I did not think it worth while to reply, feeling really unequal to this sort of conversation; besides, we were nearing the house, when my task would be ended. Aunt Eliza met us at the door, and in the cross-fire of adjectives that ensued--both of them talking at once, as grown-up folk have a habit of doing--we two slipped round to the back of the house, and speedily put several solid acres between us and civilisation, for fear of being ordered in to tea in the drawing-room. By the time we returned, our new importation had gone up to dress for dinner, so till the morrow at least we were free of him. Meanwhile the March wind, after dropping a while at sundown, had been steadily increasing in volume; and although I fell asleep at my usual hour, about midnight I was wakened by the stress and cry of it. In the bright moonlight, wind-swung branches tossed and swayed eerily across the blinds; there was rumbling in chimneys, whistling in keyholes, and everywhere a clamour and a call. Sleep was out of the question, and, sitting up in bed, I looked round. Edward sat up too. “I was wondering when you were going to wake,” he said. “It's no good trying to sleep through this. I vote we get up and do something.” “I'm game,” I replied. “Let's play at being in a ship at sea” (the plaint of the old house under the buffeting wind suggested this, naturally); “and we can be wrecked on an island, or left on a raft, whichever you choose; but I like an island best myself, because there's more things on it.” Edward on reflection negatived the idea. “It would make too much noise,” he pointed out. “There's no fun playing at ships, unless you can make a jolly good row.” The door creaked, and a small figure in white slipped cautiously in. “Thought I heard you talking,” said Charlotte. “We don't like it; we're afraid--Selina too. She'll be here in a minute. She's putting on her new dressing-gown she's so proud of.” His arms round his knees, Edward cogitated deeply until Selina appeared, barefooted, and looking slim and tall in the new dressing-gown. Then, “Look here,” he exclaimed; “now we're all together, I vote we go and explore!” “You're always wanting to explore,” I said. “What on earth is there to explore for in this house?” “Biscuits!” said the inspired Edward. “Hooray! Come on!” chimed in Harold, sitting up suddenly. He had been awake all the time, but had been shamming asleep, lest he should be fagged to do anything. It was indeed a fact, as Edward had remembered, that our thoughtless elders occasionally left the biscuits out, a prize for the night-walking adventurer with nerves of steel.