And there was the chimney all the time! Daddy Longlegs could have crawled up it just as easily as Santa Claus could have crept down it! But because he had never left anybody's house or shop by way of the chimney, Daddy Longlegs never once thought of doing such a thing.
And his thinking that Jimmy Rabbit wouldn't come back until the next morning shows that Daddy knew very little about the ways of his neighbors. Almost anybody else would have been sure that Jimmy Rabbit would keep his shoe shop open at night, because he was always wider awake after dark. And many others of the field-people were exactly like him in that respect.
Daddy Longlegs had been sleeping[p. 45] soundly for some time—inside the toe of a shoe—when the sound of voices awakened him. At first he kept very still. Being naturally a timid person he did not want to show himself until he was sure he was safe from harm.
And then, before he realized what was happening, he felt himself picked up—shoe and all—and he heard Jimmy Rabbit say, "Try on this shoe, Peter Mink!"
Since there was no doubt—the next instant—that Peter Mink was thrusting his foot into Daddy's hiding-place, there was only one thing for Daddy to do. Knowing that he was in great danger of being crushed, he withdrew into the very tip of the shoe. And luckily for him, Peter Mink's toes did not quite reach him.
After that Daddy Longlegs could hear nothing more; nor did he know what was[p. 46] happening. But to make a long story short, Jimmy Rabbit gave Peter Mink another shoe—for Peter's other foot—and bowed his customer politely out of his shop.
After that Jimmy Rabbit promptly locked the door again. But this time he locked himself in instead of out. You see, he never felt safe in Peter Mink's company.
Naturally, Jimmy locked Daddy Longlegs out of the shop, too, though he didn't know it.
And there Peter Mink stood in the moon-lit meadow, with his new shoes on his feet, and with Daddy Longlegs hidden in the toe of his right shoe.
But no matter if it was the right shoe, Daddy Longlegs thought it was all wrong.