ached it
anxiously. It might have been anything in that ghostly light--but, at
least, it did not move.

'Wax!' announced Jack, triumphantly.

'Nasty, dirty stuff!' sniffed Gussie.

'Oh, very well! If you're going to talk like that, you can go away,'
said her brother, turning his back on her.

'No, no, Jack! I want to see what you are going to do with it. _Please_
let me stay!'

'Then lock the door, and don't make a row over it.'

The boy was bending over the fire, and moulding the messy lump between
his fingers as he spoke.

'What is all that stuff for?' pleaded Gussie, anxiously.

'It isn't stuff, I tell you. It's wax. Can't you _see_ what I am doing?'

'It's so dark!' expostulated the child, peeping over his shoulder. Then
she gave a cry of delight.

'Why, Jack you are making--I know!--a little man! It's just like the
idol Uncle Joe brought Lilian from Burmah. _Is_ it an idol, really? I
thought it was naughty to make idols.'

The boy held the little figure up, and surveyed it with pride.

'Of course it's a man! What should I want to make an idol for?'

'What do you want to make a man for?' wondered Gussie.

'Half a minute, and I will tell you. I must paint the thing now, and I
can't see properly. Get a candle, and I will light up.'

He drew a small match-box from his pocket, and lit the candle with
excited fingers.

'Blue trousers,' he murmured, dabbing on streaks of paint--'bother! a
blue coat too. So dull! If only he was a soldier, now!'

'Oh, won't you tell me what it is for?' asked once more his sorely tried
sister, her patience nearly at breaking point.

'You are such a ninny. You would go and tell.'

'No, I won't! I _promise_, Jack.'

'Lots of gold buttons,' continued that exasperating boy, splodging them
about in great abundance; 'and black eyebrows, and a red nose. Like a
Pirate King, you know. Dare say he _is_ a pirate in disguise, if only
one knew. It's Captain Halliard, Gussie!'

'Is he as ugly as that?' asked the little sister; 'he doesn't look so in
his photograph.'

'You can't tell from photographs,' said Jack--adding, '_I_ expect he is
a good deal uglier! He must be, or he wouldn't want to take Lilian
away.'

'I thought he was going to marry her. I'm to be a bridesmaid, you know,
and wear a white frock, with---- '

'That's all you girls care about!' said Jack, with contempt. 'Did you
think he would bring her back here afterwards?'

'Of course. Where else should she go?'