"I fear your Auntie Lisbeth lacks an eye for colour."
"Yes, "fraid so; she sent me to bed for it, you know."
"Still, Imp, under the circ.u.mstances I think it would be best if you got undressed and went to sleep."
"Oh, but I can"t, Uncle d.i.c.k!"
"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 d.i.c.k!"
"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?"
"Ar!" said Peter, "so "elp me Sam!" The kissing sound was repeated, and they walked on once more, only closer than ever now on account of the corduroy coat-sleeve.
"Those two are in love, you know," nodded the Imp. "Peter says the cheese-cakes she makes are enough to drive any man into marrying her, whether he wants to or not, an" I heard Betty telling Jane that she adored Peter, "cause he had so much soul! Why is it," he inquired, thoughtfully, as he watched the two out of sight, "why is it, Uncle d.i.c.k, that people in love always look so silly?"
"Do you think so?" I asked, as I paused to light my pipe.
""Course I do!" returned the Imp; "what"s any one got to put their arm round girls for, just as if they wanted holding up--I think it"s awfull" silly!"
"Of course it is, Imp--your wisdom is una.s.sailable--still, do you know, I can understand a man being foolish enough to do it--occasionally."
"But you never would, Uncle d.i.c.k?"
"Alas, Imp!" I said, shaking my head, "Fortune seems to preclude all chances of it."
""Course you wouldn"t," he exclaimed; "an" Ivanhoe wouldn"t--"
"Ah, but he did!" I put in; "have you forgotten Rowena?"
"Oh!" cried the Imp dolefully, "do you really think he ever put his arm round her?"
"Sure of it," I nodded. The Imp seemed much cast down, and even shocked.
"But there was the Black Knight," he said, brightening suddenly--"Richard of the Lion Heart, you know--he never did!"
"Not while he was fighting, of course, but afterwards, if history is to be believed, he very frequently did; and we are all alike, Imp--everybody does sooner or later."
"But why? Why should any one want to put their arm round a girl, Uncle d.i.c.k?"
"For the simple reason that the girl is there to put it round, I suppose. And now, Imp, let us talk of fish."
Instinctively we had wandered towards the river, and now we stood to watch the broad, silver path made by the moon across the mystery of its waters.
"I love to see the shine upon the river like that," said the Imp, dreamily; "Auntie Lisbeth says it"s the path that the Moon-fairies come down by to bring you nice dreams when you"ve been good. I"ve got out of bed lots of times an" watched an" watched, but I"ve never seen them come. Do you think there are fairies in the moon, Uncle d.i.c.k?"
"Undoubtedly," I answered; "how else does it keep so bright? I used to wonder once how they managed to make it shine so."
"It must need lots of rubbing!" said the Imp; "I wonder if they ever get tired?"
"Of course they do, Imp, and disheartened, too, sometimes, like the rest of us, and then everything is black, and people wonder where the moon is. But they are very brave, these Moon-fairies, and they never quite lose hope, you know; so they presently go back to their rubbing and polishing, always starting at one edge. And in a little while we see it begin to shine again, very small and thin at first, like a--"
"Thumb-nail!"
"Yes, just like a thumb-nail; and so they go on working and working at it until it gets as big and round and bright as it is to-night."
Thus we walked together through a fairy world, the Imp and I, while above the murmur of the waters, above the sighing of the trees, came the soft, tremulous melody of the violins.
"I do wish I had lived when there were knights like Ivanhoe," burst out the Imp suddenly; "it must have been fine to knock a man off his horse with your lance."
"Always supposing he didn"t knock you off first, Imp."
"Oh! I should have been the sort of knight that n.o.body could knock off, you know. An" I"d have wandered about on my faithful charger, fighting all sorts of caddish barons, and caitiffs, an" slaying giants; an" I"d have rescued lovely ladies from castles grim--though I wouldn"t have put my arm round them, of course!"
"Perish the thought, my Imp!"
"Uncle d.i.c.k!" he said, insinuatingly, "I do wish you"d be the Black Knight, an" let me be Ivanhoe."
"But there are no caitiffs and things left for us to fight, Imp, and no lovely ladies to rescue from castles grim, alas!"