littering with excitement.

'She _has_ been locked up by the cruel old giant, and you can go and
rescue her at last,' she told him.

Dr. Hurst frowned slightly. 'What do you mean, child?' he asked a little
impatiently. He was evidently not in a mood for joking, and Barbara
instantly became grave.

'I didn't mean to play, but it _is_ so like a fairy story,' she said
penitently. 'And it's quite true about the locking up. They've put her in
the barn, Peter and the others have,--not Kit,--and they mean to keep
her there till you've gone away, so that--so that you won't get a chance
of marrying and living happily ever after! It's to save Jill from you,
they say, but Kit's furious about it, and----'

The Doctor flung his driving-gloves on the table. They were quite new
ones, she noticed, and he had even forgotten to take the tissue paper
off the buttons of one of them. 'Where is the barn?' he asked grimly.

'It's at the far end of the nine-acre field,' explained Barbara, and
before she could say any more she found she was alone.

Excitement had made her forget all about her tea, though the hour for it
was long past. She wished with all her heart that she could be transported
to the scene of the rescue and actually see the princess fall into the
prince's arms, while the giant lay stretched at their feet. Then she
remembered that the giant was Peter, and perhaps Will and Bobbin too, and
she hoped he would not lie stretched there for long.

The minutes crept slowly by, and still no one came in. It was no use
looking out of the window, for the nine-acre field was on the other
side of the house, beyond the orchard. Then she began to be afraid
that something dreadful must have happened. She reminded herself again
that Peter was the giant, and that the Doctor was small and slight in
comparison, even for a prince. Supposing, contrary though it was to all
the laws of fairy tale, that the giant should be too strong for the
prince, and the princess should not be rescued after all? At last she
heard the welcome sound of footsteps coming along the gallery, and
then Jill opened the door softly and hurried up to her. The Doctor was
just behind her.

'My dear little Babs!' cried Jill, dropping on her knees beside the sofa,
'have you been wondering what had become of me?'

'Oh, no,' answered the child; 'I knew about the dark and gruesome dungeon.
But I think I'd like my tea, please.'

'Of course you would,' said Jill, in much distr