, 1897-09-24
The DOLL THAT SPOKE,

' SAT SH1y = ~ DtdullAul
You were a darling to bring me, bu.
what Is the use OF my being here if !
can't see."
Uncle Dick, who was 40, and hand
some M tall, obediently lifted up Bun
tie. who was four and an autocrat, and
very like a go.den-hairei doh herself
in the latest thing in fur-trimmed pc
lisses and bewitching baby bonnets.
The Albert Hall was very crowded
and, glittering with thousands Of toys,
seemed a very fairy land to Buntie,
whose hear; was wrung with longing
tor the dolls, despite the fact that a
large family, very pale with much kiss
ing, slept peacefully in her gay nursery
in Berkeley square.
But, BunJie. these are FOR little girls
who have no dollies."
Doesn't Santa Claus come TO them,
tnen? think he must be a naughty
old man il he only comes to me, and I
have lots and lots Of things"
Don't you see, Buntie, there are kind
ladies who remember the other little
girls, and they dress all these dollies
and send them to Santa Claus in case
his supply runs short"
Il would like to send them one OF
mine," said Buntie. 1T must be so
drefful to have ION on Christmas"
Uncle Dick had no very clear notion
OF the utter desolation this terrible idea
implied to Baby Buntie-Buntie. who
woke rapturously on the most magical
OF all mornings, with full trust in the
annual miracle thar was the securest
certainty of her little creed. Then not
only the tiny stocking would be brim-
tul OF delights, but all the nursery turn
ed a novel woIder-world OF joyful sur
prises.
But something in the sweet spontan-
eous pity Of the child touched him, and
he put his hand in;o his pocket with a
sense OF ~compunction that the hard fate
Of those forgotten by Santa Claus had
never been brought home to him.
Il think | can show you the way.
Take this. darling"
Buntie proudly dropped a shining
coin into the chariot of a very captivat-
ing fairy queen. and gazed abou. her
from her lofty coign of vantage with
rose-flushed cheeks and eyes like stars.
They had got among the dolls in fancy
dresses, and even Major Dick Narration
found, as usual. thai taking Buntie ont
pleasuring meant amusement. The girls
and they were numerous enough
who had tried TO marry Dick Narration
would o have known that impenetra-
bic gentleman in the gulse of Bun;ie's
willing slave.
Once upon a time. before the death OF
Dicks godfather and the comfortable
Two thousand a year that had come to
him after that event. he had been madly
in love. For one season Sylvia Ber-
wick. the sweet daughter of the most
outrageously vulgar man hat ever made
and lost a fortune, had queened it over
society and Dicks heart. But old Ber-
wick wanted a title and more for the
daughter. whose beauty he rated at its
full commercial value. Sylvia's tears
had moi availed to keep the young lover
she had chosen. and she had no mother
TO plead for her.
Dick had been ordered to India, and
very soon after old Berwick had gone
under, as they say. This time in a
double sense. for the crash that took his
fortune look his life, and left Sylvia
absolutely alone in the world. Society
was naturally too busy with its own
concerns to remember the comet OF a
day. and Dick had been at first sore and
angry. then cynical, over his passion.
The organ played Christmas hymns,
the hymns that, whether we will or no,
take us back and exercise such subtle
magic. Even to the most careless lis
tener they had a touch Of fresh signifi-
canoe among these gay memorials OF
good will and ~kindliness. not toward
men, but toward the children. to whom
the pitiless heritage OF the sins of the
fathers comes with such cruel force.
Suddenly Dicks eye was rivited by a
pair OF immense dolls. and his heart
beat as 1t had not beaten for Is years.
1.-THE very best Of all, in my opinion"
two admiring spectators near him were
saying: A Colonel in the Days Of the
Duke Of Marlborough and "A Lady OF
the Same Period dressed by-oh give
me my glasses-'Miss Sylvia Berwick.
IL Teck terrace, West kensington.'
There is only one fault, perhaps. Did
ladies carry bouquets in those days."
Not in those days, perhaps, but GER
tainly in the days when in all Covent
Garden there seemed no lilies OF the
valley fresh enough for Capt. Narration
to send to Miss Berwick for Lady Hurst
monceux's fancy 'ball-the ball where
she figured as a lady OF the court OF
Queen Anne, and he as one Of Marlbor-
ough's colonies.
How we'll he remembered it! Some
benevolent girl had told him what Syl-
via was to wear, and he had chosen his
own dress accordingly. They had been
much commented upon as the successes
Of the night, and in the pauses OF a
Waldteufel waltz he had told her that
he loved her, and she-ah, for the kiss
hurriedly exchanged in the conserva-
tory among the pink lamps and friend
Il, abody po1vpaS