"Oh, shut up," said Louis. (He had just started a thrilling new game of jumping from a high wall.) "I'll tell you when it's time to go home. Now are you ready? Hurry up, Paula, get the ladder. There it is, under the cherry-tree!" Paula obediently ran and returned with the required ladder, and helped Louis put it in position, saying at the same time, "But Louis, you know well that Teresa told us that we must be in at nine o'clock." "Oh, yes, I heard it," said Louis ill-humoredly. "Well, then we must go!" "Oh, not yet, five minutes more or less won't make any difference." "No, five minutes won't make any great difference, of course," said Paula slowly, "and it certainly is lovely here, but Teresa ordered us in at nine o'clock. I'll run and ask her if we cannot stay another fifteen minutes." "Certainly not," sneered Louis. "Teresa would never give permission. Now, hurry up, you're first on the wall, Paula." "No, I'm not going to stay. Teresa will be angry." "No, no, never fear. Besides, she'll never know. I think she's out." "Well, she'll know when she returns. She'll ask us what time we came in." "Oh, you needn't worry about that," and Louis took out his watch. "I can fix that matter easily." We both looked over his shoulder at the watch, which by this time clearly pointed to five minutes after the hour. Suddenly, we saw the hands of the watch begin to turn backwards. "Now," said Louis, "what time it is?" "Half-past eight," answered Paula, lifting astonished eyes to her cousin's face. "Well, if it's half-past eight why do you look at me like that?" "Because I don't understand." "What do you mean by saying you don't understand? It's all quite simple. If Teresa is angry, I'll tell her that we left the garden at nine o'clock; then I'll show her my watch." "But," cried Paula, quite upset, "that would be a lie!" "Nonsense, you foolish youngster, that's not a lie. We'll go from here at the dot of nine, according to my watch, and that's what I'll tell Teresa in case she asks us. Of course, if she doesn't ask us, we don't have to say anything. Besides, I do it for you and Lisita, for if you were boys instead of girls, there would be no reason to return so early. Now, up with you. Yes, or no." "Not I," said Paula, with a heightened color. Louis was furious. "No, you say? Oh," he laughed, "the wall's too high." Paula looked at the wall. It was certainly high, but he knew very well from past exploits that the height would not bother her. "No," she said, "I'm not afraid to jump. Over in Villar, when I had to tend the goats, many a time I have had to jump from far greater heights than that to keep them from straying into our neighbor's pastures; but I tell you now, we promised Teresa to return at nine o'clock, and I'm not going to disobey her." Then it was that I joined in on the side of Louis. "If you're always going to obey Teresa, you'll never have a quiet moment." "Then are you, too, going to stay with Louis?" Paula asked sadly.