Page:The mislaid uncle (IA mislaiduncle00raym).pdf/161

 The little maid was soon propped securely across an angle of the whitewashed wall, with a chair before her to keep her from creeping forward into danger, and the small triplets were soon leaping over one another's backs, around and around the room. Fortunately, there was little furniture to obstruct their movements and therefore little danger of hurting themselves; and though the exercise tended to increase their always-present hunger, that was nothing new.

"A fellow can have a good time even if he doesn't have a good dinner," was their father's assertion; and to them father was an oracle.

While the fun was at its height there came a knock on the little street door. The house was but the tiniest of cottages, and its floor raised but slightly above the street. Its door hung loosely from its upper hinge and dragged so heavily in closing that it was commonly left ajar. No landlord cared to fix it up for such poor tenants as now occupied the property, and they had not done it for him. So that when his knock was unanswered, because unheard,