t Sunday pelisse, trimmed with fur--and, looking round, lo and
behold! there was Houpet holding on to her with his beak, then came
Nibble, his two front paws embracing Houpet's feathered body, Grignan
behind him again, clutching with his mouth at Nibble's fur, and the two
chickens at the end holding on to Grignan and each other in some
indescribable and marvellous way. It was, for all the world, as if they
were preparing for the finish-up part of the game of "oranges and
lemons," or for that of "fox and geese!"

The sight was so comical that it was all the children could do to keep
their gravity, they succeeded in doing so, however, fearing that it
might hurt the animals' feelings to seem to make fun of their well-meant
efforts.

"Not that _they_ can be any use," whispered Hugh, "but it's very
good-natured of them all the same."

"I am not so sure that they can't be of any use," returned Jeanne.
"Think of how well Houpet drove."

"Here goes, then," said Hugh. "One, two, _three_;" and with "three" he
gave a tremendous tug--a much more tremendous tug than was required,
for, to his surprise, the stone yielded at once without the slightest
resistance, and back they all fell, one on the top of the other, Hugh,
Jeanne, Houpet, Nibble, Grignan, and the two chickens! But none of them
were any the worse, and with the greatest eagerness to see what was to
be seen where the stone had been, up jumped Hugh and Jeanne and ran
forward to the spot.

"There should be," said Jeanne, half out of breath--"there _should_ be a
little staircase for us to go down, if it is like the stories in the
_Arabian Nights_."

And, wonderful to relate, so there was! The children could hardly
believe their eyes, when below them they saw the most tempting little
spiral staircase of white stone or marble steps, with a neat little
brass balustrade at one side. It looked quite light all the way down,
though of course they could distinguish nothing at the bottom, as the
corkscrew twists of the staircase entirely filled up the space.

Houpet hopped forward and stood at the top of the steps crowing softly.

"He means that we're to go down," said Hugh. "Shall we?"

"Of course," said Jeanne. "I'm not a bit afraid. We won't have any fun
if we don't go on."

"Well then," said Hugh, "I'll go first as I'm a boy, just _in case_, you
know, Jeanne, of our meeting anything disagreeable."

So down he went, Jeanne following close after.

"I suppose Houpet and