The Toy Shop

_THE TOY-SHOP_


The Man was leaving his own front door. On the steps he paused and
looked sombrely back. The white pillars of the facade rose before him in
stately fashion. They reminded him of the care he was evading for the
moment, and he sighed. Though he shut his eyes determinedly, he knew
that another grim building just beyond, the usual end of his journeying,
demanded him, and he sighed again. This time there was something more
than weariness in the sound.

From around the corner of the house, which almost hid from view the
white tents of the Home Guard, ran a child. He was bright-faced, and
magnificent in a miniature officer's uniform.

"Oh, papa-day!" he cried. "Never mind the curtains for my stage. You are
always too busy now to see my plays, anyway--!" He interrupted himself
to fling this in petulantly: "But get lots of soldiers--and one company
of cavalry. I can't get him surrounded without two more companies--and
six cannon!"