The King put Bill down off his knee, and stood up hastily, glad to avoid, in this way, meeting Judith's glance—
"Picaback! Picaback!" Bill cried.
"A race!" Button shouted.
It was the Imps' hour for play.
Always, in the evening, between tea and dinner, Judith joined them, in the garden, in a riotous frolic.
This evening the King, too, was inevitably, pressed into their service.
The King mounted Bill on his shoulders, willingly enough.
Button claimed Judith as his mettlesome charger.
The race, it was decided, should be to the house.
And so, with Button urging Judith forward, and Bill spurring the King on, remorselessly, with his heels, the race began.