"It's nearly as high as heaven!" he remarked.
Chris stared at him. He was going to show him the toy cupboard, but Noel suddenly found his tongue. He stood by the fire looking into the red coals with thoughtful face; then he turned to Diana.
"I like fires," he said, "and puppy dogs, and sa'ngwiches that taste hot and have no sweet in them. What do you like?"
"She likes paper and pencil best," said Chris. "Dinah writes lovely stories, Noel, about shipwrecks, and fires, and floods, and earthquakes, and everything exciting, and her people are just going to be killed and then they're saved, and the girls always have golden curls and blue eyes, and the boys black flashing eyes and coal-black hair."
Noel seemed impressed.
"What peoples do you know?" he asked. "I have two peoples always going about with me. Do you know them? God is one, and the Devil is another. God takes care of me and loves me. I love Him when I'm good, and I push the Devil away; but when I'm wicked, I make friends with the Devil."
"Oh!" cried Diana in a shocked voice. "You mustn't talk out loud about things like that. They're only spoken in church on Sundays."
"What's church?"
"Have you never been to church?" asked Chris. "It's a house with a pointed roof or tower. Haven't you got any in India? People go to hear the clergyman read and say prayers, and preach a sermon, and everybody sings hymns."
"It's very dull," confessed Diana. "Grown-up people seem to like it, but there's a lot of kneeling and sitting still. Chris and I would like to run away out of it often."