THE BOOK OF BETTY BARBER.
He ran quickly to pick it up, and shouted, “Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!”
And Ellessdee, Tare and Tret, Repeater, and Sois shouted, “Hurrah!” too.
“Then let us be off to Sum Land,” said Ellessdee.
“You certainly can’t pick up the pieces of the book,” said Lucy, “there’s not a bit to be seen anywhere. We ought to thank the holiday fairies.”
“And I ought to thank them,” said Thirteen-fourteenths, “their friend has found the piece of my jacket. Where are they?”
“You won’t see them any more at present,” said Half-term, “when Mr. Wind is out with three Holidays, they all have a good time and enjoy themselves.”
“Then let us go to Sum Land,” said Thirteen-fourteenths, “and I’ll try always to remember that holidays are good for something.”
“I’ll go back to Music Land,” said Minora, “and tell Queen Harmony there is no Book of Betty Barber.”
“Before we separate,” said Lucy, “let us all join hands in a circle round the tree, and say together, ‘The Book of Betty Barber is gone. Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!’”
And they joined hands, and cheered heartily, then they clapped hands; and then they all jumped and ran, shouting and singing, down the path to the cross-roads, each to find his or her own way home.
As they disappeared through the wood there was a fluttering among the branches of the tree, and the White Owl flew down the trunk to her old quarters.
“Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!” she said, as she settled herself comfortably. ‘I shall have peace at last, the Book of Betty Barber is gone—gone—gone! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!”
