and whispered through the hole at some length, and then Plum-Blossom's face appeared again, and before the artist could renew his offer of help, she had placed her hands in her sister's, and was out on the floor beside her.
"Well, if you two are n't the prettiest little Jap dollies! I 'd like to stand you up on a shelf!" he said to himself in English.
"Come!" he added in Japanese, "let us go out into the air; it is dark and hot in here."
The children followed him in silence, walking hand-in-hand, and softly gathering up their small shoes as they passed through the outer doorway. The young man turned to them as they stood on the steps above him.
"Now," he said persuasively, "you are not afraid of me, are you? I don't look so very terrible, do I?"
The little girls smiled.
