The Lion was agitated. "What can this mean?" he thought. "It must be an accident which has caused her to sneeze at the word. I will try again." He began firmly, "When a lion--" But again he was interrupted by the violent sneezing of the little maid as soon as the word had passed his teeth. The Lion shivered. Could this really be? Was it possible that this vagrant was an offshoot of the noble family which he had been seeking? If so, he must be in no hurry to claim relationship! The child put her hand into her basket, smiling. "Good Lion," she said, "_Ker-chew! Ker-chew! Ker-chew!_ I like you. Will you have a bit of bread?" And she held out to him a fragment of her luncheon. The Lion was touched. He did not like bread, but he could not refuse a child, and he ate it painfully. "What is your name?" he asked at length. "Claribel," she answered. "Your other name?" he persisted. "Claribel," she repeated. "Just Claribel--that is all." "Where do you live?" asked the Lion. The child pointed over her shoulder. "Near the Ancient Wood, yonder," she said. "I came to Derrydown to the market. I have sold my dolls; now I am going home with the money." "Dolls?" queried the Lion, interested in spite of himself. "You make dolls?" Claribel nodded. "Rag dolls," she said. "My mother made dresses for the villagers. Now I make dolls out of the pieces in the old rag-bag. It buys me bread." The Lion's heart was softened. "You are so little, Claribel!" he exclaimed. "Have you no one to take care of you?" The child shook her head. "My mother is dead. I am alone in the world," she said. "But have you no relatives--no one of noble kin in some palace, some castle?" the Lion cried eagerly. The child laughed. "I know of no castles," she said; "no kindred at all. I never had any, I think." The Lion gave a groan. "I will go back to the Curiosity Shop!" he said whimsically. "Good-bye, child!" He started away. But, turning for a last look, he saw Claribel, with her eyes full of tears. "Do not go!" cried the child. "I like you so much, dear Lion--_Ker-chew! Ker-chew! Ker-chew!_" The Lion's heart melted. "You are so little!" he said, "too little to be going on these roads alone. I will see you home." So they took the long road together, the child skipping happily beside the Lion, with her hand in his red mane. And the farther they walked together, the more the Lion liked Claribel, who sneezed whenever she spoke his name, but looked at him with kindly eyes. They came at last to the hut where Claribel lived alone. It was a tiny cottage on the edge of the wood. The Lion looked at it long and hard. It was so different from the castle he had hoped to find! The child pulled him by the mane, and he went in. The hut was very poor, but spotlessly neat and clean. Claribel led the Lion to the fireplace and began to blow meager sparks with the bellows. "I will keep you warm and give you bread to eat. You shall stay and live with me and be my dear big watch-dog!" she said.