Beaut v, and she went back into her bedroom rather "Oh, It's from the Beast!" said Nick. The words slipped out of his mouth before he could swallow them, but fortunately Polly didn't hear, as she was busy unwrapping unwrap-ping the brown paper Certainly it was a magnificent horse, with a fe bushy whito tall and a cuily white mane, and a laughing eye on each 4 side of his head, and fiery nos- trlls to show that It had a proud If spirit, and reins fastened by gold-headed gold-headed nails. 'H Nick gazed at it with reverence B and admiration, but something VJ seemed to stick in his throat like a flsh bone. He was quite silent ' H while Polly showed her delight by a series of exclamations, such as: M "Well, I never did!" Upon my k word!" and "Who would have mk thought it now" Then suddenly PI she noticed Nick's lack of enthus- 1 iasm, and said: "Eh.( but don't you like it, Master "It's splendid." said Nick, "but somehow I haven't begun to love it B He loved It tremendously by the time he went to bed, but as ho lay back on his pillow so that ho could hfl see Robin's white mane (he called 1 It Robin because It had a red breast), like a cloud blown back by r the wind, and one of his laughing eyes gleaming in the rays of the B night light, he gave a deep sigh and said: j ! am sorry the Beast gave you to me, Robin dear. But I suppose B It can't be helped." 5 Nick supposed it couldn't bo helped that tho Beast came such a fiB lot to 6ee Beauty. And he sup- j posed also that It couldn't be helped ' that the Beast played the piano bet- ! ter than any one else in the world ' though he was a Beast It was Beauty who said that he I played better than any one else in the world, and Nick knew that she :V spoke the truth. Because some- f times when Beast played. It seemed to Nick that hifl own soul had I jumped clean out of his body and i that It went on strange and won- j aerful adventures, farther into ths ( (Continued on Next Page) t I ''..". : -UatiSle of Uotdh andDodav 1 (Continued from Preceding Page) I mystery places than he had ever been before. There were great chords, like enormous thunder, as though tho sky had buret and then there were thousands of little pattering pat-tering note.- like all the rain drops In the sky rhaslng each other, and singing little songs to each other, and dancing round and round each other. And sometimes the Beast played so softly and so sweetly that it was like the voice of Beauty just before- he went to sleep, humming a little tune to him full of mother love. if Beauty must have guessed that, for when the Beast played these tunes she sat very still, with a funn smile round her Hps, and her eyes like Mowers with the dew In them There were other tunes he played which seemed to f frighten Beauty, for they made the color come ebhlng into her I 1 face, and onco she cried out sharply: , "Don't! That's wicked music!" "Why wicked?" asked Danvers. twl9'ing round on his music stool. "It Is the music of the loving heart. Hark, how plet.dinK ( is. how passionate'" pas-sionate'" At times be played so sadly that Nick seemed to hear a strange wailing, like that of lost boys crying cry-ing to be found, and he knew that It was sad (o Beauty too, for her eyelashes were wet. and she said: "It Is like the cry of a broken heart. I hate it when vou plav like that." He could play tunes Tvhich made Nick laugh in spite of himself, tunes full of Jokes which he coul I not quite catph before they fy 1 gone, hut which were enormously comical And one afternoon, when he sat placing there, he twiddled I Ye is Mi mm Hi gl a little la the treble note.-, and KkM turned his head round so that he B9 ' "iii i into Beaut 't eyes, and aid through his soft beard, vcrv d "Dance to me!" E9 Beauty shook her heat B9 He played a few more twlddly notes In the treble, and looked into Beauty's eyes again and said once more: Bp "Dance to me!" Beauty said: "I will not dance to you'" but Dangers suddenly Kj struck a sharp chord and then played a strange dance tune like Eg a tiptoe dance, very light and El swaying, and Nick, who was watcb- ing Beauty, saw the color rise from Bg her throat Into her face, and a B queer glint of light come into her HQ yes, and though she still clasped Hn fbe arms of the chair, she half fl9 rose from her seat. HjfPj -Dance to me!" said Danvers Hi ;l across his shoulder. luH The dance tune seemed to have KKl spell in it, like one of the witch's S " fc"- spells lu Grimm s Fairv Tales, and Wmw9T -aught, hold of Beauty so thn' nhe unclasped her arms from the I W chair and stood very straight, and Hr.Ea 1hen moved forward, swaviug like Kjjjll the music swayed, with a queer. KgWfl half-frightened smllo on her face! ; Then she rose onto tiptoes, and ; o each little note her feet seemed I to trip in little f, j, an,i n,T arm)J ; ! Which were outstretched, shodH a H Wttle and quivered to the tips of (H her fingers. Presently she took HffSI UP her white skirt and dane.