Sky-High looked up to the old porcelain. He had seen such a plate a
thousand times; so often, in so many places, that Mrs. Van Buren's had
not drawn his eye.

"It is a mandarin plate," he explained to Lucy. "It has a magic power;
it brings good luck. My people keep those plates for good fortune."

"A magic plate?" Lucy was all curiosity, now. "Tell me the story of the
magic plate," she said. "Sit down and tell me. Who are the young people
on the bridge? Begin."

"They are the same as the birds flying away. The birds and the young
people are one."

Lucy's interest in the magic plate grew. Sky-High promised to tell her
its legend at some time when her mother should be present.

Lucy went at once to her mother. "Oh, mother, we have a magic plate!"

"We have? Where?"

"It is the blue-and-white one over the sideboard."

"Oh! is that a magic plate? That was your grandmother's plate. Old
families used to value that kind of ware from China--I do not know why."

"Come with me, and take it down, for Sky-High knows the story of the
picture."