"
"Still, Imp, under the circumstances I think it would be best if
you got undressed and went to sleep."
"Oh, but I can't, Uncle Dick!"
"Why not, my Imp?"
"'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.
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