nkly, as if all
her lapful of darling treasures were suddenly spilled, and then for
very disdain she could not sob; in a swell of protest against all
puling cowards she ran to St. Govor's Well and hid in Tony's stead.

When the ayah reached the gate and saw Tony far in front she thought
her other charge was with him and passed out. Twilight crept over the
Gardens, and hundreds of people passed out, including the last one, who
always has to run for it, but Maimie saw them not. She had shut her
eyes tight and glued them with passionate tears. When she opened them
something very cold ran up her legs and up her arms and dropped into
her heart. It was the stillness of the Gardens. Then she heard
_clang_, then from another part _clang_, then _clang, clang_ far away.
It was the Closing of the Gates.

Immediately the last clang had died away Maimie distinctly heard a
voice say, 'So that's all right.' It had a wooden sound and seemed to
come from above, and she looked up in time to see an elm-tree
stretching out its arms and yawning.

[Illustration: The little people weave their summer curtains from
skeleton leaves]

She was about to say, 'I never knew you could speak!' when a metallic
voice that seemed to come from the ladle at the well remarked to the
elm, 'I suppose it is a bit coldish up there?' and the elm replied,
'Not particularly, but you do get numb standing so long on one leg,'
and he flapped his arms vigorously just as the cabmen do before they
drive off. Maimie was quite surprised to see that a number of other
tall trees were doing the same sort of thing, and she stole away to the
Baby Walk and crouched observantly under a Minorca holly which shrugged
its shoulders but did not seem to mind her.

She was not in the least cold. She was wearing a russet-coloured
pelisse and had the hood over her head, so that nothing of her showed
except her dear little face and her curls. The rest of her real self
was hidden far away inside so many warm garments that in shape she
seemed rather like a ball. She was about forty round the waist.

There was a good deal going on in the Baby Walk, where Maimie arrived
in time to see a magnolia and a Persian lilac step over the railing and
set off for a smart walk. They moved in a jerky sort of way certainly,
but that was because they used crutches. An elderberry hobbled across
the walk, and stood chatting with some young quinces, and they all had
crutches. The crutches we