"'Cause the moon's so very bright, an' everything looks so fine down there, an' I'm sure there's fairies about—Moon-fairies, you know, and I'm 'miserable." 

 "Miserable, Imp?" 

 "Yes, Auntie Lisbeth never came to kiss me good-night, an' so I can't go to sleep, Uncle Dick!" 

 "Why that alters the case, certainly." 

 "Yes, an' the ladder's in the tool-house." 

 "Imp," I said, as I turned to follow Benjamin, "oh, you Imp!" 

 There are few things in this world more difficult to manage than a common or garden ladder; among other peculiarities it has a most unpleasant knack of kicking out suddenly just as everything appears to be going smoothly, which is apt to prove disconcerting to the novice. However, after sundry mishaps of the kind, I eventually got it reared up to the window, and a moment afterwards the Imp had climbed down and stood beside me, drawing the breath of freedom. 

 As a precautionary measure we proceeded to hide the ladder in a clump of rhododendrons hard by, and had but just done so when Benjamin uttered a cry of warning and took to his heels, while the Imp and I sought shelter behind a friendly tree. And not a whit too soon, for, scarcely had we done so, when two figures came round a corner of the house—two figures who walked very slowly and very close together. 

 "Why it's Betty—the cook, you know—an' Peter!" whispered the Imp. 

 Almost opposite our hiding-place Betty paused to sigh heavily and stare up at the moon. 

 "Oh, Peter!" she murmured, "look at that there orb!" 

 "Ar!" said Peter, gazing obediently upward. 

 "Peter, ain't it 'eavenly; don't it stir your very soul?" 

 "Ar!" said Peter. 

 "Peter, are you sure you loves me more than that Susan thing at the doctor's?"  A corduroy coat-sleeve crept slowly about Betty's plump waist, and there came the unmistakable sound of a kiss. 

 "Really and truly, Peter?" 

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