ave no mind to try my wits
with thy poor scrawls."_

_So, with his voice trembling, and overwhelmed with self-consciousness,
the fool read as follows:_

The vineyards, purple with their bloom,
Elaine, hast thou forgotten?
The maidens in thy lonely room,
Thy tapestry on silent loom--
But hush! Where is Elaine?
Elaine, hast thou forgotten?

Thy castle in the valley lies,
Elaine, hast thou forgotten?
Where swift the homing swallow flies
And in the sunset daylight dies--
But hush! Where is Elaine?
Elaine, hast thou forgotten?

Night comes at last on dreamy wings,
Elaine, hast thou forgotten?
'Mid gleaming clouds the pale moon swings,
Thy taper light a faint star brings,
But hush! Where is Elaine?
Elaine, hast thou forgotten?

Harlan had never written any poetry before, but it had always seemed easy.
Now, as he read the verses over again, he was tremendously satisfied with
his achievement. Unconsciously, he had modelled it upon an exquisite
little bit by some one else, which had once been reprinted beneath a
"story" of his own when he was on the paper. He read it aloud, to see how
it sounded, and was more pleased than ever with the swing of the verse and
the music of the words. "It's pretty close to art," he said to himself,
"if it isn't the real thing."

Just then the luncheon bell rang, and he went out to the midday
"gab-fest," as he inwardly characterised it. The meal proceeded to dessert
without any unusual disturbance, then the diminutive Ebeneezer threw the
remnants of his cup of milk into his mother's face, and was carried off,
howling, to be spanked. Like many other mothers, Mrs. Holmes resented her
children's conduct when it incommoded her, but not otherwise, and though
milk baths are said to be fine for the complexion, she was not altogether
pleased with the manner of application.

Amid the vocal pyrotechnics from the Holmes apartments, Harlan escaped
into the library, but his poem was gone. He searched for it vainly, then
sat down to write it over before he should forget it. This done, he went
on with Elaine and her adventures, and presently forgot all about the lost
page.

"Don't that do your heart good?" inqui