little girl's eyes!
And they couldn't ever get out again, for there's a fine little glass
lid in people's eyes that nobody could open but a witch, and she shut it
down on them tight, and there they were; they couldn't do anything but
peep out, and there they were for always, peeping out."

"But didn't it hurt the little girl?" asked Maudie. "It would hurt
dreadfully to have the least thing put in your eye."

"Oh no," said Hoodie, "it didn't hurt her--not a bit--she just thought a
fly had tickled her eyes, and she winkled them, and the witch said to
her, 'You may come out of bed now, my dear. The ogre won't be coming
to-night.' And so the little girl got out of bed, and when she came up
to the witch, the witch looked at her and laughed, and the little girl
couldn't think what she was laughing at, and she never knowed about the
goblins being in her eyes till one day when her little brother was
playing with her, he peeped in her face and said, 'I see two goblins in
your eyes.'"

"That was me," exclaimed Duke. "It was one day I looked in Hoodie's eyes
and I saw two goblings in 'zem, I did. Hoodie's made the story about
me."

"I hasn't," said Hoodie, indignantly. "I've got stories enough without
making them about silly little boys like you. Of course you saw the
goblins in mine eyes--there's goblins in every little girl's eyes ever
since the witch put them into her little girl's. It's comed to be the
fashion, and now you know how it was, and that's the end of the story."

"Thank you for telling it, Hoodie," said Magdalen. "We're all very much
obliged to you, and another day I hope you'll tell us some more. Now
Duke and Hec, are your stories ready?"

Hec looked exceedingly solemn.

"I only know one," he said; "Duke knows lots."

"Well, which of you is going to begin?"

"Hec," said Duke.

"Duke," said Hec.

"Mine isn't ready," said Duke. "Hec, you begin. If you only know one it
must be always ready."

"Mine's only about a little dog," began Hec, modestly. "It was a little
dog that had only three legs."

"Only three legs!" exclaimed Magdalen. "My dear Hec, are you sure you
haven't made a mistake?"

"Sure," said Hec, "the housemaid had broke its leg off a long time ago,
when she was dusting the mantelpiece, so the Mamma gave it to the little
boy because it was spoilt for the drawing-room. And the little boy was
very fond of it--it was made of hard stuff, you know, all white and
shiny, and it had blue eyes. It