“Ah! vulgar person, very--plenty of money, though--likes to be thought grand. Of course he isn’t a Waxxe-Doll at all. His wife was a Waxxe and he took her name--it looks very well joined to his with a hyphen, you know. Mrs. Waxxe-Doll is of French descent, and gives herself airs in consequence. They’ve hired this Castle for the season at enormous expense, but bless you, they are nobodies! See that vulgar-looking old lady in the corner--with a pipe in her mouth--they call her Ancient Aunt Sarah; but she’s nothing of the sort. Everybody knows her; she’s just ‘_Old Aunt Sally, three-shies-a-penny_,’ so it’s no use their trying to disguise the fact. Look at those two,” she went on, as two dolls in very straight narrow dresses danced past, “what guys! But there, what can you expect? They came out of the ark, I believe.” And Boy could see that they really did look like the figures out of Noah’s Ark. The music stopped just then, and most of the dolls went out into the grounds to get cool; and Boy, who did not at all care for the spiteful little person who had been letting him into all the Waxxe-Doll’s family secrets, thought that he would follow their example. One-and-Nine had wandered off by himself, so Boy had no one to talk to. He found the grounds brilliantly illuminated with little wax vestas stuck in the sand, and the toy trees and rustic bridges looked quite pretty in the light. Three or four Gentlemen dolls were playing a kind of game by the pond, and asked Boy to join them. He found that it was called “Stock Brokers,” and he soon learned how to play it. Each had a large sheet of blue paper which was called a “Stock,” and which when torn in half became a “Share.” These pieces of paper were thrown into the air, and the game consisted in blowing under these pieces of paper, or “raising the wind,” as it was called, in order to keep them floating: the one who kept his “Share” or “Stock” from falling longest won the game. Boy quite enjoyed playing it until one of his “Shares” fell to the ground, and then he was “broke,” as they called it, and so he lost the game. [Illustration: 0043] A crowd of dolls hurrying back to the Castle next attracted his attention, and, following them inside, he heard it announced that Sergeant One-and-Nine was about to recite. Boy was very glad to hear this, and managed to push forward to where One-and-Nine was standing. The Master of Ceremonies was bustling about trying to find every one a seat; and at last, when the room was quite quiet, One-and-Nine began the following poem, which had been composed by himself:--= THE MUS RIDICULOUS AND THE FELIS DOMESTICA. ``"A Cat amidst the Burdock leaves ```Sat all disconsolate, ``And sadsomely did wop and wole ``And role against her fate.= ``"'Ah! hollow, hollow,’ wole the Cat, ```'Is all Societee, ``And falshish shamiosity ```In all around I see.’= ``"'Oh! why,’ I crew in sympathy, ```'Lamentuate like that? ``Pray tell me all your sorrowness’;