"I don't know," exclaimed the child. And, still clasped inside his arms, shebent her head, thoughtfully, considering the question.

And as though she had come to some final conclusion, she raised herhead, lifted her eyes slowly, and her lips, to the man whose armsenfolded her. It was her answer to his question, and her own.

When she had gone, he went back and stood again by the great window,watching the cote on a neighboring roof, where the pigeons werestrutting and coquetting in the last rays of the western sun.