Page:Zodiac stories by Blanche Mary Channing.pdf/174

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Leo, the Lion
157

Presently Aimée heard a voice somewhere calling to her, and giving her new friend a kiss she slipped off his knee and went away up the steps.

"The next time, I will bring you some pink bon-bons," she said on the second step.

"Or white ones—which?" she put this question seriously, turning around on the third.

"They are all delicious," said the old lion-tamer, smiling up at her from the gloom of the basement.

"For myself, I prefer chocolate," she added on the fourth step.

Her head had reached the top of the stairs now, and Alphonse could see the shining gold of her curls below the muslin cap.

He smiled still.

"Does Leo like chocolate?"—this, from the head of the stairs.

"No, he likes nothing but meat."