rang faintly. One by one the members of the band fell asleep.

All save Everychild. He alone was wakeful. And he knew that the
Masked Lady had taken a step forward and was looking down at him.

He lifted himself on his elbow and looked away toward the sky where it
appeared through the trees. And suddenly he exclaimed. "Oh,
wonderful! I think I saw a star fall!"

The Masked Lady spoke to him soothingly: "Perhaps. They fall every
little while."

Everychild had not known this. "Do they?" he asked; "I wonder why?"

The Masked Lady said, "Perhaps it is so we may know that they don't
amount to very much, after all."

"Not amount to much! But they are worlds, aren't they?"

"Yes, they are worlds."

"Then if they don't amount to a great deal, is there anything that
does?"

"Nothing but human beings."

"Human beings . . . and why do they?"

"Because every human being--even the most obscure or humble or
wayward--is a little bit of God."