grave, but it's the littlest in the garden."

No one smiled. "It was a wonderful chain," Mollie said, remembering
her view from the Look-out, "I wish I could make something that
would reach from here to my brother Dick. I wish we had wireless. I
wonder if 'willing' would be any good. Have you ever played willing?
We join hands and will with all our might that Dick would come
here."

"It sounds easy," said Hugh, always ready for a new experiment,
"much easier than making a telephone; we might as well try."

So they joined hands and wished. As they loosened hands again a
shrill cry above their heads made them all look up--it was a parrot
flying low across the garden, its brilliant plumage shining in the
evening sunlight like jewels. "It's my parrot!" Mollie exclaimed,
"it met me by the gate yesterday."

Mollie sat up. The rain was still splashing on the window-panes, but
Aunt Mary was drawing the curtains, and a cheerful little fire had
been lighted. There was a pleasant tinkle of china as tea-cups were
settled on the tray.

"Have I been asleep?" she asked incredulously. (It surely was not
all a _dream_!)

"A beautiful sleep," Aunt Mary answered; "and now tea, and after
tea--you shall see what you shall see."