It's time to go to bed.
What? says GRANDFATHER, waking up with a start; and then he says,
Why, I must have been dozing. Where are the children?
They went to bed long ago, says MOTHER. Don't you remember? And now
it's bed time for all of us. Are you ready, mother?
Yes, I'm more than ready, answers GRANDMOTHER. She rises and
Grandfather, also, and with feeble steps, they go toward the door.
Good-night, GRANDMOTHER says.
Good-night, FATHER and MOTHER answer her, and FATHER continues,
Good-night, father. Pleasant dreams.
Good-night, answers GRANDFATHER, and he and Grandmother go out.
I'll be off too, James, says MOTHER, if you'll look after the fire
and the light.
Yes, I'll attend to all that, answers FATHER.
Then Mother goes out, and Father deadens the fire, using the tongs
and shovel. He takes the chair, in which he has been sitting, and sets
it against the wall beside the clothes basket. Then he lights the
candle on the mantel shelf, blows out the lamp, leaving the room in a
dim light, and goes out.
For a little while everything is quiet. Then there is a noise from
the direction of the wood box. The cover rises, and the head of a
brownie appears, inside the box. He climbs out, followed by another.
They caper about the room, looking at everything, listening at the
doors, looking up the chimney. Then they go to the clothes basket and
raise the lid.
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