"He is opening his eyes," said Orion, "he'll be all right after a minute or two. Don't hurry up, father; we can wait."
"We can wait quite well, father," said Diana; "and it's very comf'able on your knees; they is so flat."
"We are awfully sorry to disturb you, father," said Iris.
"But we can't help it, because it's most solemnly important," said Apollo.
"So it seems," remarked Mr. Delaney, when he could at last find a voice. "You have all subjected me to a terrible dream. I am really glad that I have awakened and find that the hobgoblins, and gnomes, and brownies are no less little people than my own four children. But why am I to be disturbed at such a very early hour?"
"If you like, father," said Diana, "we'll pull up all the blinds; then the hot, blazin' sun will come in, and you'll see that it's not early at all; it's late."
Mr. Delaney happened to glance at a clock which stood on the mantelpiece exactly facing the big bed.
"I read on the face of that clock," he said, "that the hour is half-past five. Now, what have you four little children to do, sitting on my bed at half-past five in the morning?"
When Mr. Delaney said this he shook himself slightly and upset Diana's balance, and made Orion choke with silent laughter. Iris and Apollo gazed at him gravely.
"We all made up our minds to do it," said Iris. "We have come to ask you to make a promise, father."