Half-Past Bedtime

s of the downs were grey with old man's beard. Some people like November, because it is the quietest month of the year-as quiet as so

use of its fogs and falling rains, and they turn up their coat-col

d, and because her mummy was so ill that she had had to go to hospital. She was also angry with Cuthbert, because she thought that it wasn't fai

little boy-friend was. Auntie Kate had a face like a hen's, with a beaky nose and bobbly eyes, and she always counted people's pieces of bread and butter, and wondered what income their father and mother h

ext week. But at half-past three on a wet Saturday afternoon next week seems a horribly long way off, and Jimmy and Jocko were being as naughty as ever they knew how. Jimmy was

e why I should fight with them any more," and then she pressed her n

e twins, were playing at Hell; and every now and then she could hear a faint clicking sound, as they practised gnashing their teeth. As for Christopher Mark, who was three and a half, she had forgotten all about him; and by now, if it hadn't been for A

d still-or at least she felt as if it did-and her cheeks became white. For there was Christopher Mark at the top of the stairs, with a rabbit

just as she sprang forward an odd thing happened, for he stopped sho

o Christopher Mark. He was a little man with a bald head and a big mouth and a crooked back; and his right arm was only a stump, with a very long hook at the end

you have recognized me. That's ver

't seem to mind, and went on smiling; while as for Christopher Mark, h

Doris at last; "but I'm frightfully obl

id. "That's what I'

rowned

us?" sh

he said. "Excuse

of an eyelid h

na," he said, "to

pened h

a real sain

tle man

a patron saint. I'm the pa

id Doris, "that stairca

he said. "They

tfully rude, I'm afraid-but I di

iled

said. "Lots of people

peared o

id, "just beginning to f

s chin and looked

eft here," he said, "to

s no

ildren love more than anything else. One of them's water and the other's sta

. "And who's the pa

ill," he said. "He's

er name," said Do

ow," said St Uncus, "but

is crooked back, and his deforme

e very mistake that I made. You see, I once fell down a stairc

Doris and nod

ut it. It was thousands of years ago. But I can still remember how unhappy I was. I used to watch the other children playing games, and when I gr

been silly?

g that I could turn my hand to. But I told you I was lucky, and so I was, for as it happened I had a great idea; and that was to try and save as many children as I could from being as miserabl

ppeared

ought that it was rather a fine idea; and so He laid His hand

a new name too

cus b

name, only it generally depends, to a certain

ught for

aven," she said, "than sitting ab

cus l

my dear. Heaven's being emp

ooked at

said, "if you'd mind

e to!" said Doris

's always busy by the edges of ponds and things, and I'm always stuck on somebody's staircase; and I thought

lt a lit

?" she asked. "And how could I

e wanted at all. The only trouble is when two children are falling at once, and then you have to dec

ed, and she saw Christopher Mark like a little fat ghost, with his soul shining inside him. Then she suddenly heard a cry in a strange foreign language, and she saw a dark-eyed mother at the bottom of some stone steps, and a small round baby, wit

meant. And then she heard a shout, and smelt a smell of herrings, and she saw a man in a blue jersey, and a curly-headed boy, about four years old, pitching head first down a dark staircase. Thro

and the man say "You little rascal, you!" and then she was back aga

y three hundred years. He says he'd like to meet you, but of cours

yone had gone to bed. For soon after midnight, when Auntie Kate was dreaming about clergymen and bazaars, and when Teddy and George were dreaming about bears, and Jimmy and Jocko about

of smoke, and Teddy and George began to dream of camp-fires, but Auntie Kate still dreamt of bazaars and pincushions marked tenpence halfpenny. Teddy and George were sleeping by themselves, and Christopher Mark slept in a little r

n to dream about guns, but still they didn't wake up. They only moved a little uneasily, and it was somebody shouting

d put her clothes, and rushed downstairs in her nightdress. As for Teddy and George, their room was full of smoke, and they b

were darting across the hall; and clouds of smoke we

uick as you can," and soon they were all standing together in the st

her; but Teddy and George were rather enjoying themselves, though Jimmy and Jocko had begun to cry. Then Doris looked round, "Where's Christopher Mark?" she cried, and everybody looked at everybody else, and Doris knew that he must be still asleep in his little dressing-room upstairs. She

me and help me; come and help

ke was thicker than the blackest night. But at the top of the stair

hugging his white rabbit; and in another few seconds she was o

course, especially when she thought of Mummy, who would be sure to hear about it in hospital. But she wasn't conceited, because she kn

be in Port

ldings, Por

Lima, Bo

, Naples,

Campsie, M

mpstead, Ho

aby climb

t Hook is wa

THER H

r Hub