th eagerness to begin his packing. If only
mother would give him the box! It must be mother's, for if it was
James's he would keep it in his own room instead of up on the pantry
shelf among all the glasses and cups. If Baby could just see it again he
would know 'ezackly if it would do!

Baby looked about him. Everything was perfectly still, he heard no one
moving about the house--Denny had said it was only half-past six.

"Denny," said Baby softly.

No reply.

"_Denny_," a very little louder.

Still no reply; but Baby, by leaning over the edge of his cot a little,
could see that Denny's eyes were shut, and her nose was half buried in
the pillow in the way she always turned it when she went to sleep. Denny
had gone to sleep again.

"Zes," said Herr Baby to himself; "her's a'leep--her's beazing so soft."

He looked about him again; he stuck one little warm white foot out of
bed--it did feel _rather_ cold; he felt more than half inclined just to
cuddle himself up warm again and lie still till Lisa came to dress him.
But the thought of the little t'unk was too much for him.

"Him would so like just to _see_ it," he said to himself.

Then he stood right up in bed and clambered over the edge of the cot the
way he had to do to get out of it by himself. He did not make much
noise--not enough to waken Denny, and indeed he would not much have
minded if she _had_ awakened, only that perhaps she would have wanted to
go too, and Baby wished just to go down to the pantry this quiet time of
the morning before any one was there and take a good look by himself.

It was cold on the stair--just at the edge, that is to say, where the
carpet did not cover, and where he had stepped without thinking, not
being used to trotting about on bare feet, you see. But in the middle,
on the carpet, it was nice and soft and warm.

"It would be dedful to be poor boys wif no shoes and stockings," he said
to himself, "'cept on the carpet. Him would like to buy lots of lubly
soft carpets for zem poor boys."

And he pitied the poor boys still more when he got to the back passage
leading to the pantry, where there was no carpet at all, only oilcloth.
He pattered along as fast as he could; there was no sound to be heard
but the ticking of the clock, and Baby wondered that he had never
noticed before what a loud ticking clock it was; it did not come into
his head that it was very late for none of the servants to be down, for
such matters were not