continue, he walked softly down the
landing and peeped in through the half-opened door.

The room was dark save for a night-light. In the dim glimmer he saw a
little white-clad figure, slight and supple, taking short steps and
swinging its arm in the middle of the room.

"Halloa!" said Daddy.

The white-clad figure turned and ran forward to him.

"Oh, Daddy, how jolly of you to come up!"

Daddy felt that gruffness was not quite so easy as it had seemed.

"Look here! You get into bed!" he said, with the best imitation he could
manage.

"Yes, Daddy. But before I go, how is this?" He sprang forward and the
arm swung round again in a swift and graceful gesture.

Daddy was a moth-eaten cricketer of sorts, and he took it in with a
critical eye.

"Good, Laddie. I like a high action. That's the real Spofforth swing."

"Oh, Daddy, come and talk about cricket!" He was pulled on the side of
the bed, and the white figure dived between the sheets.

"Yes; tell us about cwicket!" came a cooing voice from the corner.
Dimples was sitting up in his cot.

"You naughty boy! I thought one of you was asleep, anyhow. I mustn't
stay. I keep you awake."

"Who was Popoff?" cried Laddie, clutching at his father's sleeve. "Was
he a very good bowler?"

"Spofforth was the best bowler that ever walked on to a cricket-field. He
was the great Australian Bowler and he taught us a great deal."

"Did he ever kill a dog?" from Dimples.

"No, boy. Why?"

"Because Laddie said there was a bowler so fast that his ball went frue a
coat and killed a dog."

"Oh, that's an old yarn. I heard that when I was a little boy about some
bowler whose name, I think, was Jackson."

"Was it a big dog?"

"No, no, son; it wasn't a dog at all."

"It was a cat," said Dimples.

"No; I tell you it never happened."

"But tell us about Spofforth," cried Laddie. Dimples, with his
imaginative mind, usually wandered, while the elder came eagerly back to
the point. "Was he very fast?"

"He could be very fast. I have heard cricketers who had played against
him say that his yorker--that is a ball which is just short of a full
pitch--was the fastest ball in England. I have myself seen his long arm
swing round and the wicket go down before ever the batsman had time to
ground his bat."

"Oo!" from both beds.

"He was a tall, thin man, and they called him the Fiend. That means the
Devil, you know."

"And _was_ he the Devil?"

"No, Dim