so awful fast, an' I
called, an' called, but you never heard. An' now, please,--where are
you going?"

"Going," said Bellew, searching through his pockets for a match, "going,
my Porges, why--er--for a stroll, to be sure,--just a walk before
breakfast, you know."

"But then--why have you brought your bag?"

"Bag!" repeated Bellew, stooping down to look at it, "why--so--I have!"

"Please--why?" persisted Small Porges, suddenly anxious. "Why did
you--bring it?"

"Well, I expect it was to--er--to bear me company. But how is it you are
out so very early, my Porges?"

"Why, I couldn't sleep, last night, you know, 'cause I kept on thinking,
and thinking 'bout the fortune. So I got up--in the middle of the night,
an' dressed myself, an' sat in the big chair by the window, an' looked
at the Money Moon. An' I stared at it, an' stared at it till a wonderful
thing happened,--an' what do you s'pose?"

"I don't know."

"Well,--all at once, while I stared up at it, the moon changed itself
into a great, big face; but I didn't mind a bit, 'cause it was a very
nice sort of face,--rather like a gnome's face, only without the beard,
you know. An' while I looked at it, it talked to me, an' it told me a
lot of things,--an' that's how I know that you are--going away, 'cause
you are, you know,--aren't you?"

"Why, my Porges," said Bellew, fumbling with his pipe, "why Shipmate,
I--since you ask me--I am."

"Yes, I was 'fraid the moon was right," said Small Porges, and turned
away. But Bellew had seen the stricken look in his eyes, therefore he
took Small Porges in the circle of his big arm, and holding him thus,
explained to him how that in this great world each of us must walk his
appointed way, and that there must, and always will be, partings, but
that also there must and always shall be, meetings:

"And so, my Porges, if we have to say 'Good-bye' now,--the sooner we
shall meet again,--some day--somewhere."

But Small Porges only sighed, and shook his head in hopeless dejection.

"Does--she--know you're going,--I mean my Auntie Anthea?"

"Oh yes, she knows, Porges."

"Then I s'pose that's why she was crying so, in the night--"

"Crying?"

"Yes;--she's cried an awful lot lately, hasn't she? Last night,--when I
woke up, you know, an' couldn't sleep, I went into her room, an' she was
crying--with her face hidden in the pillow, an' her hair all
about her--"

"Crying!"

"Yes; an' she said she wished she was dead. So th