"Cooee!" came a voice from the far-away. We laughed guiltily to ourselves and settled down in the chair. The scheme proceeded according to plan.
After sundry shrieks and screeches and whistles Dorothy grew impatient and adopted bolder tactics.
"You can't find me," she called hopefully.
I felt that it was time for a little encouragement.
"I wonder where she can be?" I said loudly.
There was a long silence. At last Dorothy grew desperate. "Look under the armchair in the hall," she called.
Christopher and I smiled to ourselves. Then suddenly we heard her creeping towards the door. I blame Christopher for what followed.
"She's coming," he whispered excitedly. "Let's hide."
There was no time to think. We slipped rapidly under the table. A ridiculous thing to do, of course; so undignified. I kick myself when I think of it, but at the time—— Well, it was Christopher's fault for getting excited. So there we were squashed under the table when the door opened and Dorothy appeared.
"I don't believe——" she began, and then stopped. "Why, they're not here," she gasped. And then Christopher spoilt everything by spluttering. I strangled him at once and we hoped that Dorothy hadn't heard. We saw her legs standing very still by the door. Then they moved quickly round the table to the fireplace. Christopher and I held our breaths and waited. We saw that Dorothy was pulling our chair round to face the fire. Then she sat herself in it and all we could see was the back of the chair.