"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."
"Did you though?"
"Yes, an' I dropped one of the parcels an' lost a sausage, but you never heard."