34 Make-Believe

“Did you put it
into my hand?”
she asked. ‘You
must be a_ better
conjurer than the
one we saw last
Christmas.”

The artist laugh-
ed his pleasant
laugh.

“But I thought
that one of the
things you wanted
would be of no use unless you had all the
others as well?”

Doris remembered. What he had said
was true, but she had been so delighted
with the music-case for a moment that it
was a grief to be reminded of the fact.

“Yes,” she said, “it is true. There was
a top I saw: a top that went on spinning
for ever so long, and made the loveliest
sort of music all the time.”

“ This kind of thing?” asked the painter,