72, THE HISTORY OF A NUT-CRACKER,

said, ‘ Listen to me, my dear child, for I wish to speak to
_— you very seriously. Do me the
pleasure, once for all, to put an end
. to these silly ideas; because, if you
should again assert that this ugly
NS and deformed Nut-cracker is the
* nephew of our friend the doctor, I
give you due warning that I will
throw, not only the Nut-cracker,
but all the other toys, Miss Clara
amongst them, out of the window.”

Poor Mary was therefore unable to speak any more of all
the fine things with which her imagination was filled; but
you can well understand that when a person has once tra-
velled in such a fine place as the Kingdom of Toys, and seen
such a delicious town as the City of Preserved Fruits, were
it only for an hour, it is not easy to forget such sights.

Mary therefore endeavoured to speak to her brother of the
whole business; but she had lost all his confidence since the
moment when she had said that his hussars had taken to flight.
Convinced, therefore, that Mary was a story-teller, as her
father had said so, he restored his officers to the rank from
which he had reduced them, and allowed the band to play
as usual the Hussar’s March—a step which did not prevent
Mary from entertaining her own es
opinion relative to their courage.

Mary dared not therefore speak
further of her adventures. Never-
theless, the remembrance of the King-
dom of Toys followed her without
ceasing ; and when she thought of
all that, she looked upon it as if she |
were still in the Christmas Forest, or <
on the River of Essence of Roses, or
in the City of Preserved Fruits;—so “24 a
that, instead of playing with her toys as she had been wont