-d more v quickly, and her body writhed like a snake, and as tho music changed, her faco and body changed, and sho became rather mad, and there was a strange light in her eyes, and she snapped her fingers with little clicks, like the crack of a whip, she plucked a r03e from her hair and put it to her lips and let it fall, and as the music played on she seemed to make love to the fallen rose, and swayed about it. bending to it, and then recoiling from it and shuddering shudder-ing back from it. as though it had changed Into some ugly toad. All the time Danvers watched her over his shoulder with a smile half hidden by his soft beard, until at last he crashed out a final chord, and before the sound of it was silent Beauty half fell onto the sofa with her face in her hands, weeping. Danvers was frightened. He leaned over Beauty and said: "Hush, little woman, it's all right I am sorry It got into your blood like that " "You bring out all my beastliness!" beastli-ness!" said Beauty. Nick heard the words, and won dered ar them, and cried because Beauty was crying. That made her sit. up. and she said: "Nick! I forgot for-got you were here. It's all right, mannikin There's nothing the matter with Beauty." She laughed quite loudly, and then seemed a little frightened again. "Don't tell Bristles, Nick," she - ;-- said "Promise me vou won't tell. Promise me, Nick.'' "What does it matter?" said Danvers. "Promise me, Nick." She was down on her knees before be-fore him. clasping the boy with both hands. Nick promised not to tell Bristles, but it was a promise which put a pain into his heart. Why shouldn't he tell Bristles? Didn't Beauty belong to Bristles, and didn't Bristles belong to Beauty? Didn't they share each other's secrets? ... He could not understand, but from that time he hated the Beast more than he had ever haled him CHAPTER III. The Girl of the Ground-Floor Flat OF course there were other people peo-ple In the world which centered cen-tered round Nicholas Barton besides those who inhabited or visited vis-ited tho small flat, high up in tho sky, which looked down to the !rees lu Battersea Park. As the days of the years of his life stole past so quietly that they seemed to walk on tip-toe, Nicholas Nich-olas camo to know many peop'e by sight, and many by heart. Beeause the flat which he used to c3j1 his "hole in the wall," until ho Knew the proper name for it, was in a most exeellent position for learning all about the world on the sunny side of Battersea Park in the enormously enor-mously long Street where blocks of mansions had gro.n higher than the highest tree In front of bem, so that the clouds almost touhed the chimney pots on their flat roots. There was an Iron balcon" out side Nick's Hat, with iron ra lings through which, with a little squeezing, squeez-ing, he could put his nose and both his eyes and about half his oc-ad, so that he could get a birltoye view of all the balconies below him, and each side of him, and of all the funny things which hapi ened there. Lots of fanny things happened, hap-pened, and lots of funny people came through the windows CD to their balconies, or out of the tront J ' . ... - j hurry. Nick noticed that for some weeks the lady was altogether invisible in-visible and the young man never turned back In his tearing hurry to look up at her balcony But she became visible again a little while after the morning when the young man found a bald-headed baby in one of his flower-pots. At least, Bristles thought, ho must have found it there, and said he was a lucky beggar, and he had half a mind to crow nasturtiums himself. ft.-r that tho young man and the bald-headed baby were always having hav-ing jokes together, and Nick used to listen to all the chuckling and gurgling and crowing and laughing i used to come up from that balcony. He also knew the Giant with the wee wife (that was what Bristles called them) who lived in the b.U cony next but one. The Giant was so big, and wore such a big brimmed hat and such a big cloak over his of all the bald-headed babies who had been found in the flowerpots on the balconies, and all the nurses bought by the mothers to look after the bald headed babies, and all the fathers who looked after tho mothers who had bought the nurses who looked after the bald-headed bald-headed babies. Tu y used to come out on to the balconies, dancing the babies up and down when the piano-organs played in the street, and they used to make a sreat fuss round the perambulators when the bald-headed babies used to go out to say good morning to the ducks In tho park, and the mother of each baby used to say exactly the same things to the nurses who wheeled each perambulator. Nick knew exactly what the mothers would say, even before they said it. First they would say: "Isn't he a precious sweet?" Then they would say : "Do you think he Is warm enough?" and thirdly, they would say: "Oh, My y ' ;.