"Dash it! What's that?" cried Jack.
"Keep still! It's the Muffin-man!"
"I'm off!"
"Wait!" Now she was peeping through an opening in the box-wood hedge. "Jack! The whole Walk's awake! Look!"
Jack's head was very close to hers. "I can't see; your hair's in the way. Don't move!" For a moment they stood watching.
And indeed the Walk was awake. The Muffin-man's bell had acted like magic. The Admiral and Jim were already bargaining with him. Mrs. Poskett was on her doorstep with a plate in her hand. So was Ruth Pennymint. Barbara was in the garden, and Basil was telling her just how many muffins he wanted from the upstairs window; Jane, Mr. Brooke-Hoskyn's maid, was waiting impatiently; and Dr. Sternroyd had come out of his house book in hand, and was making frantic signals so as not to be overlooked. And they were all talking, and gesticulating, and calling.
"By Jove!" cried Jack excitedly, "there's old Antrobus!"
"All of them! All of them!" wailed Marjolaine.
"They 're all buying muffins—greedy pigs!—They won't see me." He made as if to dash out.
Marjolaine held him back. "Yes, they will. Let me go first. I'll get them talking, and then you can slip away." But she started back with a suppressed scream.