The little girl did not mind being alone, for she was working on herfirst piece of embroidery--a sofa pillow for papa's birthdaypresent. So she crept into the big bay window and curled herself upon the broad sill while she bent her brown head over her work.
Soon the door opened and closed again, quietly. Jane Gladys thoughtit was Nora, so she didn't look up until she had taken a couple morestitches on a forget-me-not. Then she raised her eyes and wasastonished to find a strange man in the middle of the room, whoregarded her earnestly.
He was short and fat, and seemed to be breathing heavily from hisclimb up the stairs. He held a work silk hat in one hand andunderneath his other elbow was tucked a good-sized book. He wasdressed in a black suit that looked old and rather shabby, and hishead was bald upon the top.
"Excuse me," he said, while the child gazed at him in solemnsurprise. "Are you Jane Gladys Brown?"
"Yes, sir," she answered.
"Very good; very good, indeed!" he remarked, with a queer sort ofsmile. "I've had quite a hunt to find you, but I've succeeded atlast."
"How did you get in?" inquired Jane Gladys, with a growing distrustof her visitor.
"That is a secret," he said, mysteriously.
This was enough to put the girl on her guard. She looked at the manand the man looked at her, and both looks were grave and somewhatanxious.
"What do you want?" she asked, straightening herself up with adignified air.
"Ah!--now we are coming to business," said the man, briskly. "I'mgoing to be quite frank with you. To begin with, your father hasabused me in a most ungentlemanly manner."
Jane Gladys got off the window sill and pointed her small finger atthe door.
"Leave this room 'meejitly!" she cried, her voice trembling withindignation. "My papa is the best man in the world. He never 'busedanybody!"
"Allow me to explain, please," said the visitor, without paying anyattention to her request to go away. "Your father may be very kindto you, for you are his little girl, you know. But when he'sdown-town in his office he's inclined to be rather severe,especially on book agents. Now, I called on him the other day andasked him to buy the 'Complete Works of Peter Smith,' and what doyou suppose he did?"
She said nothing.
"Why," continued the man, with growing excitement, "he ordered mefrom his office, and had me put out of the building by the janitor!What do you think of such treatment as that from the 'best papa inthe world,' eh?"
"I think he was quite right," said Jane Gladys.
"Oh, you do? Well," said the man, "I resolved to be revenged for theinsult. So, as your father is big and strong and a dangerous man, Ihave decided to be revenged upon his little girl."
Jane Gladys shivered.
"What are you going to do?" she asked.
"I'm going to present you with this book," he answered, taking itfrom under his arm. Then he sat down on the edge of a chair, placedhis hat on the rug and drew a fountain pen from his vest pocket.
"I'll write your name in it," said he. "How do you spell Gladys?"
"G-l-a-d-y-s," she replied.
"Thank you. Now this," he continued, rising and handing her the bookwith a bow, "is my revenge for your father's treatment of me.Perhaps he'll be sorry he didn't buy the 'Complete Works of PeterSmith.' Good-by, my dear."
He walked to the door, gave her another bow, and left the room, andJane Gladys could see that he was laughing to himself as if verymuch amused.
When the door had closed behind the queer little man the child satdown in the window again and glanced at the book. It had a red andyellow cover and the word "Thingamajigs" was across the front in bigletters.
Then she opened it, curiously, and saw her name written in blackletters upon the first white leaf.
"He was a funny little man," she said to herself, thoughtfully.
She turned the next leaf, and saw a big picture of a clown, dressedin green and red and yellow, and having a very white face withthree-cornered spots of red on each cheek and over the eyes. Whileshe looked at this the book trembled in her hands, the leaf crackledand creaked and suddenly the clown jumped out of it and stood uponthe floor beside her, becoming instantly as big as any ordinaryclown.
After stretching his arms and legs and yawning in a rather impolitemanner, he gave a silly chuckle and said:
"This is better! You don't know how cramped one gets, standing solong upon a page of flat paper."
