But it seemed that the song was not yet finished; and presently they were facing each other again, and Little Bo-Peep sang the following stanza: "Oh, Little Boy Blue, when the star of even Hangs low o'er the lonely hill, When the night-wind sighs through the fields of heaven And the world is lonely and still; When you almost fear that the birds and flowers Will never waken again, And you lie and dream through the long night hours, Oh, whom do you dream of then?" No sooner had Little Bo-Peep completed her stanza than Little Boy Blue responded: "Oh, Little Bo-Peep, from my friendly pillow I gaze at the even star; Then I sail away on a gentle billow, Where dreaming and visions are. And never a doubt nor a fear assails me The whole of the long night through, And the welcomest dream of all ne'er fails me, For I constantly dream of you, Of you, Of you, of you, of you!" They repeated their dance at the end, and then, blushing and stumbling, they made their way to one of the stone benches and sat down. All the children applauded generously; but during the silence which followed, Grettel remarked: "For my part, I like games that have kissing in them." Cinderella merely gazed at her, in reply to this, with lifted chin and half-closed eyes. Then Hansel observed: "If you'd leave it to me, I'd prefer sitting at a table where there'd be something left after you'd filled yourself as full as a drum." Prince Arthur seemed to feel that Hansel and Grettel had struck a wrong note, and he said, "Upon my word, it seemed to me that the singing and dancing weren't half bad!" "They were just perfect," declared Everychild. "That's really what Arthur meant," interposed Will o'Dreams. There was almost unanimous agreement then that the song and dance had been very well done, the strongest testimony of all being offered by the little black dog, who approached Little Boy Blue and asked, quite as plainly as if he had spoken, to have the entertainment prolonged. But as the entire band hoped to be on their way early in the morning, it was agreed, after a time, that a good night's sleep was the best thing they could have; and as the sun had now set, they went into the house, and each chose a place in which to spend the night. The clamor of voices soon sank to a sleepy murmur; and presently there was such silence that the house might indeed have been a haunted one, just as the village superstition held it to be. There would have been nothing more worth recording in the adventures of that day but for the fact that Everychild, at the last moment, felt an irresistible desire to explore the attic of the old house. And this he undertook to do, after all his companions had, as he supposed, fallen asleep. CHAPTER XXI AN ENCOUNTER IN THE ATTIC