in, "his name is Archibald, I suppose."

"Well, I hope when I grow up nobody will ever call me--"

"Hush!" I said again, "not a word--there's your Auntie Lisbeth! She
was, indeed, standing upon the terrace, within a yard of our
hiding-place, and beside her was Mr. Selwyn.

"Uncle Dick," whispered the irrepressible Imp, "do you think if we
watch long enough that Mr. Selwyn will put his arm round--"

"Shut up!" I whispered savagely. Lisbeth was clad in a long, trailing
gown of dove-coloured silk--one of those close-fitting garments that
make the uninitiated, such as myself, wonder how they are ever got on.
Also, she wore a shawl, which I was sorry for, because I have always
been an admirer of beautiful things, and Lisbeth's neck and shoulders
are glorious. Mr. Selwyn stood beside her with a plate of ice cream in
his hand, which he handed to her, and they sat down. As I watched her
and noticed her weary, bored air, and how wistfully she gazed up at the
silver disc of the moon, I experienced a feeling of decided
satisfaction.

"Yes," said Lisbeth, toying absently with the ice cream, "he painted
Dorothy's face with stripes of red and green enamel, and goodness only
knows how we can ever get it all off!"

Mr. Selwyn was duly shocked and murmured something about 'the efficacy
of turpentine' in such an emergency.

"Of course, I had to punish him," continued Lisbeth, "so I sent him to
bed immediately after tea, and never went to say good-night, or tuck
him up as I usually do, and it has been worrying me all the evening."

Mr. Selwyn was sure that he was all right, and positively certain that
at this moment he was wrapped in balmy slumber. Despite my warning
grasp, the Imp chuckled, but we were saved by the band striking up.
Mr. Selwyn rose, giving his arm to Lisbeth, and they re-entered the
ball-room. One by one the other couples followed suit until the long
terrace was deserted. Now, upon Lisbeth's deserted chair, showing
wonderfully pink in the soft glow of the Chinese lanterns, was the ice
cream.

"Uncle Dick," said the Imp in his thoughtful way, "I think I'll be a
bandit for a bit."

"Anything you like," I answered rashly, "so long as we get away while
we can."

"All right," he whispered, "I won't be a minute," and before I could
stop him he had scrambled down the steps and fallen to upon the ice
cream.

The wonderful celerity with which the Imp wolfed down that ice cream
was positively awe-inspiring.