On the way to old Dyson's, Humphrey opened the parcel, and displayed the ear-trumpet to Miles.
Never had they seen so curious an article! It was composed of three tubes, each fitting into the next, and it lengthened or shortened at will.
Humphrey got very impatient to arrive, and tried to persuade the coachman to whip up the horse into a gallop; but steady old Peter didn't see it at all.
Humphrey then amused himself by lengthening out the tubes, and trumpeting loudly through them; causing the horse to start so violently, that little Miles was almost pitched out. Then, in shutting it up again, he dropped it into the road, and they had to wait while he got out and picked it up.
All this causing a delay, Peter was told on arriving at the cottage, that Virginie had already been there, but that, finding she was too soon, she had walked on to the village, and was to call again in a few minutes.
This information he gathered from a woman who was standing at the gate, and who assisted the children to alight.
Then, having deposited them safely, Peter drove off; and Humphrey, brandishing his trumpet, rushed down the little garden, and beat a thundering tattoo on old Dyson's door. But, loud as it was, it did not make any impression on the deaf old man, who was sitting in his arm-chair, indulging in an afternoon nap.
One minute Humphrey waited, and then his patience gave way. He raised the latch, and the two children entered the cottage.
"He's asleep," whispered Miles.