nd I
felt sure the good fairies had sent you to rescue me. When can you come
again?'

'Any day, almost,' said Pete.

'Well, then, I'll tell you what. I'll be on the look-out for you passing
every fine day about this time, and the first day I'm sure of nurse
going to London again--and I know she has to go once more at least--I'll
manage to tell you, and _then_ we'll fix for a long talk here.'

'All right,' I said, 'but we'd better go now.'

There was a sound of footsteps approaching, so with only a hurried
'good-bye' we ran off.

We did not need to stroll up and down the terrace to-day, as we knew
Margaret's nurse was away; luckily so, for we only just got home in time
by the skin of our teeth, running all the way, and not talking.

I wish I could quite explain about myself, here, but it is rather
difficult. I went on thinking about Margaret a lot, all that day; all
the more that Pete and I didn't talk much about her. We both seemed to
be waiting till we saw her again and heard her 'plans.'

And I cannot now feel sure if I really was in earnest at all, as she and
Peterkin certainly were, about the enchantment and the witch. I remember
I laughed at it to myself sometimes, and called it 'bosh' in my own
mind. And yet I did not quite think it only that. After all, I was only
a little boy myself, and Margaret had such a common-sensical way, even
in talking of fanciful things, that somehow you couldn't laugh at her,
and Pete, of course, was quite and entirely in earnest.

I think I really had a strong belief that _some_ risk or danger was
hanging over her, and I think this was natural, considering the queer
way our getting to know her had been brought about. And any boy would
have been 'taken' by the idea of 'coming to the rescue,' as she called
it.

There was a good deal of rather hard work at lessons just then for me.
Papa and mamma wanted me to get into a higher class after Christmas, and
I daresay I had been pretty idle, or at least taking things easy, for I
was not as well up as I should have been, I know. So Peterkin and I had
not as much time for private talking as usual. I had often lessons to
look over first thing in the morning, and as mamma would not allow us to
have candles in bed, and there was no gas or electric light in our room,
I had to get up a bit earlier, when I had work to look over or finish.
And nurse was very good about that sort of thing: there was always a
jolly bright fire for me in the n