‘What crack? Where are we going to? What does it all mean?’ he asked breathlessly, trying to avoid treading on their toes and the toes of Smoke who flew beside them with tail held swiftly aloft as though to guide them. They brought him up with a sudden bump just outside the door, and Nixie turned up a serious face to explain, while Jonah waited impatiently in front of them. ‘Quick!’ she whispered, ‘listen and I’ll tell you. We’re going to find the crack between Yesterday and To-morrow, and then—slip through it.’ His heart leaped with excitement as he heard. ‘Go on,’ he cried. ‘Tell me more!’ ‘You see, Yesterday really begins just after Midnight when To-day ends’; she said, ‘and To-morrow begins there too.’ ‘Of course.’ ‘After Midnight, To-morrow jumps away again a whole day, and is as far off as ever. That’s the nearest you can get to To-morrow.’ ‘I see.’ ‘And Yesterday, which has been a whole day away, suddenly jumps up close behind again. So that Yesterday and To-morrow,’ she went on, eager with excitement, ‘meet at Midnight for a single second before flying off to their new places. Daddy told us that long ago.’ ‘Exactly. They must.’ ‘But now the world is old and worn. There’s a tiny little crack between Yesterday and To-morrow. They don’t join as they once did, and, if we’re _very_ quick, we can find the crack and slip through——’ ‘Bless my Timber Limits!’ he exclaimed; ‘what a glorious notion!’ ‘And, once inside there, there’s no time, of course,’ she went on, more and more hurriedly. ‘_Anything_ may happen, and _everything_ come true.’ ‘The very region I was thinking about just now!’ thought Paul. ‘The very place! I’ve found it!’ ‘_Do_ hurry up, oh _do_!’ put in Jonah with a loud whisper that echoed down the corridor, for his patience was at length exhausted by all this explanation. ‘You _are_ so slow getting started.’ ‘Ready!’ cried Paul and Nixie in the same breath. They were off! Down the dark and silent stairs on tiptoe, through the empty halls, past the hat-racks and the stuffed deer heads that grinned down upon them from the walls, along the stone passage to the kitchen region, where the row of red fire-buckets gleamed upon the shelves, and so, past the ghostly pantry, to the back door. This they found open, for Jonah had already run ahead and unlocked it. Another minute and they had crossed the yard by the stables, where the pump stood watching them like a figure with an outstretched arm, and soon were well out on to the lawn at the back of the house. The rain had ceased, but the wind caught them here with such tremendous blows and shouting that they could hardly hear themselves speak, and had to keep closely together in a bunch to make their way at all. It was pitch dark and the stars were hidden. Paul stumbled and floundered, treading incessantly on the toes of the more nimble children. Smoke ran like a black shadow, now in front, now behind.