father and a mother and a nurse and a brother and a lover and
a man who must not be afraid. His coat was wrapped about
Margaret, and his arms were wrapped about his coat, and the
body of him shivered against the damp, cold shirt, which would
come open in front because there was a button gone. The fog
came in thicker and colder, and night with her strange noises
moved slower and slower. There was an old loon out on the
river, who would suddenly throw back his head and laugh for no
reason at all. And once a great strange bird went rushing
past, squeaking like a mouse; and once two bright eyes came,
flashing out of the night and swung this way and that like
signal-lanterns and disappeared. Aladdin gave himself up for
lost and would have screamed if he had been alone.

Presently his throat began to tickle, then the base of his
nose, then the bridge thereof, and then he felt for a
handkerchief and found none. For a little while he maintained
the proprieties by a gentle sniffling, finally by one great
agonized snuff. It seemed after that as if he were to be left
in peace. But no. His lips parted, his chin went up a
little, his eyes closed, the tickling gave place to a sudden
imperative ultimatum, and, when all was over, Margaret had
waked.

They talked for a long time, for she could not go to sleep
again, and Aladdin told her many things and kept her from
crying, but he did not tell her about the awful bird or the
more awful eyes. He told her about his little brother, and
the yellow cat they had, and about the great city where he had
once lived, and why he was called Aladdin. And when the real