to deal with.
She knew she must go very warily, or defeat her own longing to help
him. At last, she said very tenderly,

"The world is full of pink palaces, Roddy, but we do not always find
them until we are grown up."

He looked at her intently.

"Carol found one at the bottom of the dam," he whispered slowly. "He
is there now; it's only his body that is buried in the graveyard."

She smoothed his hair gently with her hand.

"Carol is in a more beautiful palace than any we find here on earth,
darling."

The secret, elfin expression crossed his face, but he said nothing.

"And you must not believe that about the dam," she warned him gravely.
"There is nothing at the bottom of it but black mud, and deep water
that would drown you, too, if you went in."

"I _know_ the palace is there," he repeated doggedly. "I have seen it.
The best time to see it is in the early morning or in the evening. All
the towers of it are pink then, and you can see the golden wings of the
angels shining through the windows."

"That is the reflection of the pink-and-gold clouds in the sky at dawn
and sunset that you see, dear silly one. Will you not believe me?"

He squeezed her hand lovingly.

"Mamma has seen it, too," he whispered. "You know she was with Carol
when he fell in, and she saw him go into the door of the palace and be
met by all the golden angels. She tried to get him back, but she
cannot swim, and then she came running home for help. Afterward, they
took Carol's body out and buried him, but, you know, he is really there
still. Mamma has seen him looking through the windows--she told
me--but you must not tell any one. It is very secret, and once I
thought I saw him, too, beckoning to me."

Christine was staggered. That so dangerous an illusion had been
fostered by a mother was too bewildering, and she hardly knew how to
meet and loyally fight it. It did not take her long to decide. With
all the strength at her command, she set to work to clear away from his
mind the whole fantastical construction. He clung to it firmly at
first, and, in the end, almost pleaded to be left with the belief that
he had but to step down the dam wall and join his brother in the fair
pink palace. She realized now what tragedy had been lurking at her
elbow all these days. Remembering the day when she had caught him up
at the brink of the dam, she turned cold as ice in the heat-heavy room.
A moment later, she returned to her the