ad
presently to crawl right over her, even planting a pair of very
substantial and dusty boots in her younger sister's lap; but this was
by no means a sufficiently uncommon event to call for any remonstrance.
As for John, he squatted down among the bay leaves much more
contentedly than usual. He had just found out that those lofty seats
up among the golden-chains, as the children called the laburnum
blossom, were not half as comfortable as they looked.

"This is what I have been thinking," began Madge, when she had settled
herself, not kicking Betty's head more than twice in the process. "We
want some hiding-place where no one can find us."

"Yes! yes!" shouted the twins.

"Some place in a tree," continued Madge.

The applause became louder than ever. Climbing trees was the favourite
amusement of all the children, and no game found favour for long which
did not include something of the kind.

"A tree like this, will it be?" inquired Betty.

"Of course not," replied Madge. She had her own idea, and could not
help feeling rather irritated with the younger ones for not entering
into it without any explanations. "This is hardly like a real tree,"
she continued; "more like a garden-seat, you know. If we fell out of
it, I don't believe we should be hurt a bit."

This statement was felt by the assembled company to be quite true,
though perhaps a little ungrateful, seeing how very much use they made
of the laburnum.

"Now, I should like a tree which would be a real fortress," continued
Madge. "A regular place of refuge--"

"What is a refuge?" interrupted John.

"Why, a place of safety, of course! Where one can hide from the enemy
and--"

"What enemy?" again interrupted John.

"Oh, don't be so tiresome!" broke in Betty, who always understood
things a little quicker than her brother--or if not, pretended she did.
"Can't you fancy an enemy? Men in armour, or lions, or Nurse when she
wants us to be put to bed."

John did not answer, being a little sulky. Of course he could imagine
enemies just as well as his sisters; worse ones perhaps, with longer
spears and sharper teeth! And he did not like being considered silly.

"What I think," continued Madge, who was accustomed to talk through
interruptions, so that she hardly noticed them; "what I think is that
we ought to make a kind of house up in a big tree, so high that no
grown-up people can possibly climb to it, and if we tumbled out we
should break our