202

very sight of ’em. I don’t even want to know
whether William Wallace met the Earl or not. I
won’t know; no, never! I’d stop my ears if you
tried to tell me! There, now.”

“All right. Well, then—In the name of King
Arthur and the Baron Munchausen, what do you want
of those three musty volumes ?”

“ What is it boys do in college when they are done
with Zuclid and want to get it out of sight ?”

“Oh, they make a grand procession and bury the
chap with funeral honors; but as I’m a true knight,
I don’t see what you are driving at; still, ‘P’m all
ears,’ as the donkey said.”

“JT don’t think it’s just that I want either,” said
Ellie hesitatingly ; “ for I don’t want honors ; just the
other thing, you know. When the King or the Pope

_or anybody of that sort makes a man bring his

books into the market-place and have them burned
because they are dangerous — the way the Inquisition
treated Galileo’s writings.”

“Vou mean a holocaust—a sacrifice in the flames,
of something precious.”

“Ves, that is just what I mean. Now you know I
couldn’t do it if Scottish Chiefs didn’t belong to me —
my very own; that’s the reason why I asked papa
if I might have the books to do with as I pleased.”

“Good for you, little girl! So you are going to
burn up Sir William and the Earl of Mar, Greme,
and little Lord Ruthven, and all their clans, as a sort
of retributive sacrifice, hey? I’m with you heart
and hand, Ellie; because I think it means more than
it appears. It’s a symbol of something deeper and
‘more radical than the mere destroying of a book that
got you into a pretty serious scrape.”

“Ves, that’s just it, Dick.
cently and in order.’ I could throw it into the
kitchen fire, or put it on the back log in the library,
but it wouldn’t be the same.”

“Phew! JI guess not! Did you ever smell
burnt boots? That’s the savor your goodly ancients
would send forth. Think of three leather covers
sending up their fragrance at once! Picture Dinah
if the scene were the kitchen; and papa, if the
funeral pyre were in the library! ‘The offence
were rank.’”

“T didn’t think about that; I only thought it
would be ‘ poetic justice’ to put an end to the dan-
gerous things just on the very spot where the mis-
chief was done. I want you to come with me and
help me build a good fire right in the heart of the

- Lucky it’s Saturday and the morning’s free.

I want to do it ‘de--

ELLIE?S HOLOCAUST,

glade, and then I mean with my own hands to lay my
dear Scottish Chiefs in the-very hottest part of the
flame and watch them burn up. Now you will, Dick,
won’t you?” said Ellie most persuasively.

“Yes, I will, comrade; there’s my hand on’t!
How
soon, fellow-conspirator, will you meet?”

“Right away. That is, as soon as May goes to
sleep; she always has a nap, you know, at ten. I
promised to read Hobé0 Gobo for her this morning.”

“Tis well. Then at the stroke of ten I’ll meet
with thee; and be at all points armed cap-a-pie.”

Dick entered so heartily into the spirit of Ellie’s
holocaust that without waiting for her, he went to the

_ glade and busied himself laying a regular fire-altar,

with broad stones laid together pyramidally. There
was an abundance of dry wood, broken branches, and
dead leaves, to say nothing of spicy pine cones,
and in a halfhour Dick had made a heap large
enough to have consumed an entire library; or, as_
he said, “fit for a Hindoo Suttee with accommoda-
tions for Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego without
crowding.

Punctual at the the time appointed, Ellie appeared
bearing herself quite bravely and holding the dearly
beloved volumes that had proved such sore tempta-
tion to her.

She screamed with delight at her fellow conspira-
tor’s careful preparations, and changed her plan in
detail on the spot.

“T won't wait till the fire burns, Dick. I'll put
them on the altar first like Iphigenia, and then you
can light the fire and we will sit here on the pine-bole
and watch it.”

Was it a silly thing for a girl who had begun on
her teens to do? It doesn’t seem so to me, even
now, looking back through the vista of a quarter of a
century; for there was, as Dick said, something
under it all that gave dignity and worth to the sacri-
fice. Remember Ellie’s passionate love for stories,
her admiration for her Scottish heroes, and the burning
desire she had in common with all imaginative peo-
ple to know how it all turned out. She had so
stepped into that magic world the afternoon before,
that every character in the book was real to her, and

had a special corner in her heart, like friends she had

personally known, and she was deliberately crucify-
ing self in her voluntary sacrifice. It didn’t keep
the tears from coming, nor lessen the pain, but down

in her heart the child felt and knew from that ex-

s