Perhaps you can imagine how startled Jane Gladys was, and how shestared at the clown who had just leaped out of the book.
"You didn't expect anything of this sort, did you?" he asked,leering at her in clown fashion. Then he turned around to take alook at the room and Jane Gladys laughed in spite of herastonishment.
"What amuses you?" demanded the clown.
"Why, the back of you is all white!" cried the girl. "You're only aclown in front of you."
"Quite likely," he returned, in an annoyed tone. "The artist made afront view of me. He wasn't expected to make the back of me, forthat was against the page of the book."
"But it makes you look so funny!" said Jane Gladys, laughing untilher eyes were moist with tears.
The clown looked sulky and sat down upon a chair so she couldn't seehis back.
"I'm not the only thing in the book," he remarked, crossly.
This reminded her to turn another page, and she had scarcely notedthat it contained the picture of a monkey when the animal sprangfrom the book with a great crumpling of paper and landed upon thewindow seat beside her.
"He-he-he-he-he!" chattered the creature, springing to the girl'sshoulder and then to the center table. "This is great fun! Now I canbe a real monkey instead of a picture of one."
"Real monkeys can't talk," said Jane Gladys, reprovingly.
"How do you know? Have you ever been one yourself?" inquired theanimal; and then he laughed loudly, and the clown laughed, too, asif he enjoyed the remark.
The girl was quite bewildered by this time. She thoughtlessly turnedanother leaf, and before she had time to look twice a gray donkeyleaped from the book and stumbled from the window seat to the floorwith a great clatter.
"You're clumsy enough, I'm sure!" said the child, indignantly, forthe beast had nearly upset her.
"Clumsy! And why not?" demanded the donkey, with angry voice. "Ifthe fool artist had drawn you out of perspective, as he did me, Iguess you'd be clumsy yourself."
"What's wrong with you?" asked Jane Gladys.
"My front and rear legs on the left side are nearly six inches tooshort, that's what's the matter! If that artist didn't know how todraw properly why did he try to make a donkey at all?"
"I don't know," replied the child, seeing an answer was expected.
"I can hardly stand up," grumbled the donkey; "and the least littlething will topple me over."
"Don't mind that," said the monkey, making a spring at thechandelier and swinging from it by his tail until Jane Gladys fearedhe would knock all the globes off; "the same artist has made my earsas big as that clown's and everyone knows a monkey hasn't any earsto speak of--much less to draw."
"He should be prosecuted," remarked the clown, gloomily. "I haven'tany back."
Jane Gladys looked from one to the other with a puzzled expressionupon her sweet face, and turned another page of the book.
Swift as a flash there sprang over her shoulder a tawney, spottedleopard, which landed upon the back of a big leather armchair andturned upon the others with a fierce movement.
The monkey climbed to the top of the chandelier and chattered withfright. The donkey tried to run and straightway tipped over on hisleft side. The clown grew paler than ever, but he sat still in hischair and gave a low whistle of surprise.
The leopard crouched upon the back of the chair, lashed his tailfrom side to side and glared at all of them, by turns, includingJane Gladys.
"Which of us are you going to attack first?" asked the donkey,trying hard to get upon his feet again.
"I can't attack any of you," snarled the leopard. "The artist mademy mouth shut, so I haven't any teeth; and he forgot to make myclaws. But I'm a frightful looking creature, nevertheless; am Inot?"
"Oh, yes;" said the clown, indifferently. "I suppose you'refrightful looking enough. But if you have no teeth nor claws wedon't mind your looks at all."
This so annoyed the leopard that he growled horribly, and the monkeylaughed at him.
Just then the book slipped from the girl's lap, and as she made amovement to catch it one of the pages near the back opened wide. Shecaught a glimpse of a fierce grizzly bear looking at her from thepage, and quickly threw the book from her. It fell with a crash inthe middle of the room, but beside it stood the great grizzly, whohad wrenched himself from the page before the book closed.
