Mrs. Schotz had gone back to the counter with the toys the stranger sought. With an irresolute effort he moved listlessly toward them. There was a whole regiment of little men in blue, and with them a gorgeous officer in gold-decked uniform waving his sword above a prancing steed. The Man laid his hand upon the toy and moved it absently into position at the head of the men. The brave general toppled spinelessly over when the great gnarled hand was removed. The woman shook her head.
"He not--can--stand," she said, in her hesitating English. "Too heavy--of the--head. This"--substituting a plain little captain with modest sword held at attention--"this stand so you--not--can--dis--lodge him."
The Man raised his head alertly as the woman echoed so unconsciously her husband's words. The movement was a quicker one than could have been expected from the languor of the whole figure. He gave a quick glance from the man to the woman and then at the toy soldiers. Then he squared his shoulders. His hand closed again upon the top-heavy little general and, half-absently, swept him aside. The plain little officer was moved into position. The officer stood. A light that was half humor and half inspiration broke upon the rugged face of the Man who bent over them both.
"No more generals on horseback," he muttered. "My man may ride when it is necessary, but he must know how to walk, too. I want one--I wonder if I know him--who 'stands so you can't dislodge him' and who 'knows his men.' Perhaps they have given me the answer to it all. Perhaps, after all, I can find him. Perhaps. And 'where he wants to go'--was that the word?" He pored over the toys. The woman went back to her knitting. The click of needles or the noise of a tool raised or laid down was the only sound heard in the shop.
"Are you buying the soldiers for your boys? It's wonderful how they take to them these days." The voice of the cabinet-maker broke the stillness. He repeated the question before the Man heard. And even then the answer was slow in coming.
"I have but one boy to buy toys for--now," said the man, at length. "The other one--that is left--is too old. And, in spite of all, the child must be made happy."
He turned again to the soldiers as if they contained the answer to some question. His eyes fell again upon the captain. He nodded as though he recognized some one. "I believe I--know," he thought, half-fearfully. "He 'stands so you can't dislodge him'--he 'doesn't know what it is to be afraid'--he 'walks about among his men'--he 'knows them.'" The man seized the officer almost fiercely and held it in his big hand.