disguises. In many disguises she helped him put his dreams into
action. But always, to her, he was a hero to be worshiped, a leader to
be followed, a master to be obeyed. Always she was very proud of
him--of his strength and courage--of the grand deeds he wrought--and
of the great things that he would some day do. And sometimes--the most
delightful times of all--at her wish, he would help her, in his
masterful way, to play out her dreams. And then, though he liked being
an Indian or a robber or a soldier best, he would be a model husband
and help her with the children; although he did, at times, insist upon
punishing them rather more than she thought necessary. But when the
little family was ill with the measles or scarlet fever or whooping
cough no dream husband could have been more gentle, more thoughtful,
or more wise, in his attention.

And once they had played a wedding.

The woman whose heart was as an empty room stirred in her chair
uneasily as one who feels the gaze of a hidden observer. But the door
was locked, the shades drawn close, and the only light was the
flickering light of the fire. The night without was very dark and
still. There was no sound in the sleeping house--no sound save the
steady tick, tick, tick, of the time piece in the chubby arms of the
fat cupid on the mantle.

And once they had played a wedding.

It was when her big, jolly, uncle was married. The boy and the girl
were present at the ceremony and she wore a wonderful new dress while
the boy, scrubbed and combed and brushed, was arrayed in his best
clothes with shoes and stockings. There were flowers and music and