That's how
Lal meant to come to us; now, I remember, it was exactly like him.
Just as--as he is in Trafalgar Square on his pedestal. Oh, Chris,
after all the Christians have eaten a lion; he said we should; we
aren't Christians any longer, we're Pagans, and--and," confessed
Ridgwell with a final outburst, "I feel like a cannibal; it's beastly."

Christine had become quite pale during this recital; but she thought
for awhile before replying.

"Perhaps, Ridgie, Lal meant us to eat him--I mean his likeness in
chocolate--all the time, and most likely he isn't angry with us at all.
He might have arranged it all as a joke."

"It isn't a joke at all," sniffed Ridgwell, "it's horrible. We have
eaten one of our very best friends. Oh! if only the Order of Great
Imagination hadn't been taken away from us!"

"I am not so sure, Ridgie," observed Christine, with feminine
intuition, "that you have lost _all_ your order of imagination; I think
you have still a lot left, or you would never have discovered Lal's
riddle."

It was Ridgwell's turn now to sit up in bed, and he asked eagerly--

"Do you really think it was only a riddle, Chris, and Lal meant only to
have a joke with us?"

Christine nodded gravely.

"I feel very comforted with that," said Ridgwell, "so turn off the
light, Chris, and we'll go to sleep again; but oh, won't I just tell
Lal next time I pass him in Trafalgar Square!"

Some few moments afterwards in the darkness Christine answered--

"You hadn't better make any remarks to Lal in public; you know he
cautioned us about attracting a crowd."

"Crowd or no crowd, I mean to tell him what I think of him," asserted
Ridgwell before he turned over and went to sleep.

* * * * *

The clock in the hall was just chiming twelve, and Mr. Jollyface was
taking his departure.

Father and Mother were wishing him good-night and thanking him for
bringing the chocolate lion for Ridgwell.

"It is really quite remarkable how I came to buy it," agreed Mr.
Jollyface; "but I was passing through Trafalgar Square when I
remembered that I hadn't bought Ridgie a present, and the sight of the
corner lion, as I crossed the Square, made me remember a sweetstuff
model of him I had seen in a chocolate shop in the Strand, so I went
and bought it. But really the most wonderful thing about it is the
almost uncanny intelligence of your children. Bless my soul! they
couldn't have known I had bought it; and