"Think of it, I never rode before, never! All the children on the block have, though. Isn't it perfectly delightful, Cousin Antony? I _wish_ your legs weren't so long." "Cousin Antony," asked little Gardiner, "couldn't we go over to the animals and see the seals fall off and dwown themselves?" They saw the lion in his lair and the "tiger, tiger burning bright," and the shining, slippery seals, and they made an absorbed group at the nettings where Antony discoursed about the animals as he discoursed about art, and Spartacus talked to them about the wild beast show in Caesar's arena. His audience shivered at his side. They walked up the big driveway, and Fairfax saw for the first time the Mall, and observed that the earth was turned up round a square some twelve feet by twelve. He half heard the children at his side; his eyes were fastened on the excavation for the pedestal of the Sphinx; the stone base would soon be raised there, and then his beasts would be poised. "Let's walk over to the Mall, children." Along the walk the small goat carriages were drawn up with their teams; little landaus, fairy-like for small folk to drive in. Fairfax stood before the cavity in the earth and the scaffolding left by the workmen. He was conscious of his little friends at length by the dragging on his arms of their too affectionate weight. "Cousin Antony." Fairfax waved to the vacant spot. "Oh, Egypt, Egypt," he began, in his "recitation voice," a voice that promised treats at home, but that palled in the sunny open, with goat rides in the fore-ground. "Out of the soft, smooth coral of thy sands, Out of thy Nilus tide, out of thy heart, Such dreams have come, such mighty splendours----" "Bella, do you see that harmonious square?" "Yes," she answered casually, with a lack lustre. "And do you see the _goats_?" "Goats, Bella! I see a pedestal some ten feet high, and on it at its four corners, before they poise the Sphinx--what do you think I see, Bella?" "... Cousin Antony, that boy there has the _sweetest goats_. They're _almost_ clean! Too dear for anything! With such cunning noses!" He dropped his arm and put his hand on the little girl's shoulder and turned her round. "I'm disappointed in you for the first time, honey," he said. "Oh, Cousin _Antony_." "Little cousin, this is where my creatures, my beautiful bronze creatures, are to be eternally set--there, there before your eyes." He pointed to the blue May air. "Cousin Antony," said Gardiner's slow voice, "the only thing I'm not too tired to do is to wide in a goat carwage." Fairfax lifted the little boy in his arms. "If I lift you, Gardiner, like this, high in my arms, you could just about see the top of the pedestal. Wait till it's unveiled, my hearties! Wait--wait!" He put Gardiner down with a laugh and a happy sigh, and then he saw the goats. "Do you want a ride, children?" "_Did_ they!" He ran his hands through the pockets that had been wantonly emptied.