Page:Nid and Nod (IA nidnod00barb).pdf/316

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

hour later Ned undressed and went to bed. Sleep didn't come readily, for there was to-day's examination to worry about, and to-morrow's, too, for he hadn't made much of that two hours of preparation, he feared; and then there was this silly quarrel with Laurie. He guessed he had been as much to blame as his brother, but there was no sense in any one's getting mad the way Laurie had. When Laurie was ready to make friends, why, he'd be ready, too, but that silly goop needn't expect him to lick his shoes! No, sir, if Laurie wanted to make up he could jolly well say so!

Sleep did come at last, and when he awoke it seemed hours later. The room was in black darkness, but the squares of the wide open windows were slightly grayer. What had awakened him he at first didn't know. Then his gaze caught a darker something against the gray-black of the nearer casement opening, something that scuffled on the stone ledge and grew larger as he wondered and watched. He opened his mouth to speak, and then remembered that he and Laurie were at outs. The form disappeared