"I thought you asked me," Duncan said, in much perplexity.
"You ought to have said you didn't know, and then you'd have told the truth," Elsie said shortly. "Hush! there's some one coming up. Crawl under the bed, in case they come in."
A slow dragging footstep came up the steep stairs, and presently a voice called softly, "Dooncan?"
Duncan began to crawl out from under the bedstead, answering as he did so, "Yes, grandmother, here I am."
Elsie dangled her foot over the side of the bed, and gave Duncan a pretty sharp kick as he emerged.
"What's that for?" he stopped to ask.
"Only because you're such a ridiculously silly little softie, that nobody could put a grain of sense into your head," Elsie replied, angrily. "Supposing it had been mother. A nice row you'd have got us into. Why couldn't you keep quiet, and she'd have thought we were both in bed and asleep."
"But I knew it was grandmother's voice," said Duncan.
"Dooncan," called the voice again, "I want you."
Duncan opened the door this time. His grandmother did not seem to notice that he was in a forbidden place, but asked, with an anxious quaver in her voice, "Did mother beat Elsie, Duncan?"