Their late lunch over, Grandpa was strong in his appeals for a journey
as far south as Island Number 10. But now Johnnie had no heart for any
trip into distant country. The realm of China was about him. He wheeled
the chair up and down, but he sang to soothe Grandpa to sleep. And this
time his song was all of his great new happiness:

"Oh, I got a book! I got a book! I got a book!
Oh, Mrs. Kukor, she give it t' me!
And it's awful grand!
Once it was a man's, and his name was Hunter--
I wonder if he lost it, or maybe somebody sold it on him.
I'm goin' t' read it till I know ev'ry word!
I'm goin' t' read it ev'ry day--ev'ry day!
Go t' sleep, 'cause I want t' read some more!
Go t' sleep! Go t' sleep! Go t' sleep!"

On and on he caroled, like a bird on a branch. At last Grandpa, after
some mild protesting, was lulled by the rhapsody, and dozed once more;
when Johnnie adroitly tapered off his song, brought the chair to a
cautious stop, drew the book from its warm hiding place, sank into the
morris chair, and again there swept into the kitchen, as on the crest
of a stream, the glorious, the enchanting East.

He saw the dull, old lamp rubbed for the first time, and the genie come.
And he rejoiced with Aladdin as the poor Chinese boy attained the
knowledge of the lamp's peculiar virtue. Only once did he emerge from
the thralldom of the tale by his own will. That was when he read of the
wonderful Buddir al Buddoor: "_The princess was the most beautiful
brunette in the world; her eyes were large, lively, and sparkling; her
looks sweet and modest; her nose was of a just proportion and without a
fault, her mouth small, her lips of a vermilion red and charmingly
agreeable symmetry_----"

Here he paused, lifting farseeing, shining eyes. Many a time he had
spied a slim little girl who came out upon one of the fire escapes
opposite. The little girl's hair was black and wavy, and the wind tossed
it upon her shoulders as she looked around. She seldom glanced over at
Johnnie, and to gain her attention he had to Hoo-hoo to her. Once he had
shown her that pillow so cherished by Cis, which was covered with bright
cretonne. He had seen the little girl's white teeth flash then, and knew
that she was smiling.

She was like the Princess Buddir al Buddoor, dark, and red-lipped. And
how kind she was! For she had never seemed to notice anything wrong with
either his ha