said, "I do wish to goodness Robert would hurry up." Well, he
_was_ hurrying up, and so they would have had their wish, and the day
would be wasted. Then he tried to think what they could wish
for--something that would be amusing indoors. That had been his own
difficulty from the beginning. So few things are amusing indoors when
the sun is shining outside and you mayn't go out, however much you want
to do so.

Robert was running as fast as he could, but when he turned the corner
that ought to have brought him within sight of the architect's
nightmare--the ornamental iron-work on the top of the house--he opened
his eyes so wide that he had to drop into a walk; for you cannot run
with your eyes wide open. Then suddenly he stopped short, for there was
no house to be seen. The front garden railings were gone too, and where
the house had stood--Robert rubbed his eyes and looked again. Yes, the
others _had_ wished,--there was no doubt about it,--and they must have
wished that they lived in a castle; for there the castle stood, black
and stately, and very tall and broad, with battlements and lancet
windows, and eight great towers; and, where the garden and the orchard
had been, there were white things dotted like mushrooms. Robert walked
slowly on, and as he got nearer he saw that these were tents, and men in
armor were walking about among the tents--crowds and crowds of them.

[Illustration: There the castle stood, black and stately]

"Oh!" said Robert fervently. "They _have_! They've wished for a castle,
and it's being besieged! It's just like that Sand-fairy! I wish we'd
never seen the beastly thing!"

At the little window above the great gateway, across the moat that now
lay where the garden had been but half an hour ago, someone was waving
something pale dust-colored. Robert thought it was one of Cyril's
handkerchiefs. They had never been white since the day when he had upset
the bottle of "Combined Toning and Fixing Solution" into the drawer
where they were. Robert waved back, and immediately felt that he had
been unwise. For this signal had been seen by the besieging force, and
two men in steel-caps were coming towards him. They had high brown boots
on their long legs, and they came towards him with such great strides
that Robert remembered the shortness of his own legs and did not run
away. He knew it would be useless to himself, and he feared it might be
irritating to the foe. So he stood still--and the two men see