290 WHISPERS FROM FAIRYLAND. [v1.

 

the traveller; ‘but really one cannot be turned away
from the only available shelter by such trifles as chaz.
Ghosts and such things are all very well in their way,
and may do a great deal of harm to people who
choose to be afraid of them. But there is something
much worse than any ghost that ever yet made a fool
of himself by coming when he wasn’t wanted, and
that something is a bad cold, which I should certainly
have caught if I had passed this December night in
the open air. Bad colds, too, not unfrequently pro-
duce rheumatic fevers; so, all things considered, I
think I have done what any sensible fellow would
have done in coming here.’

‘Ain't you afraid, then?’ asked the little red man.
‘Look at me and tremble!’ and so saying he began
to make the most hideous grimaces you can imagine,
puffing out his cheeks, glaring with his eyes, and
twisting his limbs into the most curious and unnatural
contortions.

‘Afraid?’ said the traveller in a tone of surprise.
‘What is there to be afraid of ina little chap like you
who comes in and gives one a kick when one isn’t
looking? I wonder you ain’t afraid yourself of the
probable consequences of such a cowardly attack upon
a fellow so much bigger than yourself; and as to trem-
bling, I don’t myself see what there is to tremble at
in a little muff that comes and twists his face into an
uglier grimace than that which nature has fixed upon
it. Goodness knows you're frightful enough without
making yourself any worse!’

At these words the little red man waxcd more
furious than ever.