128 Make-Beleve

“They seem to be all sad songs to-
night,” he answered. “The garden is
gone and it is a great lonely place where
very few people ever come. A little girl,
who has never in her life had a friend, or
heard a voice speak kindly, is wandering
there alone. She is tired and hungry
and very much afraid, and if it were not
that she feared the wild beasts which live
in the desert she would lie down on the
hard ground and go to sleep. And now
the man is singing to her, and she is
afraid.”

“What man?” said Doris.

“A tall man with a pale face that is
almost terrible, until you look closer and
see how kind the eyes are. He is telling
her not to be afraid of him.”

‘And the little tired girl?” asked Doris.

“She is still afraid of him: he is so tall,
and his cloak is black, and his face seems
hard and stern because she cannot see his
kind eyes for the darkness. But he goes
on singing and I think she is beginning to