-. f ".. . jj Presently She Took Up '" v .,: i ' Her White Skirt -nd Danced More Quickly, and Her Body Wrilhed Like a Snake. ' doors into the street This comedy "i Iii'1 ' .: at about eight o'clock in the morning when Nick and Bi tie . i to come out to get a I rei 'h of iresh air before break-fll break-fll i (That was an idea belonging to Bristles, who used to come on to tho balcony, stare across the ireo-lops ireo-lops in the Park, and take enormous enor-mous gulps of air, as If he were drlnMnc it.) Other people came on to their balconies. One of them was a young man in pink pyjamas, who seemed eager to know how tall his nasturtiums had grown In the nicht. and who UBed to talk to an invisible lady through the window while ho examined his plants. Sometimes Bhe became visible for g few moments, in a blue drosslng gown, and theu would dart back again if she thought anybody were looking, After breakfast bhe would become visible in a linen dress, the color of light brown paper, so that she might kiss her hand to the young man (who had taken off his pyjamas and put on black clothes and a chimney-pot hat) as he came out into the street in a tearing ' '-i big clothes that he seamed to fill up the whole balcony when he sat there in a cane chair with the wee wife quite hidden by him writing tremendous long letters to some one Nick did not know. He was always writing these long, long letters, and he seemed to make jokes in them for sometimes he would stop and laugh loudly, with n Glanfs laugh, and then dash over the paper with a fat pencil, as though to catch up to another Joke, Every morning at ten o'clock a hansom han-som cab camo below the balcony with jingling bells, and the Giant would come out into the street with his wee wife walking behind him. and get into the cab first, becau (as Bristles said), if he had got iu second, bis wee wife would have had her wee life squashed out of her. The old. old cab-horse he was at least n hundred years old used to stagger in tho shafts, and the cab would rock backward as though an earthquake had happened, hap-pened, and Ihc old, old cabman he was at least a hundred and I went y years old used to shout "Gee-up!" And so the Giant and his wee wifo would drive off to one of the mystery places. Then there were all the mothers the beautiful darling, I could eat him. I could!" But it was an cxtraordlnnry thing, thought Nick, that no one seemed to llnd more than one baby in a flower pot. Thero was one balcony to each flat, and one baby to each balcony. He consulted Bristles on the subject, and Bristles, Bris-tles, after puffing at his pipe, said he supposed It was because the flower-pots were not large enough, or because babies preferred houses to flats, which seemed true, for Nick knew houses on the other side of the park where the mothers had two nurses and two perambulators, perambu-lators, and sometimes two babies in each perambulator. He wished sometimes that Bristles and Beauty would go to live in a house, because, be-cause, though ho had never actually actual-ly spoken to a bald-headed baby, he thought It would bo rather fun to have a few about him. so that be could have Jokes with them. When he got tired of them, he could shut them up in a cupboard with his other toys. It was on the balcony that some hints of the mysteries and wonders and thrill of life came into the soul of Nicholas Barton, as he sat there on sunny days with Peter Rabbit in a chair which he had mndo out of a cardboard box. and with Bristles, who was smoking his pipe and reading his paper, and staring away over tho tree-tops. For up to the high talcony came the music of life, made up of hun dreds of sounds all joining into one tune the rattling notes of a distant planoorgan. tho faint, far-off far-off chorus of the birds in Battersea Batter-sea Park, the laughter of the mothers moth-ers on the balconies, the jingle of rab bells, the hooting of the steamers steam-ers on the riv.jr. tho song sung in a high volco by the girl In the, second floor flat, the scales played on many pianos through many open windows, the strange melancholy cry of the sweep, who asked the world to "'weep! 