"Poor old Jasper!" she sighed, and her eyes were brimful of tenderness.
"He is very old and feeble," I said, drawing her close, under pretence of handing her the basket; "and yet with your gentle hand to smooth my pillow, and your eyes to look into mine, I could almost wish—"
"Hush, Dick!"
"Peter or no Peter, I think I'll wait—unless you really wish me to say 'good-night' now?" But with a dexterous turn she eluded me, and waving her hand hurried up the rose-bordered path.
An hour, or even two, does not seem so very long when one's mind is so full of happy thoughts as mine was. Thus, I was filling my pipe and looking philosophically about for a likely spot in which to keep my vigil, when I was aware of a rustling close by, and as I watched a small figure stepped from the shadow of the hedge out into the moonlight.
"Hallo, Uncle Dick!" said a voice.
"Imp!" I exclaimed, "what does this mean? You ought to have been in bed over an hour ago!"
"So I was," he answered with his guileless smile; "only I got up again, you know."
"So it seems!" I nodded.
"An' I followed you an' Auntie Lisbeth all the way, too."