but
he seemed afraid of the advantage it would give her over him.

"You could hide it at the bottom of the flour-barrel," said she.

"That would make me feel chokey," answered he.

"Well, in the coal-cellar. Or in the dust-hole--that's the place! No
one would think of looking for your heart in the dust-hole."

"Worse and worse!" cried the giant.

"Well, the water-butt," suggested she.

"No, no; it would grow spongy there," said he.

"Well, what _will_ you do with it?"

"I will leave it a month longer where it is, and then I will give it to
the Queen of the Kangaroos, and she will carry it in her pouch for me.
It is best to change its place, you know, lest my enemies should scent
it out. But, dear Doodlem, it's a fretting care to have a heart of
one's own to look after. The responsibility is too much for me. If it
were not for a bite of a radish now and then, I never could bear it."

Here the giant looked lovingly towards the row of little boys by the
fire, all of whom were nodding, or asleep on the floor.

"Why don't you trust it to me, dear Thunderthump?" said his wife. "I
would take the best possible care of it."

"I don't doubt it, my love. But the responsibility would be too much
for _you_. You would no longer be my darling, light-hearted, airy,
laughing Doodlem. It would transform you into a heavy, oppressed woman,
weary of life--as I am."

The giant closed his eyes and pretended to go to sleep. His wife got
his stockings, and went on with her darning. Soon the giant's pretence
became reality, and the giantess began to nod over her work.

"Now, Buffy," whispered Tricksey-Wee, "now's our time. I think it's
moonlight, and we had better be off. There's a door with a hole for the
cat just behind us."

"All right," said Bob; "I'm ready."

So they got out of the broom-brake and crept to the door. But to their
great disappointment, when they got through it, they found themselves
in a sort of shed. It was full of tubs and things, and, though it was
built of wood only, they could not find a crack.

"Let us try this hole," said Tricksey; for the giant and giantess were
sleeping behind them, and they dared not go back.

"All right," said Bob.

He seldom said anything else than _All right_.

Now this hole was in a mound that came in through the wall of the shed,
and went along the floor for some distance. They crawled into it, and
found it very dark. But groping their way along, they soon came to a
smal