In a moment or two Briggs' voice was heard in the distance.
"Master Chris, where are you?"
"Here I am," he called back; "just here."
"What, not gone yet?" Uncle Godfrey said a little sharply, turning round.
"Yes, I'm gone," answered the little beggar half-defiantly, half-nervously, as he rose hastily from the landing and continued his upward progress.
"What do you want, Briggs?" he called out.
"I want to know," she said, the sound of her voice coming nearer; "I want to know if you can tell me where your hats are? It's time for you to go out, and I've hunted for them everywhere, but not one can I find."
"Why, they're down there," Chris was heard to say in an aggrieved voice, and as if she were asking a most unnecessary question. "They're all down there."
"And where might down there be?" she asked, with some irritation.
"Why, on the table near the door, with Uncle Godfrey's hats," he answered. "I'm always going to keep my hats there now," he added. "It's only babies what has their hats in the nursery."