“Truly was it?” asked the Kitten.
“What do you think?” asked the Princess.
Then all the questions they had kept inside of them began to come out, and they lasted down the hill—very jerky, on account of having to run or slip—and most of the long way back. But there was time beside to gather more leaves to take the place of those they had forgotten and left safe under small stones on the hill-top!
There were thousands and thousands of them fallen, too beautiful to pass over, so it was just as well.
XI
TORQUILLON’S LAIR
Precisely when the clock had struck three there came three raps on the door. (There had been shuffling, whispering noises, and a squeak like a mouse before, very small, but different from the sound of the rain against the windows.)
“Come in!” said the Princess; and there entered the very ones she expected to see, because it was an appointment.
The first thing, she wanted to ask them if they didn’t think it would be comforting to have a fire in the fireplace, to look at.
The Others instantly thought it would. Miss Phyllisy shivered her shoulders when she thought it, and the Kitten shivered hers when she saw Miss Phyllisy. But Pat did not shiver, because none of them was truly chilly, only it was such a disconsolate day, with cold gray coming in at the windows and the corners dark, and large doleful brown leaves hanging sodden from a branch and beating back and forth in the rain.