k with the dwarf she had felt a strong desire to
see whether the garden on the other side of the hedge was so very much
prettier than their own, as he declared. 'What do you say, boys?' she
asked, turning to the two little princes. 'Shall we take just one
peep?'

'That is right! Come, my dears, at once!' put in Rumpty-Dudget
eagerly, taking Hilda and Harold each by the hand, and letting little
Hector trot on before. 'It is already late, and I want you to see my
garden before the sun goes down.' So they all came to the opening in
the hedge; and, if the truth must be told, the three children were
almost as anxious to get through it as Rumpty-Dudget was to have them
do so. And the great red ball of the sun kept going down further and
further, and now all his lower half was out of sight beneath the edge
of the world.

'Now, my dear,' said Rumpty-Dudget to Princess Hilda, 'will you step
through first? Ladies always go first, you know.'

'Not through holes in the hedges,' replied Hilda, drawing back. 'It is
always the men who go first then.'

All but the last quarter of the sun was now hidden behind the edge of
the world, and there was no time to be lost, for (as Rumpty-Dudget
well knew) as soon as the sun was quite gone Tom the Cat would appear.
So he said, as amiably as he could, though in reality he felt very
angry:

'Well, then, Prince Harold, my fine fellow, you are the next eldest;
take my hand, and in we go.'

'No,' said Prince Harold, drawing back; 'I think I am too big to get
through that little hole. Somebody else must go first.'

Rumpty-Dudget trembled with rage and fear; and there was only the
smallest bit of the sun yet visible. However, he managed to say, in a
tolerably smooth voice:

'Little Prince Hector, there, is my man after all! He will come
through the hole, and see the pretty things, won't he?'

Now, Prince Hector was a sturdy little fellow, and afraid of nothing;
so he put his hand in Rumpty-Dudget's and said boldly:

'Yes, I'll go; but if your garden isn't any prettier than you are I
shan't want to stay long.'

'Let me lift you in, my little hero,' said Rumpty-Dudget, taking
Hector round the waist with his little bony hands; 'and I'll warrant
you won't come back in a hurry. Now, then--jump!'

But just at that moment the last scrap of the sun vanished beneath the
edge of the world; and instantly, with a tremendous hissing and
caterwauling, Tom the Cat came springing across the lawn like