There were dolls and teddy-bears, there were balls and bricks and skipping-ropes, a most elaborate doll’s house and, of course, a rocking horse.
Sitting at a table having a meal with a black woman was a small girl.
When she saw who stood in the doorway she gave a scream of sheer delight.
“Papa! Papa!”
She jumped up from her chair and ran towards him holding out her arms.
He bent down to pick her up so that she could kiss him almost frantically as if she had been half-afraid that she would not see him again.
“You have come back!” she cried between her kisses. “You have come back, Papa!”
“Yes, I have come back,” the Comte replied, “and I have brought someone specially for you, someone I know you will like very much.”
Rose-Marie looked at Melita with her arms still round her father’s
