Page:St. Nicholas (serial) (IA stnicholasserial321dodg).pdf/184

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110

The Locking-in of Lisbeth.

[Dec.

“I tried to once.” said Marcella, “but the city was so big—”

“Oh, oh,” groaned the judge, “and all this time I have been so lonely!”

And then Lisbeth tucked her hand into his.

“But you will never be lonely any mire, grandfather,” she said.

And he was n’t; for he took Marcella and Lisbeth home with him that very night, and the next day the McGafneys had all of the chicken for themselves and Marcella and Lisbeth ate turkey and plum-pudding in the judge’s great diningroom; and that night, as the happy three sat in the library in front of a roaring fire, Lisbeth laid her head on her grandfather’s shoulder.

“It was lucky I was locked in, grandfather,” she said, “or you might not have found us.”

But the judge, with one arm around her waist and the other reached out to Marcella. shook his head.

“Don’t talk of luck, dearie.” he said, “It was something more than that; it was Providence.”

A Riddle

(For answer see page 190.)

Five vowels, three T’s, two S’s, N, B,Only these letters, as plainly you ’ll see;Yet out of the same you can fashion one wordThat for magic or power is—well, simply absurd!The way that it governs and changes affairs,Folks, and their projects—perhaps unawares;Decides who shall stay and as well, who shall go;Secure in its fiat, its bold “thus and so,”Such havoc with wills, or with heirs, I may say—Such sudden o’erturnings to some other way!Well, to work it all out is to lead you a dance,Till you turn yourself into another, perchance!It only is stable when harnessed, I ’m told,By a big dictionary, both careful and bold;Yet none of them differ—these books born of Babel;Though always ’t is changing, none lo change it are able;’T is a very hard task, and admits of no shirking.Beware, lest it change itself while you are working! M. M. D.