'weep!" the cheerful cry of "Mllk-oo to the rattle of tin cans, the shouts of the boys rowing to tho magic Islands on the lake. Listening to all this, and looking down upon the little people who passed in the street, far below, Nit k felt like God at least he felt that he felt like God gazing down upon the world from this flat in Heaven, very interested in all the i V I? golr .!own there, and wnn- derlni 1 tho people did the things they did, and curious to know more about them. Nick wanted to know much more about them, and he asked Bristles to tell him some of the millions of things he wanted to know. "Why do all tho men go away from home when the sun has nearly eaten up the mist and then come homo when tho shadows climb down from the trees?'' To which question Bristles made answer: "Because they bave to earn money to pay for the pretty bats of their lady wives, and for the new .clothes of their bald-headed babies, and (or all tho things which have to be bought and paid for." "How do they earn the money?" asked Nick To which Bilstles replied, between be-tween the puffs of his pipe: "By doing all sorts of Jobs which have td bo done " "What kind of jobs?" "Writing books for people who are too lazy to think, adding up figures for people who have so much money that tney can't count it all themselves, examining leas through microscopes and counting tho little fleas on the backs jf the Ig Seas, inventing news for the newspapers pretending that criminals crimin-als are innocent men, and that innocent inno-cent men are criminals and all sorts of useful jobs like that " "I see," said Nicholas, though he did not see quite clearly. After thinking the matter out for some time, he searched about for rome new discoveries. "Why do the nun work so hard for nothing at all?" "How do you mean?" "I mean, what do they get for themselves after they have yiven. all ih'lr money for the things that have to be bought and paid Jor?" Bristles shifted in his sea', and rubbed his nose with the bo". 1 of Ms pipe, so that it shone with a bright new polish. y "Well, they get some 'baccy to F smoke and enough to eat and drink, g ' and a bald-headed baby or two to f plav about with, and 3ome nas- C. turtiums In the balcony, and and 6 I'm itlest if 1 can think of any- thing else." F "I think they're as6C8," said f Nick. "They ought to get more I for their money." Bristles laughed at the reflection of his own face In the bowl of tho k pipe. "I am not so sure," he said. "Tou fc see, Nick, a fellow must work or ! else he gets awfully tired with him- self. And It's not the money ho k gets so much as the fun he gets in trying to get tho money. See?" if ' I think I see." said Nick. "It's fl like when I try ever so hard to ft build up a house of cards, and then, i when it is built, all the fun dies and 1 kick down the house." I "Exactly!" said Bristles. "That's p Just like real life, except that it Is i generally somebody else who kicks I down the caid house. The best m m is the one who keeps on building build-ing them up again, enjoying the fun every time That's what's called an optimist." "Are you an optimist?" asked Nick . I Bristles rubbed his bristly jaw. 'H The little hairs were beginning to LH sprout up again, although he had only cut them down before break- "I used to be," he said, at last, li puffing out a long coil of smoke, "but I think I'm changing into a pessimist." "What's that?" H "Why, a follow that Is always afraid his house of cards is going to tumfile down " 'Oh" said Nick very quickly. H "That's rotten. You can't build any heuse like that. I know, be- H cause I sometimes feel like that on I bad days, and then every card goes 1 H wrong" H "tjtilto true, old man," said Bristles. "It's bad to feel liko that." He gavo a tremendous sigh, as I (hough it made him feel very bad, I and then for quite a long time he stared away over the tree-tops as I if he were looking for something in the far distance, while Nick sat watching him and wondering if he could do anything to make his father an optimist again. It was on this morning that Nick j made throe of his really big dis- coverles. I After Bristles had given up looking look-ing for something In the far distance dis-tance and had brought his eyes back to the balcony again, Nick had another question to ask. "What do you do to earn the money for the things that have to be bought and paid for?" And Bristles said: "I add up figures for the people wbo havo so much money that they can't count It all themselves. It's what they call being Something in tho City." "I see." said Nick. "It's a funny H thing I haven't asked you that before be-fore The idea never Jumped into j my head." 'Well, now you know," said Bristles. "Yea now I know why you are I so frightfully rich. I suppose you set all the money that the peoph who can't count don't know the) have." (To Bo Continued.) |