all possible play-rooms, and with the
light streaming in through the trees,
and falling, delicately tinged with
green, upon the new floors, and with
the scent of the new wood all about, it
was a place of indefinable enchantment.
I was allowed to play there all I pleased
-- except when I had Julie. There were
unguarded windows and yawning stair-
holes, and no steps as yet leading from
the ground to the great opening where
the carved front door was some time
to be. Instead, there were planks, in-
clined at a steep angle, beneath which
lay the stones of which the foundation
to the porch were to be made. Jagged
pieces of yet unhewn sandstone they
were, with cruel edges.

But to-day when the girls said, "Oh,
come!" my newly discovered badness
echoed their words. I wanted to go
with them. So I went.

Out of the corner of my eye I could
see father in the distance, but I
wouldn't look at him for fear he would
be magnetised into turning my way.
The girls had gone up, and I followed,
with Julie in my arms. Did I hear