rah! Sarah! keep them out,' he gasped. 'Don't let them take me away!'

'Lor', Master Tommy! keep who out?' said Sarah, wonderingly.

'The--the clown--and the policemen,' he said. 'I know they're behind the
door.'

'There, there!' said Sarah; 'why, you ain't done dreaming yet. That's
what comes of going out to these late pantomimes. Rub your eyes; it's
nearly eight o'clock.'

Tommy could have hugged her. It was only a dream after all, then. As he
stood there, shivering in his nightgown, the nightmare clown began to
melt away, though even yet some of the adventures he had gone through
seemed too vivid to be quite imaginary.

* * * * *

Singularly enough, his Uncle John actually did call that morning, and to
take him to the Crystal Palace, too; and as there was no butter-slide
for him to fall down on, they were able to go. On the way Tommy told him
all about his unpleasant dream.

'I shall always hate a clown after this, uncle,' he said, as he
concluded.

'My good Tommy,' said his uncle, 'when you are fortunate enough to dream
a dream with a moral in it, don't go and apply it the wrong way up. The
real clown, like a sensible man, keeps his fun for the place where it is
harmless and appreciated, and away from the pantomime conducts himself
like any other respectable person. Now, your _dream_ clown, Tommy----'

'I know,' said Tommy, meekly. 'Should you think the pantomime was good
here, Uncle John?'

_A CANINE ISHMAEL_

(FROM THE NOTES OF A DINER-OUT)

'Tell me,' she said suddenly, with a pretty imperiousness that seemed to
belong to her, 'are you fond of dogs?' How we arrived at the subject I
forget now, but I know she had just been describing how a collie at a
dog-show she had visited lately had suddenly thrown his forepaws round
her neck in a burst of affection--a proceeding which, in my own mind
(although I prudently kept this to myself), I considered less
astonishing than she appeared to do.

For I had had the privilege of taking her in to dinner, and the meal had
not reached a very advanced stage before I had come to the conclusion
that she was the most charming, if not the loveliest, person I had ever
met.

It was fortunate for me that I was honestly able to answer her question
in a satisfactory manner, for, had it been otherwise, I doubt whether
she would have deigned to bestow much more of her conversation upon me.

'Then I wonder,' she said next, meditativel