“‘Did you drive them, every one, out?’ asked Alcyone.
“‘Yes,’ said Hercules. ‘At least—almost; but there was just one little bit of a bear that didn’t seem at all like the others,’—Little Bear wriggled with delight—‘and Orion said to me, “I guess we’ll keep this little chap. He seems a pretty good kind of a bear.” And I said, “All right. We’ll try him; but if he goes to cuttin’ up—out he’ll go, after the others!”’
“‘But he didn’t!’ said Andromeda, squeezing him, ‘and we couldn’t live without him! Is one single bit of that story true?’
“‘There’s Little Bear, to prove it,’ said Orion. And it was not fair to ask; for it was an absorbing story while it lasted, and that’s more than can be said for a great many stories,” finished the Princess.
“Not yours, Dearie,” said Miss Phyllisy. “Yours are always as good as that—and better.”
“They interrupt just like us, don’t they?” asked Pat.
“Just as we’re interrupting now,” said Phyllisy. “What came next, Dearie?”
She was looking off, over their heads, at the sky beyond the treetops; she looked back quickly, smiling at the Others. “Next, Miss Phyllisy? Not very much. When the laughter and talk about the story had died away, every one sat quiet, a little tired and ready to be serious—and they fell to talking about the Ship.
“‘Isn’t she beautiful?’ said Celeno. ‘Wouldn’t you love to see her sailing?’
“‘We shall, some time,’ said Orion.