Half-Past Bedtime

her. But she hadn't spoken to him for so long that he had resolved not to talk to her unless she spoke to him first. Doris and Jimmy and Jocko were no

oris was rather sad, because it would be two months, so the b

ys. That was the Thursday before Christmas, and it was a grey day and very cold, with a strong wind blowing out of the north-east, and all the houses looking huddled and shrunken. It was

was just as he was wondering what to do that he saw Doris turn the corner. For a moment he thought that he would pretend not to see

had nothing particular to do; and she told him all about St Uncu

d, "past old Mother Hubbard's. It's jo

"But it's not so cold as the da

ly under the naked hedges, and the black north-easter crumbling the ridges

oe's," and just then they passed Mother Hubbard's-a melancholy

on a long chain ran out and yelped at them as they passed. This was called Mother Hubbard's house, because it belonged to a Miss

th a big bag to do her shopping. The shop-people said that she was very polite, and so did the postman, who sometimes took her a letter. But she always kept her own counsel, and nobody could ever make her talk. Why she lived like that, nobody knew. Some people said that it was because she was so poor, and because her father had made her

y left her house behind them. "I shou

y such things, and perhaps she had kill

till more; for just then there came clattering down the lane a young man on horseback, splashed to his eyes. His bowler hat was crammed down on his head, and he shouted at them as he galloped by. "Which way have they gone?" he cried, but he never stopped for an answer, and soon ther

e by one, jumping over a gate on the far side of the meadow. Then they crossed the meadow and scrambled over the

g. "It's the fox," cried Doris. "They've seen the fox," and half a minute later, f

rses and their jolly, red-cheeked riders. So they ran down the rise and across another road and over some more fields and past a wood, until they came at last

Keep along the stream, and I'll l

he tangled grass until they came to a plank across the stream. This led them out beside a hazel copse, and just as they were wondering which

dergrowth on the other side of the stream. He gave a shout, and they jumped aside as his horse rose to clear the

in the saddle again and vanishing into the dusk. For a minute or two they waited, but nobody else came. An old cock pheasant

d picked up a coin that had be

d a penny. You'd better add the

eavy flakes. Cuthbert took out his handkerchief and polished the coin. And then an odd thing happened, for suddenly, as he polish

s head weren't his own, but a grown-up man's. He knew that they were somebody else's thoughts, because he was thinking his own thoughts too; and t

o write a book about them, and perhaps, when he had written his book, he would get a job looking after a museum. But his strong thoughts, that he didn't

e matter?"

gave her

of penny," he said.

s to

warm from the polishing; and Doris seemed to be standing in a strange sort of room, full of old-fashioned furniture and heavy ornaments. The same girl said, "A penny

"His real thoughts were so strong

ert n

said. "And when you rub th

Doris, "and the way her hair was done, an

shook h

said, and he rubbed the penn

e china dog, and the girl's dress, and the curious way in which she had done her hair. It was pulled back from her forehead into

thbert, "since she gave him the penny. Do you

. "He was much too young; and besides I

vered a

he said, but Cuthbert lingered f

aid, "have had it in their pockets

know I'm jolly hungry, and we mu

d so thick lay the snow that they were never able to tell whether the next field was a ploughed one. But they passed the tree-or they thought that they did-on which the man had been standing; and they crossed the road-or they thought that they did-that they had

r at home, with bowls of steaming bread and milk. But every field seemed endlesser than the last, and the snow grew deepe

they were almost spent, they suddenly knocked their knees against a little gate. It was the sort of gate that leads into a garden path; and

themselves in front of a door, with a gleam of light shining through the letter-box. For a long time they knocked, but nobody came; and

pped Cuth

's," she said. "That's h

bert, but just as he said that they

s seldom opened. Cuthbert told her; and then, after a long pause, the door moved a little on its

ifty years. She stood looking at them over a flickering candle. Her eyes were frostier than the wi

and she led them in silence to the back of the house, where she left them

id, "and I hope you won't talk. I'

even more wonderful, thing happened. Cuthbert stopped short, and so

" she asked. "What

re was the queer high-backed piano; and there was the picture of

is, "the blue china dog that us

ard had turne

. "What do you know about that?

t, "and there was a girl in it, and sh

mble. She sat down heavily, a

. "You're only children; and tha

his pocket and pu

t, quite by accident. And he didn't tell her all of his thoughts. He only

to her, and they stood watching her. For about five minutes she sat q

ry," she said, "will

t Doris, and Dori

id Cuthbert. "We sho

especially fond of birds, and he wanted to discover all sorts of things about them; and one day he told the girl that he was just going away to work on a railway in South America. Then he hesitate

But perhaps the girl was sillier still. For she was so sad that she

snowing. Brighter than eyes at a Christmas party, the stars in their thousands shone in the sky.

"Come as often as you like; and perhaps ne

us," said Cuthbert

id Doris, "it was Mi

bbard went to

her poor

Hubbard in her

the dar

y dust on th

sun-ra

nger stirs

psichord's

clock with t

moulds on

come down to h

Miss Hubb

AN'S

ittle