Come, Bunny, give me a leg up, and I'll
pull you after me in two ticks?
There was indeed nothing better to be done; and, much as I loathed
and dreaded entering the place again, I had already thought of a
second sanctuary of old days, which might as well be put to the
base uses of this disgraceful night. In a far corner of the garden,
over a hundred yards from the house, a little ornamental lake had
been dug within my own memory; its shores were shelving lawn and
steep banks of rhododendrons; and among the rhododendrons nestled
a tiny boathouse which had been my childish joy. It was half a
dock for the dingy in which one plowed these miniature waters and
half a bathing-box for those who preferred their morning tub among
the goldfish. I could not think of a safer asylum than this, if
we must spend the night upon the premises; and Raffles agreed with
me when I had led him by sheltering shrubbery and perilous lawn
to the diminutive chalet between the rhododendrons and the water.
But what a night it was! The little bathing-box had two doors,
one to the water, the other to the path.
Pages:
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270