"Phe-e-ew!" whistled Jack, blinking with joy at all he saw before him. "This looks like the land of milk and honey all right. And only twenty minutes by bean-car from New York! What a chance for corner lots, and an easy suburb for business men!"
The lad wandered along for a while, rejoicing in all the beauties of the wondrous scene, when, coming to a turn in the magnificently laid road, he perceived not far ahead of him a splendidly built castle, much resembling a famous city hotel he had once passed on a sight-seeing coach, and, remembering on a sudden that he had had no breakfast, he walked boldly up to the main entrance and knocked on the massive bronze door. A beautiful young girl about his own age answered the summons.
"I don't know if this is a hotel," said Jack, politely, "but if it is, might I get a bite here?"
"I fear you might if my stepfather should happen to see you," replied the girl with a shudder, her face mantling with a deep luscious red, the like of which Jack had never seen anywhere save on the petal of a rose or the cheek of a cherry.
The silvery tones of her voice thrilled him.
"Thank you," he said, stepping into the hallway through the open door. "I shall be very glad to meet your stepfather, and if, while I am waiting, I might have a couple of scrambled eggs and a cup of coffee--"
"Oh, go! Do not stay here!" pleaded the girl. "Please go!"
"I go?" laughed Jack. "And leave you? Never!"
"But you do not understand," trembled the girl. "My stepfather is an ogre, and he eats--"
"I only understand one thing," said Jack, valiantly. "And that is that I love you with all my heart. I don't care if your stepfather eats--"
"For my sake then, go!" pleaded the girl. "I too am not unsusceptible to the dart of love, and for the first time I look upon a spirit I could honor and obey, but--"
"Then it is love at first sight for both of us," said Jack, folding her in his arms.
It was indeed a blissful moment for both, but alas! it was more than fleeting, for suddenly there came from an inner room off the great corridor a terrific voice, roaring:
"FEE-FO-FI-FOY! I SMELL THE BLOOD OF A HIGH-SCHOOL BOY. BE HE REAL OR BE HE FAKE I'LL GRIND HIS BONES FOR A BUCKWHEAT CAKE."
"Oho!" cried Jack, springing back. "I think I've heard something like that before. This is not a hotel, but the castle of that child-eating ogre--"