bran), when the woodwork gave way with a crash, and I
fell--fell--fell--

"Though I fully believed every bone in my body to be broken, it was
really a relief to get to the ground. As soon as I could, I sat up, and
felt myself all over. A little stiff, but, as it seemed, unhurt. Oddly
enough, I found that I was back again under the tree; and more strange
still, it was not the tree where I sat with Rosa, but the old oak-tree
in the little wood. Was it all a dream? The toys had vanished, the
lights were out, the mosses looked dull in the growing dusk, the
evening was chilly, the hole no larger than it was thirty years ago,
and when I felt in my pocket for my spectacles I found that they were
on my nose.

"I have returned to the spot many times since, but I never could induce
a beetle to enter into conversation on the subject, the hole remains
obstinately impassable, and I have not been able to repeat my visit to
the Land of Lost Toys.

"When I recall my many sins against the playthings of my childhood, I
am constrained humbly to acknowledge that perhaps this is just as
well."

* * * * *


SAM SETS UP SHOP.

"I think you might help me, Dot," cried Sam, in dismal and rather
injured tones.