n he heard Elsie calling. He
ran to see what she wanted. "I s'pose you won't go telling any tales
about what I said just now," she exclaimed shortly.

"Of course I shan't," Duncan replied, indignantly; "but what was it you
said? There wasn't anything to tell tales about except that you said you
weren't going to fetch the milk."

Elsie's mind was so full of her own affairs that it was quite a shock to
her to find that Duncan had taken so little heed of her words. "It's a
good thing I'm not such a silly baby as you are," she said,
contemptuously--a way in which she so often spoke to Duncan that he
quite believed Elsie to be the cleverest, most daring, and bravest
creature in existence.

"This place is like a furnace," she cried, irritably throwing the sheet
which covered her down on to the floor. "Why should I be poked up here
and Robbie sleep downstairs with mother and grandmother, eh, Duncan?"

"I s'pose it's because he always does," Duncan replied dubiously.

"Stupid-head!" cried Elsie. "And why does he always?"

Duncan thought a minute. "P'raps it's because he's the youngest, and was
the baby when you and me was bigger," he answered presently.

Elsie turned over with an angry grunt. "It isn't anything of the sort,"
she cried; "and you might have known I didn't want you to answer me."

"I thought you asked me," Duncan said, in much perplexity.

"You ought to have said you didn't know, and then you'd have told the
truth," Elsie said shortly. "Hush! there's some one coming up. Crawl
under the bed, in case they come in."

A slow dragging footstep came up the steep stairs, and presently a voice
called softly, "Dooncan?"

Duncan began to crawl out from under the bedstead, answering as he did
so, "Yes, grandmother, here I am."

Elsie dangled her foot over the side of the bed, and gave Duncan a
pretty sharp kick as he emerged.

"What's that for?" he stopped to ask.

"Only because you're such a ridiculously silly little softie, that
nobody could put a grain of sense into your head," Elsie replied,
angrily. "Supposing it had been mother. A nice row you'd have got us
into. Why couldn't you keep quiet, and she'd have thought we were both
in bed and asleep."

"But I knew it was grandmother's voice," said Duncan.

"Dooncan," called the voice again, "I want you."

Duncan opened the door this time. His grandmother did not seem to notice
that he was in a forbidden place, but asked, with an anxious quaver in
her vo