David’s legs began to want to run somewhere.
‘No! shut the door,’ he said. ‘I was in the marriage-meadow, but I didn’t know.’
‘Go away, pike,’ said Noah, and shut the door. ‘Very well, then, that’s proved,’ he said. ‘The next thing to do is to see who’s on the books.’
He turned over the leaves.
‘Very small selection to-day,’ he said to David, ‘but some very pleasant clients among them. The names are as follows:
‘Number one, giraffe.’
‘Here,’ said a silly whisper from the top storey.
‘You’ve got to come in,’ said Noah.
The pillars at the corners of the room stirred uneasily, and David saw what they really were. Then there came a sound from upstairs as if banisters were breaking, and the mild surprised-looking face came down the chimney, upside-down, and covered with soot.
‘That’s all I can do at present unless I begin to walk,’ she whispered. ‘Why, it’s that boy again. I am surprised. May I jump?’