they have done as all should do,
O Phoenix, and have honoured you.

'So let us raise our voice and sing
The praises of the Phoenix King.
In classes one and two and three,
Oh, trust to him, for kind is he!'

'I'm sure YOU'RE very kind,' said the Phoenix; 'and now we must be
going. An thank you very much for a very pleasant time. May you all
prosper as you deserve to do, for I am sure a nicer, pleasanter-spoken
lot of temple attendants I have never met, and never wish to meet. I
wish you all good-day!'

It fluttered to the wrist of Robert and drew the four children from the
room. The whole of the office staff followed down the wide stairs and
filed into their accustomed places, and the two most important officials
stood on the steps bowing till Robert had buttoned the golden bird in
his Norfolk bosom, and it and he and the three other children were lost
in the crowd.

The two most important gentlemen looked at each other earnestly and
strangely for a moment, and then retreated to those sacred inner rooms,
where they toil without ceasing for the good of the House.

And the moment they were all in their places--managers, secretaries,
clerks, and porters--they all started, and each looked cautiously round
to see if any one was looking at him. For each thought that he had
fallen asleep for a few minutes, and had dreamed a very odd dream about
the Phoenix and the board-room. And, of course, no one mentioned it
to any one else, because going to sleep at your office is a thing you
simply MUST NOT do.

The extraordinary confusion of the board-room, with the remains of the
incense in the plates, would have shown them at once that the visit of
the Phoenix had been no dream, but a radiant reality, but no one went
into the board-room again that day; and next day, before the office
was opened, it was all cleaned and put nice and tidy by a lady whose
business asking questions was not part of. That is why Cyril read
the papers in vain on the next day and the day after that; because no
sensible person thinks his dreams worth putting in the paper, and no one
will ever own that he has been asleep in the daytime.

The Phoenix was very pleased, but it decided to write an ode for itself.
It thought the ones it had heard at its temple had been too hastily
composed. Its own ode began--

'For beauty and for modest worth
The Phoenix has not its equal on earth.'

And when the children went to bed tha