hich he had power to creep through the hole in the
hedge and prowl about the Queen's grounds. Nevertheless, all went well
until the last hour before sunset, when Tom the Cat was forced to be
away. Before he went he warned the children to look out for the grey
rat; but before he had time to explain what he meant by the grey rat
the hour struck, and he could not help vanishing. The children were
left to themselves; but they were not at all frightened. They had
never heard of Rumpty-Dudget; and this is not so strange as it might
at first seem; for it often happens in the world that our worst
enemies live so close to us that we are not aware of them until after
we have fallen into their power. Hilda, Harold, and Hector, at all
events, went on playing together very kindly; for up to this time they
had never had a quarrel. The only thing that troubled them was, that
Tom the Cat was not there to play with them; they all longed to see
his yellow eyes and his thick tail, and to stroke his soft back, and
hear his comfortable purr. But it was now very near sunset, and he
must soon return. The sun, like a great red ball, hung a little way
above the edge of the world; though he had not caught fire as yet, he
was evidently very hot, and it was quite time for him to be at rest.

All at once Princess Hilda, who had been gazing at the sun with her
blue eyes wide open, heard a little croaking laugh, and looking down,
she saw a strange little creature standing close beside her, all grey
from head to foot. He wore a grey hat and beard, and a long grey cloak
that dragged on the ground like a tail, and on his back was a grey
hump that made him seem even shorter than he was, though at the most
he was hardly over a foot high. Hilda was surprised, but not in the
least frightened, for nobody had ever yet done her any harm; and
besides, this odd little grey man, though he was as ugly as a rent in
a new pinafore, grinned at her from one ear to the other, and seemed
to be the most good-natured dwarf in the world. So Princess Hilda
called to Prince Harold and Prince Hector, who, when they saw what had
come to them, were no more frightened than Hilda, and a good deal more
amused; and as the dwarf kept on grinning from one ear to the other
the three children began to smile back at him. Meanwhile the great red
ball of the sun was slowly dropping downwards; and now his lower rim
was just resting on the edge of the world.

Since you have already heard a