out his name--has not the life of--I was going to say--a dog
with them. Only last night, when you were out, the ridiculous boy
proposed the storming of an ogre's castle. Nurse was down-stairs at the
time, or it could never have happened. Well, of course, Robin was the
ogre, darling Dolly was a princess whom he had stolen away, Jack was a
prince who was to deliver her, and the others were the prince's
retainers. A castle was built in one corner of all the tables and
chairs in the room piled on each other, with one particular chair so
ingeniously arranged that the pulling of it out would bring the castle
in ruins to the ground. The plan of attack, as far as I could make out,
was that the prince should ring our dinner-bell at the castle gates and
fiercely demand admittance, the demand to be followed by a burst from
the trumpets, drums, and gongs of his soldiers. The ogre, seated on the
castle top with the princess, after a few preliminary yells and howls,
was to say, in a gruff voice, that he was too much engaged just then
with his dinner--that three roast babies were being dished. When they
were disposed of, the princess would be killed, and served up as a sort
of light pudding, after which he would open the castle gate. A horrible
smell was to be created at this point to represent the roasting of the
babies. This was to be the signal for a burst of indignation from the
prince and his troops, who were to make a furious assault on the door--
one of our largest tea-trays--and after a little the prince was to pull
away the particular chair, and rush back with his men to avoid the
falling ruin, while the ogre and princess were to find shelter under the
nursery table, and then, when the fall was over, they were to be found
dead among the ruins. I am not sure whether the princess was to be
revived, or she was to have a grand funeral, but the play never got that
length. I was sitting here, listening to the various sounds overhead,
wondering what they could be about, when I heard a loud ringing--that
was the castle bell. It was soon followed by a burst of toy trumpets
and drums. A most disgusting smell began to permeate the house at the
same time, for it seems that the ogre set fire to his chemicals too
soon.

"Then I heard roaring and yelling, which really alarmed me--it was so
gruff. When it stopped, there was a woeful howl--that was the burst of
indignation. The assault came off next, and as the shouting of the