'Rollo,' Maia continued, 'come close to me. I want to speak in a whisper;' and Rollo, who, like his sister, was stretched at full length on the ground, thickly carpeted with the tiny dry-brown spikes which had fallen from the fir-trees during the winter, edged himself along by his elbows without getting up, till he was near enough to hear Maia's lowest murmur.
'Lazy boy,' she said, laughing. 'Is it too much trouble to move?'
'It's too much trouble to stand up any way,' replied Rollo. 'What is it you want to say, Maia? I do think there's something in these woods that puts one to sleep, as Nanni says.'
'So do I,' said Maia, and her voice had a half sleepy sound as she spoke. 'I don't quite know what I wanted to say, Rollo. It was only something about them, you know.'
'You needn't be the least afraid—Nanni can't hear,' said Rollo, without moving.
'Well, I only wanted to talk a little about them. Just to wonder, you know, if they won't soon be sending for us—making some new treat. It seems such a long time since we saw them.'
'Only a week,' said Rollo, sleepily.
'Well, a week's a good while,' pursued Maia; 'and I'm sure we've done our lessons very well all this time, and nobody's had to scold us for anything. Rollo——'
'Oh, I do wish you'd let me take a little sleep,' said poor Rollo.
'Oh, very well, then! I won't talk if you want to go to sleep,' said Maia, in a slightly offended tone; 'though I must say I think it is very stupid of you when we've been shut up at our lessons all the morning, and we have only an hour to stay out, to want to spend it all in sleeping.'