r?'

'Ah! that is where Theeda lives,' exclaimed Oscar, rising, with some
cheerfulness in his face. 'I had forgotten her.'

'Theeda? what is Theeda?' demanded Kanker.

'She is my playmate and companion,' Oscar said. 'She is dearer to me
than anything else in the world, and nothing in the world is so lovely
as she.'

'And do you mean to say she lives in the water? Pray, how big is she?'

'She is not so tall as your hand is long.'

'No such creature ever existed,' said Kanker, positively. 'In the
first place, no one ever was made of that size, and in the second
place, it is impossible for anyone to live under water. It is another
of your hallucinations. There is no use in your denying it. I shall
believe in her when I see her, and not before.'

'I will not let you see her,' replied Oscar.

'Just what I expected! When did you see her last yourself?'

'Just before your shadow fell across the vase.'

'What language does she talk?'

'She does not talk at all, but I know all she thinks.'

'This is really too absurd! Have you ever touched her?'

'No. It is enough for me to look at her.'

'I will tell you what it is,' said Kanker, lifting up one of his ugly
fingers and holding it at the side of his little sharp nose. 'You are
crazy--quite crazy! You have lived here by yourself until you don't
know what is real from what isn't. Now, I will make this bargain with
you. If you will let me put my finger on this Theeda of yours, and I
thereby prove to my own satisfaction that she exists, I will let you
use me for your servant the rest of my life. Do you agree?'

Oscar waited a little while before answering. He hated Kanker, and he
thought that if Kanker became his servant, he should be able to make
him as miserable as Kanker had made him. He did not stop to think
whether Theeda would like to be touched or not; it seemed to him an
easy way of being revenged on his enemy, and that was all. 'Yes, I
agree!' he said.

'Very well!' returned Kanker. 'And, of course, if I prove that Theeda
does not exist, you are to become my servant for the rest of your
life?'

'There is no danger in my promising that,' said Oscar. 'Let it be so
if you wish.'

'Very well!' said Kanker again; and then they both went to the vase.

'Where is she?' asked Ranker. 'I don't see her.'

'Oh, she has gone into her shell; it is late--she must be asleep by
this time,' answered Oscar. 'You must wait until to-morrow.'

'That won't do!' said Kank