"I couldn't pull you out if I did. I'll have to get Uncle Jonah."
"He'll lick me," said the boy.
"Oh, I know," said Hortense. "We'll play you're a prisoner in a dungeon, and every day I'll bring you things to eat."
But the boy didn't seem to like this idea.
"I want to get out," he said, and disappeared.
"I believe there's some sort of a door at the bottom," he said at last, reappearing, "but it opens from the other side. Couldn't you get into the cellar and open it?"
"Aunt Esmerelda might see me and ask what I was doing," she answered. "Maybe I can get by when she isn't looking. You wait."
"I'll wait all right," said the boy. "Don't you be too long. It's dark in here."
"The dark won't hurt you," said Hortense, but to this the boy only snorted by way of reply.
Hortense peeped cautiously into the kitchen. Aunt Esmerelda was seated in her chair, fast asleep.