Part 7 (1/2)

”Oh, Jeanne, my little one, ma cherie! Where have you been?” cried Auntie Sue.

It was quite evident that poor Auntie Sue had been worried ill. She caught the little dreamer and the puppet into her arms. She hugged them so tightly that Jeanne thought they would both be crushed. Jeanne was more concerned about Pierrot than about herself, though, for he was so little and frail.

Then Auntie put Jeanne to bed with Pierrot beside her, his face peering out from the covers.

And when Auntie had left them alone, Jeanne whispered to her little puppet friend, ”Pierrot, the policeman shall not be bad in our stories!

He is good, you see. In our stories you shall be the hero. The policeman shall be a kind man who loves children. Guignol shall be the wicked one, and you shall kick and beat him.”

Pierrot did not move. Jeanne was awake now, you see. And puppets do not move by themselves when children are awake.

But Jeanne thought she saw his eyes twinkle and his nose wriggle just the least bit, before she popped off to sleep.

CHAPTER X

THE LIVE PUPPET

After Auntie left Jeanne and the Pierrot asleep in bed that night, she went into her own room and sat down by her little table. She shaded her eyes with her hands and thought very hard.

Poor Auntie Sue was unhappy. There was a little voice inside of her that never would be still. This voice talked and talked and talked. No one could hear it but Auntie Sue. It was not a person, nor was it a fairy.

Yet it was there, and it talked to Auntie Sue.

People call that voice Conscience. You see, many other people beside Auntie Sue have heard that voice. He is known to everyone who does wrong.

And Auntie Sue had done great wrong. Not knowing it, she had been doing a great wrong all these years she had kept Jeanne from her rightful home. And now that voice called Conscience was tormenting her.

To-night he was talking more loudly and more fiercely than he had ever talked before. As Auntie Sue sat before her little table, he did not leave her a moment's peace.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JEANNE SHOWING A NEW FROCK]

”You see what has happened,” he said inside of Auntie Sue. ”You see what you have done by keeping Jeanne from Madame Villard. She is starved for play.

”You have made her a poor little girl who has to work. If she lived in the lovely apartment house with her grandmother, she could play and play and play.”

Suzanne clapped her hands over her ears to stop the voice. But Conscience came from her heart and did not need her ears to hear him.

He went right on, ”What would that soldier say? What would the old man say? What would the grandmother say? And Major d'Artrot?”

”Oh, Major d'Artrot, my good, my honest friend!” sobbed Suzanne.

She thought of her only friend in all the world. She would never dare to confess to him what she had done!

She opened her drawer and looked at the picture in the locket. She read again the name and address which had been pinned to the baby's skirt so many years ago: ”Madame Villard. Avenue Champs Elysees.”

[Ill.u.s.tration: SHE READ AGAIN THE NAME AND ADDRESS]