“Raw meat makes you brave, however cowardly you are,” said Robert, to show that there was now no ill-feeling, “and cranberries—that’s what Tartars eat, and they’re so brave it’s simply awful. I suppose cranberries are only for Christmas time, but I’ll ask old Nurse to let you have your chop very raw if you like.” “I think I could be brave without that,” said Jane hastily; she hated underdone meat. “I’ll try.” At this moment the door of the learned gentleman’s room opened, and he looked out. “Excuse me,” he said, in that gentle, polite weary voice of his, “but was I mistaken in thinking that I caught a familiar word just now? Were you not singing some old ballad of Babylon?” “No,” said Robert, “at least Jane was singing ‘How many miles,’ but I shouldn’t have thought you could have heard the words for—” He would have said, “for the sniffing,” but Anthea pinched him just in time. “I did not hear _all_ the words,” said the learned gentleman. “I wonder would you recite them to me?” So they all said together— “How many miles to Babylon? Three score and ten! Can I get there by candle light? Yes, and back again!” “I wish one could,” the learned gentleman said with a sigh. “Can’t you?” asked Jane. “Babylon has fallen,” he answered with a sigh. “You know it was once a great and beautiful city, and the centre of learning and Art, and now it is only ruins, and so covered up with earth that people are not even agreed as to where it once stood.” He was leaning on the banisters, and his eyes had a far-away look in them, as though he could see through the staircase window the splendour and glory of ancient Babylon. “I say,” Cyril remarked abruptly. “You know that charm we showed you, and you told us how to say the name that’s on it?” “Yes!” “Well, do you think that charm was ever in Babylon?” “It’s quite possible,” the learned gentleman replied. “Such charms have been found in very early Egyptian tombs, yet their origin has not been accurately determined as Egyptian. They may have been brought from Asia. Or, supposing the charm to have been fashioned in Egypt, it might very well have been carried to Babylon by some friendly embassy, or brought back by the Babylonish army from some Egyptian campaign as part of the spoils of war. The inscription may be much later than the charm. Oh yes! it is a pleasant fancy, that that splendid specimen of yours was once used amid Babylonish surroundings.” The others looked at each other, but it was Jane who spoke. “Were the Babylon people savages, were they always fighting and throwing things about?” For she had read the thoughts of the others by the unerring light of her own fears.