"Now," cried the leopard from his perch, "you'd better look out foryourselves! You can't laugh at him as you did at me. The bear hasboth claws and teeth."
"Indeed I have," said the bear, in a low, deep, growling voice. "AndI know how to use them, too. If you read in that book you'll findI'm described as a horrible, cruel and remorseless grizzly, whoseonly business in life is to eat up little girls--shoes, dresses,ribbons and all! And then, the author says, I smack my lips andglory in my wickedness."
"That's awful!" said the donkey, sitting upon his haunches andshaking his head sadly. "What do you suppose possessed the author tomake you so hungry for girls? Do you eat animals, also?"
"The author does not mention my eating anything but little girls,"replied the bear.
"Very good," remarked the clown, drawing a long breath of relief."you may begin eating Jane Gladys as soon as you wish. She laughedbecause I had no back."
"And she laughed because my legs are out of perspective," brayed thedonkey.
"But you also deserve to be eaten," screamed the leopard from theback of the leather chair; "for you laughed and poked fun at mebecause I had no claws nor teeth! Don't you suppose Mr. Grizzly, youcould manage to eat a clown, a donkey and a monkey after you finishthe girl?"
"Perhaps so, and a leopard into the bargain," growled the bear. "Itwill depend on how hungry I am. But I must begin on the little girlfirst, because the author says I prefer girls to anything."
Jane Gladys was much frightened on hearing this conversation, andshe began to realize what the man meant when he said he gave her thebook to be revenged. Surely papa would be sorry he hadn't bought the"Complete Works of Peter Smith" when he came home and found hislittle girl eaten up by a grizzly bear--shoes, dress, ribbons andall!
The bear stood up and balanced himself on his rear legs.
"This is the way I look in the book," he said. "Now watch me eat thelittle girl."
He advanced slowly toward Jane Gladys, and the monkey, the leopard,the donkey and the clown all stood around in a circle and watchedthe bear with much interest.
But before the grizzly reached her the child had a sudden thought,and cried out:
"Stop! You mustn't eat me. It would be wrong."
"Why?" asked the bear, in surprise.
"Because I own you. You're my private property," she answered.
"I don't see how you make that out," said the bear, in adisappointed tone.
"Why, the book was given to me; my name's on the front leaf. And youbelong, by rights, in the book. So you mustn't dare to eat yourowner!"
The Grizzly hesitated.
"Can any of you read?" he asked.
"I can," said the clown.
"Then see if she speaks the truth. Is her name really in the book?"
The clown picked it up and looked at the name.
"It is," said he. "'Jane Gladys Brown;' and written quite plainly inbig letters."
The bear sighed.
"Then, of course, I can't eat her," he decided. "That author is asdisappointing as most authors are."
"But he's not as bad as the artist," exclaimed the donkey, who wasstill trying to stand up straight.
"The fault lies with yourselves," said Jane Gladys, severely. "Whydidn't you stay in the book, where you were put?"
The animals looked at each other in a foolish way, and the clownblushed under his white paint.
"Really--" began the bear, and then he stopped short.
The door bell rang loudly.
"It's mamma!" cried Jane Gladys, springing to her feet. "She's comehome at last. Now, you stupid creatures--"
But she was interrupted by them all making a rush for the book.There was a swish and a whirr and a rustling of leaves, and aninstant later the book lay upon the floor looking just like anyother book, while Jane Gladys' strange companions had alldisappeared.
* * * * *
This story should teach us to think quickly and clearly upon alloccasions; for had Jane Gladys not remembered that she owned thebear he probably would have eaten her before the bell rang.
zpostcode
Recruit
weather
mreligion
Yellowpages
sport
constellation
shopping
name
game
directory
literature
Word
tour
furnish
Lottery
tftnews
lyrics
News
digital
car
dir
Edu
Finance
