the wind was
blowing in upon him in a cold and rather imperious fashion. Now he had
no fancy for leaving things wrong that might be set right; so he jumped
out of bed again, got a little strike of hay, twisted it up, folded it
in the middle, and, having thus made it into a cork, stuck it into the
hole in the wall. But the wind began to blow loud and angrily, and, as
Diamond was falling asleep, out blew his cork and hit him on the
nose, just hard enough to wake him up quite, and let him hear the wind
whistling shrill in the hole. He searched for his hay-cork, found it,
stuck it in harder, and was just dropping off once more, when, pop! with
an angry whistle behind it, the cork struck him again, this time on the
cheek. Up he rose once more, made a fresh stopple of hay, and corked the
hole severely. But he was hardly down again before--pop! it came on his
forehead. He gave it up, drew the clothes above his head, and was soon
fast asleep.

Although the next day was very stormy, Diamond forgot all about the
hole, for he was busy making a cave by the side of his mother's fire
with a broken chair, a three-legged stool, and a blanket, and then
sitting in it. His mother, however, discovered it, and pasted a bit of
brown paper over it, so that, when Diamond had snuggled down the next
night, he had no occasion to think of it.

Presently, however, he lifted his head and listened. Who could that be
talking to him? The wind was rising again, and getting very loud, and
full of rushes and whistles. He was sure some one was talking--and very
near him, too, it was. But he was not frightened, for he had not yet
learned how to be; so he sat up and hearkened. At last the voice, which,
though quite gentle, sounded a little angry, appeared to come from the
back of the bed. He crept nearer to it, and laid his ear against the
wall. Then he heard nothing but the wind, which sounded very loud
indeed. The moment, however, that he moved his head from the wall, he
heard the voice again, close to his ear. He felt about with his hand,
and came upon the piece of paper his mother had pasted over the
hole. Against this he laid his ear, and then he heard the voice quite
distinctly. There was, in fact, a little corner of the paper loose, and
through that, as from a mouth in the wall, the voice came.

"What do you mean, little boy--closing up my window?"

"What window?" asked Diamond.

"You stuffed hay into it three times last night. I had to blow it o